Leveled Book Databases

Here are a few online resources for finding books that are on your child’s “just right” reading level.  Before I post them, here is a helpful chart that shows reading level correlations.  If you’ll also notice in the chart and databases, beside the letter level is an AR number that may look something like this 3.5.  This means 3^rd grade, 5^th month.  So a 3.5 book would represent a 3^rd grader in December. 

My favorite online leveled databases are Beaverton’s Leveled Database , Portland Public Schools and this leveled book list.

I’ll be honest, one thing I don’t like about these leveled databases is that they are not particularly up-to-date.  For example, you won’t find Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  If you know of one that does this, PLEASE SHARE IT.

I did find two more resources that have more updated info, but they either aren’t as thorough as the above databases or cost money:

1. Scholastic’s Book Wizard, which is a very cool tool.  You might want to take some time exploring this one!
2. Fountas and Pinnell’s book, which has more current book lists, but is not free.

How do you use all this information?  Knowing what books are approximately on your child’s reading level can help you pick out books for him at the library and the book store.  Jot down a few titles and authors that you think your child might be interested in and try them out.

I found a great quote (although this is not a direct quote) from Fountas and Pinnell’s Guided Reading book.

Book selection is NEVER simply a matter of choosing a book that matches the level of the reader.  When selecting books, it is imperative to consider the content of the book, the background and prior experience of the reader, and the overall pattern of performance on other similar reading materials.

If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear them.

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~Becky