GARY PAULSEN books at the 3rd Grade level (Young Children)

Gary Paulsen is so prolific that we couldn't reasonably squeeze all of his books at the 3rd Grade level onto one page. (Imagine the scrolling... and scrolling!) So we are breaking them down into groups based on interest level.  NIGHTJOHN, for example, is definitely not for little ones.  It's a Young Adult book with some heavy themes.

The books on this list are at the Third Grade Reading level, but they are for young children.

FULL OF HOT AIR: 
Launching, Floating High, and Landing

4.4 STARS from 5 GoodReaders

Couldn't find a copy to review so we'll have to resort to the backcover description which says, "Gary Paulsen knows a lot about hot air ballooning, and he shares the information in witty high style. Illustrated with glorious color photographs taken by an internationally known balloonist."

No longer in print. This book is available on the used market --and at some lucky libraries.

Reading Information:
Word Count: 782
Accelerated Reading level: 3.0 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 7567


WORKSONG
illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen

3.53 avg rating — 34 ratings

People work. And in this book Gary and his wife, Ruth, celebrate all the different sorts of jobs and work that people do.

Personally, I like the artwork more than the poem.  But this is still a lovely book to share. One that can get conversation flowing...

It is keening noise and jolting sights,

and hammers flashing in the light,

and houses up 

and trees in sun,

and trucks on one more nighttime run. 

Word Count: 177
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 3.1 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 35675
Lexile: AD290L

DOGTEAM
illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen

3.54 avg rating — 61 ratings

In Dogteam, Paulsen draws upon his experience as a musher to bring to life a night run. The air is crisp..., frigid, and the dogs are eager to run. You will feel like you are whisking over the snow, past shadowed trees and wildlife on a moonlit night.

I really like this book. Here is a sample of the verse:

Wolves.
They come alongside in the moonlight,
moonwolves, snowwolves, nightwolves,
they run with us,
pace the dogs, pace our hearts and our lives
and then turn, turn away into the blue dark.

Ruth Wright Paulsen accompanies her husband's text with perfect images that capture the cold and motion and excitement of racing through the dark.

Word Count: 469
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 3.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 61739
--sample pages available

CANOE DAYS
illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen

3.72 avg rating — 67 ratings

Canoe Days takes a look at the life in and around a lake. The book begins with at paddler launching a canoe. It talks about the wonder of silence and beauty of sliding across the water. Children get to see a pike moving in the murky depths, and animals like foxes and racoons that frequent the shore in search of food and a drink.

The colors in Canoe Days are sunny. Bright blues and cheerful greens that are evocative of spring and summer. The text is lyrical and describes what the paddler hears and sees.

Sample:

Sometimes when it is still so still,
you can hear the swish
of a butterfly's wing --

sometimes when it is that still I take the canoe
out on the edge of the lake.

One stroke of the paddle and we are gone, the
canoe and me, moving silently.

Word Count: 379
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 3.5 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 31078
Lexile: AD840L
--sample pages available


To Find Gary Paulsen books at the 2rd Grade level, click here.

compiled by Pam
updated July 2014

GARY PAULSEN BOOKS at the 2nd Grade reading level

Gary Paulsen has written some lovely books for very young readers. These books can be shared and integrated in social studies and science classes. They can also be used as practice readers.

There are no books at the 1st Grade level, but here is a delightful Non-Fiction book at the 2nd Grade level which is available in Spanish as well as English.  To Find Part I of Gary Paulsen books at the 3rd Grade level, click here.

3.66 STARS from 28 GoodReaders

All 5 STARS from Amazon Reviewers

THE TORTILLA FACTORY is a beautiful little book from the Paulsens. With warm artwork and poetic text it describes how tortillas come from corn which is grown in the soil. And how that corn, when ground, makes its way from the fields to the kitchen table.

The Black Earth sleeps in winter.
But in the spring the black earth
is worked by brown hands
that plant yellow seeds,
which become green plants in rustling in the wind
and make golden corn to dry in
hot sun and be ground into flour
for the tortilla factory.

This slim volume is not only a great poetic read-aloud, it's useful. With text and pictures it introduces young children to patterns of life that they might not be aware of. It describes how the planting of corn is cyclical and in the rhythm of the seasons; and how the ground corn grain moves through our society so that it eventually nourishes those who grow it.

THE TORTILLA FACTORY
also here

Reading Information:
Word Count: 142
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 2.7 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 18383
--sample pages available
--other reviews available

La Tortillería

Brief Description: Las tortillas son clásicas de la cultura mexicana, ¿cómo se hacen? ¿con qué se hacen? Conoce esto y más en este interesante y poético libro.

Reading Information:
Word Count: 142
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 2.7 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 18383 SP
Lexile: 510L

To Find Gary Paulsen books for young children at the 3rd Grade level, click here.

compiled by Pam
updated July 2014

Gary Paulsen at the Third Grade level

This list has been updated with additional information and new images!  

You can find it here.

Gary Paulsen - Second Grade level

I have reworked this Post adding additional images and information.  You can find the new, updated post here.

Gary Paulsen Books for Adults

It's hard to believe but Gary Paulsen did write books that were not for children or young adults.

The Murphy series is a gritty western.


Murphy series

This series from Gary Paulsen was written for adults. We've included it because first, there is virtually no information out there about these books, and if there's one thing we hate, it's for book-information to fade away. Second, we've included this series because we plan to give as much information about Gary's books as we can, and so it didn't seem reasonable to exclude them. And third, we have included these adult books because there might be some Young Adults who would be interested in reading them.

Murphy
In Murphy the setting is established for the series. Al Murphy is an Irish man who escaped the ghetto's of the East by joining the army. After the service, which he didn't particularly enjoy, he wandered for awhile until he lands in Cincherville, Colorado where he takes one of the few paying jobs in the failed mining town. For less than a hundred dollars a month, he's the town sheriff. And despite being a small run down place, the town still manages to have some big town problems. And in this book the trouble begins with the vicious sexual attack and murder of a young girl.

The quality of the writing in this book is a little uneven, but the sense of building chaos is fairly effective as a prod to keep reading. There's a string of meaningless murders that follows the girl's death and I was definitely curious about how the author would wrap this one up.

I thought it was interesting to see Mr. Paulsen write about such a depressing theme. And it's entirely possible that my difficulties with the book stem from the fact that a part of me remained detached, watching him as he handled this the adult material. I've read the second book now, and think it's better. So if you like westerns at all, and love Gary Paulsen, let me recommend Murphy to you. Know though, that it might be hard tracking this book down.

Pam T~

Click to see this excerpt from 'Murphy'

NOTE::: Depending on how you define 'spoiler', there might be spoilers in the following book descriptions and comments.

Murphy's Gold

In the first book in this series we were not only introduced to sheriff Murphy and his main squeeze, Midge, but also many of the other inhabitants of Cincherville, Colorado. One of those people was Wangsu. In Murphy he as a minor character; a dignified and industrious Chinese man with a young family.

In Murphy's Gold he and his family take center stage. Unfortunately, it's not in a way that anyone would want. As the story opens, Wangsu's wife stoically reports to Murphy that her husband has been missing for over a week. And from that moment on the lying begins and everyone's story criss-crosses until Murphy gather's enough sense of it to untie all the knots and put things to right.


I thought the writing in Murphy's Gold was superior to that of the first volume. It has some very good imagery that is characteristic of Paulsen's style. And like he does in his Young Adult literature, Gary manages to spin a yarn in relatively few pages.

Enjoyed this one and am now searching the web for the Murphy's Herd and War.

Pam T~


Murphy's Herd

Al Murphy and Midge's plans to homestead go awry when an incident occurs that escalates into a bloody feud.

Murphy's War
When the lawless inhabitants of Fletcher, Wyoming, lynch a powerful Texan's son, Sheriff Al Murphy takes on the power-hungry feed store owner and his rowdy hired hands

Co-authored by Brian Burks

Murphy's Stand

Grieving over the death of his beloved Midge, Al Murphy, former sheriff of Cincherville, gets a new lease on life when his investigation into murder and intrigue involving a lucrative government contract leads to a struggle for survival.

Murphy's Ambush

In New Mexico, retired sheriff Al Murphy pins on his badge again after a rancher and his family are murdered by a band of Apaches. By the author of Murphy's Stand.

Murphy's Trail
Sheriff Al Murphy rushes to the aid of his friend Risa when her husband and sons disappear while on their way to report that cattleman Ben King has murdered two Mexican goat-herders, but he finds that going up against King is no easy task until he gets help from unlikely allies.