Children have welcomed the Harry Potter books in recent years like free ice cream in the cafeteria, but the nation's largest survey ever of youthful reading shows that the works of Dr. Seuss, E.B. White, Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton and Harper Lee are still the most read.
Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader software was the source of the survey of more than 3 million children.
It quizzes students to see whether they understand specific books, awarding points based on the average sentence length, average word length, word difficulty level and total words.
The five most popular books from each grade level are listed below. You can also download a complete copy of the report by going to the Renaissance Learning website. It's worth a look and has a printable version for a more comprehensive list of books.
First grade
1. "Green Eggs and Ham," Dr. Seuss
2. "The Foot Book," Dr. Seuss
3. "Are You My Mother?" P.D. Eastman
4. "Hop on Pop," Dr. Seuss
5. "Biscuit," Alyssa Capucilli
Second grade
1. "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," Laura Numeroff
2. "Green Eggs and Ham"
3. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," Eric Carle
4. "If You Give a Moose a Muffin," Numeroff
5. "If You Give a Pig a Pancake," Numeroff
Third grade
1. "Charlotte's Web," E.B. White
2. "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," Judi Barrett
3. "Officer Buckle and Gloria," Peggy Rathmann
4. "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs," Jon Scieszka
5. "Dogzilla," Dav Pilkey
Fourth grade
1. "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing," Judy Blume
2. "Sarah, Plain and Tall," Patricia MacLachlan
3. "Because of Winn-Dixie," Kate DiCamillo
4. "Charlotte's Web"
5. "Stone Fox," John Gardiner
Fifth grade
1. "Bridge to Terabithia," Katherine Paterson
2. "Hatchet," Gary Paulsen
3. "Holes," Louis Sachar
4. "The Sign of the Beaver," Elizabeth Speare
5. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," J.K. Rowling
Sixth grade
1. "Hatchet"
2. "Bridge to Terabithia"
3. "Holes"
4. "Number the Stars," Lois Lowry
5. "The Bad Beginning," Lemony Snicket
Seventh grade
1. "The Outsiders," S.E. Hinton
2. "Holes"
3. "The Giver," Lowry
4. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
5. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Rowling
Eighth grade
1. "The Outsiders"
2. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"
3. "The Giver"
4. "Holes"
5. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," Rowling
Ninth-12th grade
1. "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee
2. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"
3. "Of Mice and Men," John Steinbeck
4. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
5. "A Child Called 'It,' " Dave Pelzer
Three of the top five novels for sixth grade were required reading when I taught sixth grade. I do love the classics, but I'm glad to see that a few new books made the list. Plus, let's not overlook the fact that some books are on the "most read" list because they are part of the curriculum.