Grade 2 Reading List

Recommended by educators at top U.S. gifted and talented school

An excellent reading list for 2nd graders, including classic fiction titles and non-fiction books.  

FICTION

  • The Seeing Stick
  • My Name Is Maria Isabel
  • The Other Side
  • Grandfather's Journey (1994 Caldecott Medal)
  • Tar Beach
  • Little House in the Big Woods (Little House)
  • Farmer Boy (Little House)
  • Little House on the Prairie (Little House)
  • The BFG
  • James and the Giant Peach
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  • Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
  • Matilda
  • Roald Dahl Collection
  • Arthur, For the Very First Time
  • Hatchet (1988 Newbery Honor)
  • Freaky Friday
  • The Computer Nut
  • Harlem
  • How to Eat Fried Worms
  • Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
  • Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
  • The Boys Start the War (Boy/Girl Battle)
  • The Girls Get Even (Boy/Girl Battle)
  • The Cartoonist


NON-FICTION

  • D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
  • D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
  • And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
  • Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?
  • What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?
  • Shh! We're Writing the Constitution
  • Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?
  • The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
  • Facing West: A Story of the Oregon Trail
  • Birds of Prey: A Look at Daytime Raptors
  • The American Revolution
  • Favorite Greek Myths