AR Levels of the 100 Most Popular Children's Books (September 2026)

These are the 100 books that parents and teachers looked up most on ReadBuddy in September 2026, ranked by visits from Google search, with each one's Accelerated Reader (ATOS) level and the grade band it sits in. Data: September 2026; refreshed with each monthly review.

Median AR level: 3.2
Below AR 3.0: 40
AR 5.0 and up: 8

#	Book	Author	AR level	Text level
1	Ivy and Bean	Annie Barrows	3.2	Grades 3–4
2	Mango, Abuela, and Me	Meg Medina	2.5	Grades 2–3
3	The Wild Robot	Peter Brown	4.0	Grades 4–5
4	Mercy Watson to the Rescue	Kate DiCamillo	2.7	Grades 2–3
5	The Lemonade War	Jacqueline Davies	4.1	Grades 4–5
6	The Littles	John Peterson	3.2	Grades 3–4
7	The Enormous Crocodile	Roald Dahl	3.2	Grades 3–4
8	Splat the Cat: Splat the Cat Sings Flat	Rob Scotton	2.0	Grades 2–3
9	I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001 (I Survived #6)	Lauren Tarshis	4.5	Grades 4–5
10	Dragons Love Tacos	Adam Rubin	2.3	Grades 2–3
11	Spy School	Stuart Gibbs	5.4	Grades 5–6
12	The Borrowers	Mary Norton	4.3	Grades 4–5
13	Wish	Barbara O'Connor	4.2	Grades 4–5
14	I Survived Hurricane Katrina 2005	Lauren Tarshis	4.0	Grades 4–5
15	Stanley, Flat Again!	Jeff Brown	3.0	Grades 3–4
16	Small Steps	Louis Sachar	3.0	Grades 3–4
17	Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse	Kevin Henkes	2.1	Grades 2–3
18	The Crossover	Kwame Alexander	4.5	Grades 4–5
19	Bad Kitty	Nick Bruel	1.4	Grades 1–2
20	Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes	Eric Litwin, James Dean	1.5	Grades 1–2
21	MY FATHER'S DRAGON	Grandma's Treasures, Ruth Stiles Gannett	3.2	Grades 3–4
22	The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell	Chris Colfer	4.8	Grades 4–5
23	Love That Dog	Sharon Creech	3.9	Grades 3–4
24	The Proudest Blue	Ibtihaj Muhammad	2.2	Grades 2–3
25	Llama Llama Red Pajama	Anna Dewdney	1.2	Grades 1–2
26	Clementine	Sara Pennypacker	3.5	Grades 3–4
27	Where the Mountain Meets the Moon	Grace Lin	4.3	Grades 4–5
28	A to Z Mysteries: The Bald Bandit	Ron Roy	3.2	Grades 3–4
29	Junie B. Jones #20: Toothless Wonder	Barbara Park	2.8	Grades 2–3
30	Spoon	Amy Krouse Rosenthal	2.1	Grades 2–3
31	Happy Pig Day!	Mo Willems	1.0	Grades 1–2
32	Nate the Great and the Lost List	Marjorie Weinman Sharmat	2.6	Grades 2–3
33	Jake Drake, Know-It-All	Andrew Clements	3.5	Grades 3–4
34	Pinkalicious	Victoria Kann, Elizabeth Kann	2.3	Grades 2–3
35	Inside Out & Back Again	Thanhha Lai	4.8	Grades 4–5
36	Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library	Chris Grabenstein	5.2	Grades 5–6
37	Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go (Book 2)	Annie Barrows	3.2	Grades 3–4
38	Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #7): From the Creator of Captain Underpants	Dav Pilkey	2.6	Grades 2–3
39	The Boxcar Children	Gertrude Chandler Warner	3.2	Grades 3–4
40	Bunnicula	Deborah Howe, James Howe	4.1	Grades 4–5
41	The Last Kids on Earth and the Destructor's Lair	Max Brallier	4.5	Grades 4–5
42	Amari and the Night Brothers	B. B. Alston	3.8	Grades 3–4
43	Stuart Little E.B. White	Unknown	6.0	Grades 6–7
44	Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories	R. J. Palacio	5.2	Grades 5–6
45	The Bad Guys in Alien vs Bad Guys (The Bad Guys #6)	Aaron Blabey	2.6	Grades 2–3
46	Junie B. Jones #21: Cheater Pants	Barbara Park	2.8	Grades 2–3
47	The Bad Guys in the Baddest Day Ever (The Bad Guys #10)	Aaron Blabey	2.6	Grades 2–3
48	Slacker	Gordon Korman	4.2	Grades 4–5
49	Judy Moody, Mood Martian	Megan McDonald	3.5	Grades 3–4
50	Blubber	Judy Blume	4.0	Grades 4–5
51	Blueberries for Sal	Robert McCloskey	2.3	Grades 2–3
52	Owl at Home	Arnold Lobel	2.0	Grades 2–3
53	Other Words for Home	Jasmine Warga	4.1	Grades 4–5
54	Henry And Mudge Take the Big Test	Cynthia Rylant	2.4	Grades 2–3
55	The Cat in the Hat.	Dr. Seuss	1.7	Grades 1–2
56	I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967 (I Survived #17)	Lauren Tarshis	4.0	Grades 4–5
57	Belly Up	Stuart Gibbs	5.0	Grades 5–6
58	The Tiger who Came to Tea	Judith Kerr	2.5	Grades 2–3
59	A Woodland Wedding	Rebecca Elliott	2.8	Grades 2–3
60	The Invention of Hugo Cabret	Brian Selznick	3.8	Grades 3–4
61	Battle of the Labyrinth	Rick Riordan	4.1	Grades 4–5
62	Ella Enchanted	Gail Carson Levine	4.7	Grades 4–5
63	Odd and the Frost Giants	Neil Gaiman	4.3	Grades 4–5
64	39 Clues: One False Note: A Graphic Novel (39 Clues Graphic Novel #2)	Gordon Korman	3.5	Grades 3–4
65	The First Rule of Punk	Celia C. Pérez	4.5	Grades 4–5
66	Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot	Dav Pilkey	2.9	Grades 2–3
67	Mac Undercover (Mac B, Kid Spy #1)	Mike Lowery	3.7	Grades 3–4
68	The Bad Guys in Dawn of the Underlord (The Bad Guys #11)	Aaron Blabey	2.6	Grades 2–3
69	Moon Over Manifest	Clare Vanderpool	5.3	Grades 5–6
70	Purplicious	Victoria Kann	2.3	Grades 2–3
71	Superfudge	Judy Blume	3.9	Grades 3–4
72	The Princess in Black	Shannon Hale, Dean Hale	2.3	Grades 2–3
73	Scaredy-Pug: A Branches Book (Diary of a Pug #5)	Kyla May	2.3	Grades 2–3
74	Should I Share My Ice Cream?	Mo Willems	1.2	Grades 1–2
75	I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 (I Survived #1)	Lauren Tarshis	3.1	Grades 3–4
76	Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business	Barbara Park	2.9	Grades 2–3
77	Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #6)	Jeff Kinney	5.2	Grades 5–6
78	My Weird School #2: Mr. Klutz Is Nuts!	Dan Gutman	3.8	Grades 3–4
79	Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret	Wanda Coven	2.2	Grades 2–3
80	Make Way for Ducklings	Robert McCloskey	2.1	Grades 2–3
81	Strega Nona	Unknown	2.7	Grades 2–3
82	Heroes of Olympus, The, Book Five: the Blood of Olympus, the Graphic Novel	Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti	5.3	Grades 5–6
83	The Bad Guys in Intergalactic Gas (The Bad Guys #5)	Aaron Blabey	2.5	Grades 2–3
84	The Hive Queen (Wings of Fire #12)	Tui T. Sutherland	4.5	Grades 4–5
85	The Velveteen Rabbit	Margery Williams Bianco	4.6	Grades 4–5
86	The School is Alive!: A Branches Book (Eerie Elementary #1)	Jack Chabert	3.0	Grades 3–4
87	The Horse and his Boy	C. S. Lewis	4.8	Grades 4–5
88	The Bad Guys in The Furball Strikes Back (The Bad Guys #3)	Aaron Blabey	2.4	Grades 2–3
89	Viking Ships at Sunrise	Mary Pope Osborne	3.3	Grades 3–4
90	The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid (Geronimo Stilton #2)	Geronimo Stilton	3.5	Grades 3–4
91	The Science Fair is Freaky!: A Branches Book (Eerie Elementary #4)	Jack Chabert	3.3	Grades 3–4
92	The Last Kids on Earth and the Skeleton Road	Max Brallier	4.5	Grades 4–5
93	The Bad Guys in One Last Thing (The Bad Guys #20)	Aaron Blabey	2.6	Grades 2–3
94	The Pain and the Great One	Judy Blume	3.1	Grades 3–4
95	Henry and Mudge Get the Cold Shivers	Cynthia Rylant	2.1	Grades 2–3
96	The Bad Guys in Open Wide and Say Arrrgh! (The Bad Guys #15)	Aaron Blabey	3.5	Grades 3–4
97	Search for the Lightning Dragon	Tracey West	3.1	Grades 3–4
98	Mouse Tales	Arnold Lobel	2.2	Grades 2–3
99	Catwings Return	Ursula K. Le Guin	2.9	Grades 2–3
100	Miss Daisy is Crazy!	Dan Gutman	4.3	Grades 4–5

Method. Google Search Console, read-buddy.ai, 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30, ranked by clicks to the book page. AR levels are the ATOS book levels shown on each ReadBuddy book page; “text level” is the grade that level corresponds to on the ATOS scale, not the age the book is recommended for. Popularity reflects what people searched for and clicked, not sales.

Reuse. You are welcome to quote or republish this table with a link to this page. For what the numbers mean, see AR reading levels explained.

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