5th Grade Recommended Reading List

Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel details the adventures of the precocious Murry children as they travel across space and time to track down their missing father.

Inspired by true events, this award-winning novel by Katherine Applegate tells the story of a captive gorilla and the elephant he befriends.

A twelve-year-old girl searches for the truth about her family's Native American heritage.

This classic tale tells the story of the Clock family, a group of tiny people who live under the floorboards of a grandfather clock, and survive by sneakily "borrowing" food and small items from the humans who live in the house.

In this tale of pirates and plunder, Jim Hawkins sets out for Skeleton Island to find buried treasure.

An orphan runs away from his guardians to search for a real home. On his journey, he performs feats of athleticism and confronts racial prejudice.

On his eleventh birthday, orphan Harry Potter learns the shocking truth: he's a wizard about to begin his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Following the death of their parents, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to live with Count Olaf, who plots to steal their inheritance.

In this dark and creepy novel, a young girl finds a door to another world that is strangely like her own — but filled with danger.

During a cyclone, Dorothy Gale and her dog are transported from Kansas to a strange land where she seeks a wizard to help them get home.

Jess and Leslie spend their free time playing in the fantasy land of Terabithia; but when tragedy strikes, one of them will have to learn to cope with loss in the real world.

In this novel, a boy with facial anomalies tries to navigate the sometimes treacherous world of public school.

A boy named Salva struggles to survive after being separated from his family in war-torn Sudan. A girl named Nya spends hours each day collecting water for her parents and sister. Their lives eventually intersect in this novel based on a true story.

Marly's family moves to the country to help her father, a World War II veteran, find peace and joy.

Stuart Little may be a mouse, but he grows up with a human family and embarks on many bold adventures.

With a name that translates into Stout Heart, fifteen-year-old Mafatu, the son of the Great Chief of the Polynesian island of Hikueru, is determined to conquer his fear of the sea.

On a frozen lake, seventh-grader Charlotte Brennan reels in a tiny fish that offers to grant her a wish if she sets it free.

Percy Jackson's normal life is turned upside down when gods from Greek mythology accuse him of stealing a supernatural weapon. Percy must find the real thief — and figure out his connection to the gods.

During World War II, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her family take part in a courageous effort to protect the Jewish citizens of Denmark from the Nazis.

In this novel filled with wordplay, the eternally bored Milo travels to the Lands Beyond and embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason. Learn these words from Norton Juster's beloved classic.

Eleven-year-old Harriet faces difficulties when her personal notebook — full of detailed observations about her friends, classmates, and neighbors — ends up in the wrong hands.

In the first volume of the beloved Chronicles of Prydain series, an assistant pig-keeper embarks on an epic quest.

After meeting the Tucks, a family that is able to live forever after drinking from a magical spring, Winnie Foster questions whether immortality is a blessing or a curse.

During World War II, ten-year-old Ada and her brother are sent from London to the countryside, where Ada experiences freedom and kindness for the first time.

This classic novel tells the story of three pets who go on a quest through the wilderness to reunite with their owner.

While shopping for groceries, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni finds a dog that will change her life.

Written in free verse, this Newbery Medal-winning novel details the struggles of an Oklahoman teenager during the dust-filled years of the Great Depression.

In this graphic novel, Astrid deals with changing friendships during a summer at roller derby camp.

Fleeing to America to escape the Vietnam War, Hà and her family end up in Alabama, where they must adapt to a new culture. This novel in verse was inspired by author Thanhha Lai's own experiences.

The sole survivor of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson will need resourcefulness, courage, and strength in order to stay alive.

When tragedy strikes, Esperanza's family has to leave their ranch in Mexico and move to a farmworkers' camp during the Great Depression.

Willow Chance is an offbeat genius whose life is thrown off course when her adoptive parents die in a tragic accident.

After taking a strange exam, four children are admitted to a secret society and tasked with infiltrating the sinister Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened.

In the summer of 1968, three sisters travel to California to visit their estranged mother. While there, they learn about the fight for equality and civil rights.

This nonfiction account follows Dr. Meg Lowman as she explores the rainforest.

This biography recounts the work of Philo Farnsworth, the first person to transmit a television image.

This nonfiction book explores innovations developed by Inuit communities to survive the harsh Arctic environment.