Great picks for 5th graders
Processing Request
Books for 5th Grade
Chapter Books
*also available on audiobook or playaway
All the Answers by Kate Messner
What if your pencil had all the answers? Would you ace every test? Would you know what your teachers were thinking? When Ava Anderson finds a scratched up pencil, she doodles like she would with any other pencil. But when she writes a question in the margin of her math quiz, she hears a clear answer in a voice no one else seems to hear.
The Breadwinner (series) by Deborah Ellis*
The first book in Deborah Ellis’s riveting Breadwinner series is an award-winning novel about loyalty, survival, families, and friendship under extraordinary circumstances during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.
To avoid a fight, Marshall takes a shortcut home through the off-limits woods. Tamaya, unaware of the reason for the detour, reluctantly follows. They soon get lost. And then they find trouble. Bigger trouble than anyone could ever have imagined. What they uncover might affect the future of the world.
The Eighth Day (series) by Dianne K. Salerni
Thirteen-year-old Jax Aubrey discovers a secret Eighth Day with roots tracing back to Arthurian legend. Fans of Percy Jackson will devour this first book in a new series that combines exciting magic and pulse-pounding suspense.
Jed and the Junkyard War by Steven Bohls
Jed must travel to a strange world--where junk is gold and menacing pirate automatons rule the skies--to save his parents.
Wherever Nate Harlow goes, bad luck seems to follow. He has never even won a coin toss, so it comes as no surprise to many residents of Paradise Beach that it is Nate who gets struck by lightning out of the literal blue on his 11th birthday. What does come as a big surprise is that Nate's luck seems to change drastically after the strike.
Murder is Bad Manners (series) by Robin Stevens
This series opener introduces a pair of boarding school sleuths covertly detecting a death no one else realizes has occurred. Narrator Hazel Wong, a sturdy Hong Kong transplant, and charismatic English Rose Daisy Wells forge a friendship based on their mutual deception of their classmates.
One Crazy Summer (series) by Rita Williams-Garcia
In this Newbery Honor novel, New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them.
Posted by John David Anderson*
When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes—though for every friendly one, there is a cruel one as well. A humorous and original contemporary story about bullying, broken friendships and the failures of communication between kids.
Although separated by continents and decades, Josef, a Jewish boy livng in 1930s Nazi Germany; Isabel, a Cuban girl trying to escape the riots and unrest plaguing her country in 1994; and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015 whose homeland is torn apart by violence and destruction, embark on harrowing journeys in search of refuge.
Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . . starting with his own name. When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return. Some kids treat him like a hero but some kids are clearly afraid of him.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (series) by Grace Lin*
A wondrous story of adventure, faith, and friendship, this book is a fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore and is reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. Her beautiful illustrations, printed in full-color, accompany the text throughout.
York: the Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby*
An epic alternate history series about three kids who try to solve the greatest mystery of the modern world: a puzzle and treasure hunt laid into the very streets and buildings of New York City.
Other titles
Unidentified Suburban Object by Mike Jung
Class Dismissed by Allan Woodrow
Because of Mr. Terupt (series) by Rob Buyea
Pennyroyal Academy (series) by M.A. Larson