BOOKS FOR GRADES 5 AND 6
Alexander, Lloyd. THE BOOK OF THREE. Holt, 1964. * Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to a famous oracular sow, sets out on a hazardous mission to save Prydain from the forces of evil.
Avi. BEYOND THE WESTERN SEA: THE ESCAPE FROM HOME. Orchard, 1996. Driven from
their impoverished Irish village, fifteen-year-old Maura and her younger brother
meet their landlord's runaway son in Liverpool while all three wait for a ship
to America; their fates continue to intertwine on board ship and in the New
World.
LORD KIRKLE'S MONEY. Orchard, 1996. Continues the adventures of Laurence Kirkle
and Maura and Patrick O'Connell as they journey across the ocean and arrive in
the New World.
Babbitt, Natalie. TUCK EVERLASTING. Farrar, 1975. The Tuck family finds out that living forever is more of a curse than a blessing.
Bellairs, John. THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS. Dial, 1973. * A boy goes to live with his magician uncle in a mansion that has a clock hidden in the walls which is ticking off the minutes until doomsday.
Burnford, Sheila. THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY. Bantam, 1990. A Siamese cat, an old bull terrier, and a young Labrador retriever travel together 250 miles through the Canadian wilderness to find their family.
Byars, Betsy. THE BURNING QUESTIONS OF BINGO BROWN. Viking, 1988. * Bingo has questions about everything, from how did he fall in love with three girls in two months, to why is his teacher so weird?
Christopher, John. THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. Macmillan, 1967. * Young Will Parker and his companions make a perilous journey toward an outpost of freedom where they hope to escape from the ruling Tripods, who capture mature human beings and make them docile, obedient servants.
Cleaver, Vera & Bill. WHERE THE LILIES BLOOM. Lippincott, 1969. Mary Call secretly buries her own father at night so that her nosy neighbors don't find out her father is dead and then force her and her brother and sister into the county charity home.
Collier, James Lincoln. MY BROTHER SAM IS DEAD. Four Winds, 1974. Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.
Coman, Carolyn. TELL ME EVERYTHING. Farrar, 1993. After her mother dies in a rescue mission on a snowy mountain, twelve-year-old Roz wonders if talking to God, and to the boy for whom her mother died, can help her understand what happened.
Cooper, Susan. THE BOGGART. McElderry, 1993. * After visiting the castle in Scotland which her family has inherited and returning home to Canada, twelve-year-old Emily finds that she has accidentally brought back with her a boggart, an invisible and mischievous spirit with a fondness for practical jokes.
Cooper, Susan. THE DARK IS RISING. Atheneum, 1973. * One in a series of five books filled with folklore and legend in which the Powers of Dark fight the Servants of Light.
Cushman, Karen. THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE. Clarion, 1995. In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.
DeFelice, Cynthia. WEASEL. Macmillan, 1990. Alone in the frontier wilderness in the winter of 1839, eleven-year-old Nathan has a run-in with the renegade killer known as Weasel.
Eager, Edward. HALF MAGIC. Harcourt, 1954. Bored with their summer vacation, Jane, Mark, Katharine and Martha become enthralled in magic books from the local library, and later find a magic coin that brings wild and unexpected adventures.
Fine, Anne. FLOUR BABIES. Little, 1994. When his class is assigned to spend three torturous weeks taking care of their own "babies" in the form of bags of flour, Simon makes amazing discoveries about himself.
Fitzgerald, John D. THE GREAT BRAIN. Dial, 1967. * Tom Fitzgerald has a money-loving heart, and he's out to swindle everyone, even his brother and best friends.
Freedman, Russell. LINCOLN: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY. Clarion, 1987. Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President.
George, Jean Craighead. JULIE OF THE WOLVES. Harper, 1972. While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.
Hahn, Mary Downing. STEPPING ON THE CRACKS. Clarion, 1991. * In 1944, while her brother is overseas fighting in World War II, Margaret gets a new view of the school bully, Gordy, when she finds him hiding his own brother, an army deserter.
Hahn, Mary Downing. WAIT TILL HELEN COMES: A GHOST STORY. Clarion, 1986. Molly and Michael dislike their spooky new stepsister Heather but realize that they must try to save her when she seems ready to follow a ghost child to her doom.
Henkes, Kevin. PROTECTING MARIE. Greenwillow, 1995. Fanny has difficulty trusting her artist father after he gives away her beloved dog.
Hesse, Karen. LETTERS FROM RIFKA. Holt, 1992. In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl tells of her family's flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she is left behind in Belgium for health reasons, and then must travel alone.
Kehret, Peg. SMALL STEPS: THE YEAR I GOT POLIO. Whitman, 1996. The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating efforts.
King-Smith, Dick. BABE: THE GALLANT PIG. Crown, 1985. A piglet destined for eventual butchering arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success.
Konigsburg, E. L. FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. Atheneum, 1967. To teach their parents a lesson, Claudia and her younger brother Jamie run away to live secretly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Korman, Gordon. RADIO FIFTH GRADE. Scholastic, 1989. Mayhem breaks out in the fifth grade when the Venice Menace bullies his classmates into letting him become a regular guest on "Kidsview," the school's radio program.
Krull, Kathleen. LIVES OF MUSICIANS: GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES (AND WHAT THE NEIGHBORS THOUGHT). Harcourt, 1993. Presents information and good gossip about the lives of twenty composers and musicians, ranging from Mozart to Gershwin to Woody Guthrie.
L'Engle, Madeleine. A WRINKLE IN TIME. Farrar, 1962. * Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and search for Meg's father, who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
Levine, Gail Carson. ELLA ENCHANTED. HarperCollins, 1997. In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.
Lister, Robin. THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR. Doubleday, 1989. In fourteen tales about King Arthur, Lister begins with the wizard Merlin and ends with the departure of Arthur for the magical island of Avalon.
Little, Jean. LITTLE BY LITTLE: A WRITER'S EDUCATION. Viking, 1987. Born nearly blind, Little spent her first years in China, moved to Canada at age seven, struggled to do things like a "normal" person despite her blindness, and then grew up to be a famous author.
Littlefield, Bill. CHAMPIONS: STORIES OF TEN REMARKABLE ATHLETES. Little, 1993. Profiles athletes who have made extraordinary achievements and given something back to their sports.
Macaulay, David. THE WAY THINGS WORK, rev. ed. Houghton, 1998. Text and numerous detailed illustrations introduce and explain the scientific principles and workings of hundreds of machines.
MacLachlan, Patricia. ARTHUR, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. Harper, 1980. Recounts the summer Arthur spent with his off-beat relatives who climb trees and speak French to their chicken.
Mahy, Margaret. THE HAUNTING. Atheneum, 1983. After a shy and rather withdrawn eight-year-old begins receiving frightening supernatural images and messages, he learns about a family legacy which could be considered a curse or a rare gift.
McGraw, Eloise Jarvis. THE MOORCHILD. S&S, 1996. Feeling that she is neither fully human nor "Folk," a changeling learns her true identity and attempts to find the human child whose place she had been given.
Murphy, Jim. THE GREAT FIRE. Scholastic, 1995. Follows the progress of the Great Fire of 1871 that took place in Chicago, Illinois.
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. THE AGONY OF ALICE. Atheneum, 1985. * Eleven-year-old, motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role model who does everything right; so when placed in homely Mrs. Plotkin's class, she is greatly disappointed until she discovers it's what people are inside that counts.
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. SHILOH. Atheneum, 1991. * When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.
Norton, Mary. THE BORROWERS. Harcourt, 1953. * The Borrowers live in a miniature world inside a grandfather clock, using implements such as match boxes for a chest of drawers, an aspirin bottle cap for a washbasin and postage stamps for pictures.
Orlev, Uri. THE ISLAND ON BIRD STREET. Houghton, 1984. During World War II, a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Paterson, Katherine. THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS. Crowell, 1978. An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly. Paterson, Katherine. LYDDIE. Dutton, 1991. Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840's.
Paulsen, Gary. HATCHET. Viking, 1988. After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother.
Pearce, Philippa. TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN. Lippincott, 1958. When Tom reluctantly goes to stay with his aunt and uncle while his brother is sick at home, he discovers when the clock strikes thirteen that he is able to travel back in time where he meets a new friend, Hatty, in her Victorian garden.
Raskin, Ellen. THE WESTING GAME. Dutton, 1978. The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must solve the mystery of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
Rowling, J. K. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. Scholastic, 1998. Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School.
Sachar, Louis. HOLES. Farrar, 1998. As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
Skurzynski, Gloria. WHAT HAPPENED IN HAMELIN. Four Winds, 1979. A novel of the Pied Piper legend told from the standpoint of a 14-year-old baker's assistant who dreams of freedom from his harsh medieval life and of a new life with the piper.
Sleator, Wiliam. INTERSTELLAR PIG. Dutton, 1984. Barney's boring seaside vacation suddenly becomes more interesting when he meets three exotic neighbors who are addicted to a science-fiction game they call Interstellar Pig.
Slote, Alfred. FINDING BUCK MCHENRY. HarperCollins, 1991. Eleven-year-old Jason, believing the school custodian Mack Henry to be Buck McHenry, a famous pitcher from the old Negro League, tries to enlist him as a coach for his Little League team by revealing his identity to the world.
Speare, Elizabeth George. THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER. Houghton, 1983. Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.
Spinelli, Jerry. MANIAC MAGEE. Little, 1990. After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary as he accomplishes incredible athletic and other feats.
Stanley, Diane. THE TRUE ADVENTURE OF DANIEL HALL. Dial, 1995. Based on an autobiographical account, this tells of the adventures of a New Bedford boy in 1856 who signed on a whaler and jumped ship in Siberia.
Taylor, Mildred D. ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY. Dial, 1976. * A black family living in the South during the 1930's are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.
Tolkien, J. R. R. THE HOBBIT. Houghton, 1984. Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to share in an adventure from which he may never return.
Voigt, Cynthia. DICEY'S SONG. Atheneum, 1982. * Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey finds that their new beginnings require love, trust, humor, and courage.
Winthrop, Elizabeth. THE CASTLE IN THE ATTIC. Holiday, 1985. * A gift of a toy castle, complete with silver knight, introduces William to an adventure involving magic and a personal quest.
Wrede, Patricia. DEALING WITH DRAGONS. Harcourt, 1990. * Bored with palace life, a princess goes off to live with a group of dragons and soon becomes involved in fighting against some wizards who want to steal away the dragons' kingdom.
These are just a few of the many fine books that fifth and sixth graders enjoy. Ask your local librarian for further suggestions.
Compiled in 1996 by M. J. Manahan, Julie Pickett, Carol Scrimgeour, Sue B. Wade and Grace W. Greene for the Vermont Department of Libraries, Montpelier, VT 05609.
Updated in 1998 by Grace Greene, Children's Services Consultant for the Vermont Department of Libraries and Leda Schubert, School Library Media Consultant for the Department of Education. *indicates a book which is part of a series. Grace W. Greene Children's Services Consultant Vermont Dept. of Libraries 109 State St. Montpelier, VT 05609 802-828-3261 ggreene@dol.state.vt.us