Books for 5th Graders

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Books for 5th Graders

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1bluesalamanders
Redigerat: jun 4, 2007, 11:05 am

My mom is teaching 5th grade for the first time next year - she's taught 1st grade for the past 10 years - and she's looking for suggestions for books for 5th graders. I told her I would ask on LT, since the people here are so good at giving suggestions.

If you have any suggestions, PLEASE include a summary, since she doesn't have time to read all the books this summer.

Thank you!!

Edit: She's mostly looking for books for the kids to read by themselves, I think.

2hearts3134 Första inlägget
jun 5, 2007, 11:21 pm

I am in a similar situation, I taught 1st grade for four years and last year taught 4th grade. I recommend, of course, Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket. Also The Westing Game which is sort of a mystery about a rich old man who leaves clues for his potential heirs to figure out. Whoever does it, gets the inheritance. I'll check with one of my teammates and see what else she thinks of (she taught a group of 3rd-5th graders on a 6th/ 7th grade reading level). Good luck, it's an adventure!

3bluesalamanders
jun 6, 2007, 7:00 am

She just got Lemony Snicket but hasn't had a chance to read them, and she does have Harry Potter. The Westing Game is new, though. Thank you!

4hearts3134
jun 14, 2007, 10:18 pm

I hope she likes it, I enjoyed it enough just reading The Westing Game to myself. There is also Island of the Blue Dolphins for a more female centric main character. I also remember On My Honor from my internship in 5th grade about two boys that one of them has an accident and is (hurt? killed? I don't remember) and the other has to decide whether to tell the truth or not. Don't forget to check the basal reading series for books they have excerpts from, lots of kids really want to finish something they have started on. Enjoy! I hope she has enough material to at least get started!

5ysar Första inlägget
jun 14, 2007, 10:23 pm

I would suggest the Narnia books. I read them all in 5th grade (only the first one was part of the assignment, but the teacher loaned me the others).

6ravent
jun 21, 2007, 7:30 am

Hi,
I've taught fifth grade for 4 years and my students absolutely loved the Shadow children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I read it as a read aloud, but it is one that most students could read independently. The series involves shadow children who have to hide because they were the third born in their families.In this society,families are only allowed two children due to a famine. Lots of action and twists and turns.Not science fictiony.

Bridge to Terabithia
Tuck Everlasting
My Brother Sam is Dead James Collier
Anything by James Collier--Historical Fiction
Lion Witch and the Wardrobe
Jerry Spinnelli books Frindle sparked a nice writing assignment about inventions

Hope this helped!

7KimB
jun 21, 2007, 8:26 pm

Just finished The search for delicious. Another charming tale by Natalie Babbitt. I found that the end result was well worth the search. Going to release it for bookcrossing.

8zodiacdeb
aug 13, 2007, 5:14 pm

If I'm not too late with this, I'm betting they would love the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.

9lateboy Första inlägget
aug 15, 2007, 3:16 pm

Here are a few ideas:

Where the Red Fern Grows (deals with the loss of pets)
Goodnight Mr. Tom (an intense book maybe too old for 5th)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (short stories by Roald Dahl)
Neverending Story (complex fairy tale)
Coraline (dark and scary)

10zodiacdeb
aug 16, 2007, 8:14 pm

Coraline is wonderful.

11miketeach Första inlägget
aug 16, 2007, 10:45 pm

Hi-
I teach fifth grade and these are some of the hot titles kids have been reading the past few years.

1. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman -- need to be a strong reader and thinker (esp. for the third volume)

2. The Charlie Bones series by Jenny (?) Nimmo-- sort of a Harry Potteresque series

3. The Kidnapped series -- about a girl who is kidnapped and her brother's attempts to track her down - Don't remember the author -- maybe Haddix?

4. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer -- boy thieves, fairies who live under the ground - great stuff

Hope this helps.

12Kira
aug 17, 2007, 8:00 am

>11 miketeach: I think the Kidnapped series you are talking about is by Gordon Korman. Or if not he has a similar sounding one.

13TeacherDad
aug 26, 2007, 1:16 am

for historical fiction Midred Taylor and Katherine Peterson are excellent, there's a series of updated fairy tales by Jane Yolen, and Holes by Louis Sachar... just a few ideas

14julielynn44
sep 3, 2007, 2:01 am

Well it definitely depends on if you are talking about books to use for teaching reading or for kids to read independently. But I will do a little of both.

There are a few good books about war since that is usually a standard in 5th grade:
Across Five Aprils
My Brother Sam is Dead
The War Within: A novel of the civil war
Across Rebel Lines

The books I see the kids really liking lately are Nancy Drew books, Warriors: Power of three series, The land of Elyon Series, The Sisters Grimm series, The Indian in the cupboard, The City of Ember, BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The spiderwick cronicles, Inkspell, The Fire Within,

Then the ones I think are good to suggest to kids or read in reading groups are: The phantom tollbooth, Hatchet, Brian's winter, My side of the Mountain, Tuck Everlasting, Number the Stars, The Giver, Holes, Dear Mr. Henshaw, Walk two moons, The House of the Scorpion, Touching Spirit Bear, Actually any of the books on my list of children's literature would be good as well.

Hope that helps.

15annamorphic
sep 3, 2007, 9:13 pm

A book that I adored at this age, and that my three extremely different all enjoyed immensely as well, is Cheaper by the Dozen. It's got interesting things to discuss and although the recent movie isn't based on the book, really, it's got a lot of references that the kids get and enjoy.

We are now reading, and liking, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken.

16homeschoolmom
sep 3, 2007, 10:05 pm

I have a question for all the teachers out there. We homeschool and most of what we read aloud or alone is classic lit, although we do throw other stuff in there. I have nothing against Harry Potter, or anything like that. In fact, we own it, but haven't started it yet. I just have a question. Do you find that its difficult to get the kids to turn to more classic lit with all the other more popular choices out there? I was just curiuos as to what you were finding was common in your classrooms.

Thanks!

17maggie1944
sep 3, 2007, 10:39 pm

I used to teach 5th grade and I loved Where the Red Fern Grows, about raising and losing hunting dogs. I read it aloud to my combined 5th and 6th graders and I needed to cry at the end so much that I had a kid read the finish aloud. It was quite the moment.

I found my librarian at school to be very helpful in suggesting books. I also shopped at Goodwill or other thrift stores for childrens books. Usually if they are in a thrift store someone has loved them enough to pass them on.

I also loved Caddie Woodlawn - similar to the growing up on the prairie genre but sometimes over looked. Out of the Dust is a wonderful, realistic and maybe harsh account of growing up in the dust bowl and having to cope with very grown-up issues while still a child.

I think the way to get a child "into" a classic is to read it together. If they feel to old to be read to...have them read one chapter, page, whatever and then you read one. Classics often have descriptions of things that are hard to imagine and children can have lots of questions. Nice of you to be there and help find answers.

Have fun.

18TeacherDad
sep 6, 2007, 1:35 pm

My boys got into more classic books through the Illustrated Classics for $3.99 @ bookstores... Sherlock Holmes, Time Machine, etc.... they're cheap so I could give them as rewards and they're easy reads to get them interested in reading more by the author; now they want Dumas & Wells & Homer. Even if they don't expand into classic lit, it gives them a foundation for referenceing the newer stuff they read, like Time Warp Trio and Potter.

19oapostrophe Första inlägget
sep 15, 2007, 12:30 am

In On My Honor, the boy dies and it is a very powerful story. It is short and to the point! Bad things can happen.

20megkrahl
sep 19, 2007, 2:00 pm

I remember reading In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson I honestly couldn't give you a rundown on it, but I do remember it being an excellent story.

#16 I think it is all in the way you present a story to kids. If you make it sound old and boring, then it is. The other reason can sometimes be the fact that newer books are printed with more colorful interesting covers, and like it or not, presentation is everything. When you are introducing a book, introduce the story, not that it is a 'classic'. Frankly, whenever my father used that word in connection to a book, I was immediately turned off by it.

21herland
okt 17, 2007, 11:23 pm

As a youth services librarian, I would recommend:

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

And my new favorite books-- Chasing Vermeer and it's sequel The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett.

Both appealing to the boys and girls.

22bookvine Första inlägget
nov 7, 2007, 10:38 pm

Here are some books not to miss for 5th or 6th grade: Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Watson's Go to Birmingham, 1963, A Single Shard, Crispin, Summerland and Olive's Ocean. You really should consult the school librarian though as there are lots more.

23TeacherDad
nov 8, 2007, 12:27 am

All good choices... I just read The Giver and have not decided to give it to my 5th grader or save it a year or so...

24MerryMary
nov 8, 2007, 10:30 am

When in doubt, waiting a bit won't hurt. It is a good story, but a certain level of maturity will enhance the enjoyment - or the thought-provoking elements - of the reading. I've never been in favor of blanket decisions, but you are talking about one child - and one you know better than anyone.

25B-man
maj 9, 2008, 9:11 pm

You have good sense in books!!! You should join my club online.It's on this website! Send me back your reply!

26B-man
maj 9, 2008, 9:11 pm

You have good sense in books!!! You should join my club online.It's on this website! Send me back your reply!

27B-man
maj 10, 2008, 10:36 pm

Detta meddelande har blivit flaggat av flera användare och visas inte längre (visa)
herland,you have a good sense in books! Join the Online Club! All Summer, I will be recommending and updating others. Will you be the first club member?!

28bnbookgirl
maj 27, 2008, 8:28 pm

Tunnels is a great book for kids who like Harry Potter. The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Penderwicks, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Roderick Rules, Harriet the Spy, Johnny Tremain, The Title of this Book is ?, Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3, Calder Game. I am a children's bookseller and these are all titles that teachers order frequently.

29yareader2
maj 28, 2008, 11:19 pm

The Warrior Series by Erin Hunter and others

30hk-reader
Redigerat: jun 4, 2008, 12:55 am

My 10-year-old son adores the Andy Griffiths books such as Just Joking, Just Crazy, Just Stupid and the killer of them all Just Disgusting (it really was!!!).

These are kind of like the Captain Underpants books - but for higher-level readers.

They might not be really "worthy" books, but they certainly make kids laugh a lot and love reading.

Oh yes, and the Horrid Henry books. Even my 12 year-old daughter likes them.

31megkrahl
jun 4, 2008, 12:57 am

Personally, I think anything that can get 5th grade boys to read is worthy. Yes I know there are lots of boys that like to read, but it's the ones that don't that I'm talking about.

32yareader2
jun 4, 2008, 8:01 am

#31

Hi megkrahl,

I want to tell you a story an elementary principle told me. He once had a 5th grade student that read what she had to in school, but never read for pleasure. At one of the school functions her parents came up to the principle and told him they were worried. He told them she would read when she was ready, but they should keep on reading to her and let her know reading was important to the parents. The principle also tried, when he visited her classroom, to encourage independent reading for the entire class. But this girl still avoided it.

Then one day while the principle was walking down the hall he saw the class going outside to the playground and there was this girl in line reading a book. Her nose looked like it was glued to the page with her face so closelt rucked inside the pages. He stopped her and told her it was dangerous not to watch where she was walking. He then asked her what had changed to get her to start reading? She told him that she loved how her parents read to her at bedtime. She loved falling asleep while floating away on the words in the air and she was afraid that if she started to read on her own that they would say she was growing up and wouldn't need to be read to at bedtime. But they promised that they would continue to read to her, so now she read on her own.

So, I wouldn't say that boys don't like to read, sometimes you have to learn a bit more about why they are not reading independently.

33megkrahl
jun 4, 2008, 11:49 am

Which is why I qualified the statement with 'I know there are boys that like to read'.

However, the boys I knew in 5th grade (and middle school) weren't big on reading. They were....cartoonists. Great guys, they just prefered reading and creating comics. They were good, too.

Maybe what I should have said was "Anything that gets a non-reader to enjoy reading is a worthy book".

34TeacherDad
jun 4, 2008, 3:11 pm

#32 -- great story, and a great point to remember when dealing with a non-reader child... and similar to the point about boys not reading -- who knows how much they're told at home to get their noses out of a book and go play (or work?)... home evironment is such a HUGE factor, especially if they're interested in something others are not...

35Sodapop
jun 4, 2008, 4:05 pm

#33 Meg. My son just read Andrew Clements Lunch Money and loved it. (Read it in a day.) The main character starts his own business drawing and selling comic books so it might appeal to some of those comic book readers.
I also bought him Diary of a Wimpy Kid for Christmas which is a cross between a novel and a comic and he loved that so much that he bought the second book in the series himself. He read both of those in just a few hours and we could hear him laughing through a closed door.

36megkrahl
jun 8, 2008, 7:41 pm

I highly recommend Diary of a Wimpy Kid. There was a book sale at my daughter's school a couple of months ago and you wouldn't believe how fast that book and its' sequel sold! I brought home a copy of each and both my daughter and my husband devoured them in record time.

*interestingly enough, I stopped reading for pleasure when I was a kid because I frequently heard 'stop reading and go do ------'. I heard it so often I just stopped reading anything other than school required books.

37happymummy
Redigerat: jul 1, 2008, 9:21 am

I have twin ten year old sons, one of whom has always adored reading and one of whom has needed a lot of encouragement along the way. I believe, like hk-reader, that anything that excites your kids is worthwhile. Many boys are harder to interest but it just means lots of trips to the library to try to find suitable things; lots of reading reviews on Amazon and websites like this for ideas from other people; lots of reading aloud to them every night if possible and very limited access to computer games and Nintendogs etc. which are an easy opt-out/distraction. Graphic novels and comic-style books like Asterix and Tintin are also an excellent way to lure reluctant young boys into reading!

38tgi1515
jul 9, 2008, 1:43 pm

My son just completed 5th grade. He loved The Olympians by Rick Riordan books so much, he bought them with his own money at a Book Fair and added them to his library.

The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan's Curse
The Battle of the Labyrinth

He also loved reading the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins that his teacher started reading aloud in class.

39Sodapop
jul 10, 2008, 9:54 am

#38 I was just coming to post that my son has just read all 4 of The Olympians books in under 2 weeks. He absolutely loved them. When I asked him what he was going to do until book 5 comes out next year, he said "Read them over again".

40minerva66
dec 6, 2008, 12:55 am

All of Andrew Clements's books are great for this age. There are maybe 2 new ones I haven't read. Also for boys, definitely Brian Jacques (Redwall series), Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), and The Rats of NIMH books (Robert O'Brien and Jane Leslie Conly). I also think Avi is great, but some of his books are for older kids. Blue Balliett's books are exciting and different mysteries with tie-ins to school subjects and learning for fun.

41TweenagerReads
Redigerat: jan 2, 2009, 10:58 am

Popular easy, fun quick pick-up and put down series in our school library for Grade 5 boys are the Horrible History; Horrible Science; Horrible Geography ( got my son reading too!)

Very Popular: Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz a sort of school boy James Bond after reading it treat the kids to the DVD of the first book.

New series from Australia now published in UK and USA: The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan. I read the all, one after the other - gripping medieval life stories about a boy finding his way in life. GREAT!

More challenging read: Mortal Engine quartet by Philip Reeve - he has created an amazing future world scenario where cities and towns wander the world eating up each other. - Sounds weird I know but what a terrific read. All four books are:-Infernal Devices;Predator's Gold;A Darkling Plain and Mortal Engines.

A quick and lovely read is Because of Winn-Dixie by deCamillo - also has a film tie-in DVD to treat the kids with afterwards.

Lastly: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke ( also wrote Inkheart) - set in Venice, it is a fanciful story about run-away children and has also been made into a film.

42kidzcare
maj 11, 2010, 4:04 am

Meddelandet raderat.

43TeacherDad
maj 13, 2010, 12:13 am

I just finished My Last Skirt, good for 5th/6th -- Civil War setting, touches on men/women roles and equality plus folly of war.

44Maidas9
aug 5, 2010, 3:14 pm

What about The Book Thief?

45TeacherDad
aug 5, 2010, 4:13 pm

Book Thief would be great for the right 5th graders... great for any grade! I also recommend The Wednesday Wars (if I haven't already)

46bettyjo
aug 7, 2010, 10:19 am

My son just finished 5th grade and has recently enjoyed Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen and Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle.

47audreyl1969
aug 11, 2010, 7:22 pm

This book might be better for middle school or high school students, but my nephew, 14, just read a historical true story about a boy's journey in Nazi Germany called, The Boy Who Dared. He said it was pretty good. Here's the Librarything link:

http://www.librarything.com/work/4502544/book/63356547

48Ncwillow
Redigerat: jan 8, 2013, 7:34 pm

Here is a few books that i believe 5th grader would really enjoy!

Classic Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, 1-56

American Girl ( Felicity, Kirsten, Kaya, Josefina,) ............ ect ................

Dear America Series.

American Girl - Very funny Elizabeth.

The Laura Ingalls wilder books.

The Rose Years.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond.....( There isn't any Witches in this book)

Teddy's Button.

The Hardy Boys 1-58.

Little Women.

An Old-Fashioned Girl.

The Bobbsey Twins : preferably older versions.

The Strawberry Girl.

Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Zia : The Sequel to ''Island of the Blue Dolphins.''

The Building on the Rock Series.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.

The Mandie series

Eight Cousins.

Hope you enjoy!!!!

49jenmarqt
dec 18, 2012, 1:13 am

A good read-aloud would be The Giver by Lois Lowry. For picture books anything by Patricia Polacco. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Any Wimpy Kid book by Kinney. Dork Diaries seems to be popular with the girls as well as the Amelia books by Moss. I'm an elementary school librarian and am just coming up with titles off the top of my head.