Hallee's 5th Grade Book List 🤩
30+ children's books read across a variety of genres, complete with a 5th grader's star ratings
Out of my three kids, Hallee, my youngest, has historically been the least enthusiastic about reading, but I really feel like she found her footing this year in 5th grade. This was the first year that she completed her school’s Reader’s Choice challenge of filling in all the stars on her Genre Tracker! This reading program, which for us was originally called the 40-Book Challenge, is based off the principles and philosophy from Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer.
I think this program is extremely effective in creating a love of reading in kids and growing their reading skills by exposing them to reading across different genres. I highly recommend The Book Whisperer for anyone involved in helping kids pick books (parents, teachers, librarians, etc!); it really changed the way I look at literacy education. As you’ll see from her list, the beauty here is that while some of the books are pure fun/silliness, some are also high-quality literature. I think that mix is just fine. Reading should always be enjoyable!
I’m so proud of Hallee for this year’s list of books she read.
A few notes:
in her class, books over 250 pages can count for 2 stars; audiobooks only count if the paper book was also read concurrently (in general I believe audiobooks count as real reading, but I accept this as a class rule 😉)
she loaded up the free choice category with graphic novels (some of which are listed but not quite all)
some books can obviously be slotted into different genres; this is just how she fit them into her challenge
6 of these were chosen by her teacher for their class book club (I was the volunteer book club leader for 5th grade, so you’ve probably seen mention these books in other posts)
some were part of her history curriculum
I’ve created a Bookshop.org Book List for Hallee’s pics for convenience! A few books couldn’t be found there so they are listed below with Amazon links.
I’ve included Hallee’s star ratings. 😄 She can be a bit dramatic with this and I love it.
Please feel free to share this list with anyone looking for book recs for 5th grade or around that age.
Hallee’s 5th Grade Book List
Fantasy/SciFi
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown // 5 stars
Descendants (Junior Novel) by Eric Geron // 11 stars
Descendants 2 (Junior Novel) by Eric Geron // 12 stars
Henry and the Chalk Dragon by Jennifer Trafton // 3 stars
Realistic Fiction
The Next Great Jane by K.L. Going // 5 stars
The Babysitters Club: Jessi’s Secret Language by Ann M. Martin // 5 stars
The Babysitters Club: Kristy and the Snobs by Ann M. Martin // 4 stars
Pink Hair and Other Terrible Ideas by Andrea Pyros // 12 stars
Historical Fiction
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley // 5 stars
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray // 4 stars
Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady // 4 stars
Nonfiction
Story of the World, Volume 2 by Susan Wise Bauer // 4 stars (we started this in 4th grade)
America in the Time of Pocahontas by Sally Senzell Isaacs // 3 stars
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern // 4 stars
America in the Time of George Washington // 3 stars
Classics
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink // 2.5 stars
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis // 5 stars
Mystery
The Treasure Key by Shannon L. Brown // 5 stars
The Chocolate Spy by Shannon L. Brown // 5 stars
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman // 5 stars
Humor
Frindle by Andrew Clements // 13 stars
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl // 5 stars
Poetry
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai // 4 stars
Alone by Megan E. Freeman // 5 stars
Biography/Autobiography
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed // 5 stars
Fine Print by Joann Johansen Burch // 4.5 stars
Who Were the Wright Brothers? by James Buckley Jr. // 4 stars
Free Choice
Stargazing by Jen Wang // 4.5 stars
All the Babysitters Club Graphic Novels // 10 stars (numbers 7, 11, 9, & 3 are her favorites)
Ghost by Raina Telgemeier // 4 stars
Bonus: Audiobooks! (Hallee did not count these on her genre tracker due to the challenge rules but still enjoyed them in 5th grade):
All the books in The Penderwicks series (she re-listens to these almost constantly) by Jeanne Birdsall
Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Hallee’s current summer read: The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone (via Amazon because I think it might be currently out of print).
Again you can view almost all of these books and see their beautiful covers over at the list I made on Bookshop.org (any purchase you make there through that link supports both me and indie bookstores- thank you! 🥰).
My next book list will by my son’s (an advanced 6th-grade reader) book list! Subscribe below so you don’t miss it.
Happy Reading!
xo,
Nicole
This is so helpful! My child headed into 5th grade is my reluctant reader. We have several of the books mentioned. I will look into the Book Whisperer too. Thank you!