Great Books for Fifth and Sixth Grade
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 502 pages
- Chronicles the humorous and sentimental four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England. Check our catalog
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander 217 pages
- Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to a famous oracular sow, sets out on a hazardous mission to save the land of Prydain from the evil forces of the Horned King. Check our catalog
Skellig by David Almond 182 pages
- Unhappy about his baby sister's illness and the chaos of moving into a dilapidated old house, Michael retreats to the garage and finds a mysterious stranger who is something like a bird and something like an angel. Check our catalog
Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson 188 pages
- Can Lily, with her two best friends, Katie and Jasper, foil a plan to conquer the world by mind-controlled whales on stilts with laser beam eyes? Check our catalog
Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi 262 pages
- Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. Check our catalog
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt 139 pages
- The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older. Check our catalog
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume 149 pages
- Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God. Check our catalog
The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston 157 pages
- Tolly comes to live with his great-grandmother at the ancient house of Green Knowe and becomes friends with three children who lived there in the seventeenth century. Check our catalog
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall 262 pages
- While vacationing with their widowed father, four young sisters share adventures with a young boy much to the dismay of his snobbish mother. Check our catalog
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Brink 270 pages
- Growing up in frontier Wisconsin, red-headed tomboy Caddie prevents a massacre and survives a prairie fire. Check our catalog
Bingo Brown and the Language of Love by Betsy Byars 132 pages
- As twelve-year-old Bingo Brown strives for the triumphs of today and steels himself against the tribulations of tomorrow, he discovers that he will have to undergo a few more trials and triumphs before growing up. Check our catalog
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary 133 pages
- In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world. Check our catalog
The Jacket by Andrew Clements 89 pages
- An incident at school forces sixth grader Phil Morelli, a white boy, to become aware of racial discrimination and segregation, and to seriously consider if he himself is prejudiced. Check our catalog
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier 216 pages
- 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. Check our catalog
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper 216 pages
- On his eleventh birthday Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable the Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark. Check our catalog
Bloomability by Sharon Creech 273 pages
- When her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school, thirteen-year-old Dinnie discovers an expanding world and her place within it. Check our catalog
The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis 210 pages
- The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. Check our catalog
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman 169 pages
- The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off. Check our catalog
The Witches by Roald Dahl 201 pages
- A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on witches, together foil a witches' plot to destroy the world's children by turning them into mice. Check our catalog
P.S. Longer Letter Later by Paula Danziger 234 pages
- Twelve-year-old best friends Elizabeth and Tara-Starr continue their friendship through letter-writing after Tara-Starr's family moves to another state. Check our catalog
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau 270 pages
- The City of Ember is dying. Twelve-year-old Lina and her friend Doon trade jobs on Assignment Day and work together to try to save their beloved but decaying city. Check our catalog
Half Magic by Edward Eager 217 pages
- Faced with a dull summer in the city, Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha suddenly find themselves involved in a series of extraordinary adventures after Jane discovers an ordinary-looking coin that seems to grant wishes. Check our catalog
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright 175 pages
- Four New York City siblings decide to pool their resources so that each can do a special thing on the Saturday that is his turn to receive the combined allowance. Check our catalog
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich 244 pages
- Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. Check our catalog
The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald 175 pages
- The exploits of the Great Brain of Adenville, Utah are described by his younger brother, frequently the victim of the Great Brain's schemes for gaining prestige or money. Check our catalog
Bandit's Moon by Sid Fleischman 136 pages
- Annyrose relates her adventures with JoaquMurieta and his band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during the mid-1800s. Check our catalog
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher 219 pages
- When Marjan, a thirteen-year-old crippled girl, joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories which will save the queen's life. Check our catalog
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke 534 pages
- Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. Check our catalog
Coraline by Neil Gaiman 162 pages
- Bored in her new house, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is disturbingly different. She must save herself, her parents, and the souls of three children from a terrifying entity. Check our catalog
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos 153 pages
- To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired. Check our catalog
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff 166 pages
- A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home Check our catalog
No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman 180 pages
- Why does the dog in every classic dog story have to die at the end? Wallace Wallace, forced to attend rehearsals of the school play, finds hilarious ways to improve the script. Check our catalog
The Million-Dollar Shot by Dan Gutman 114 pages
- Eleven-year-old Eddie gets a chance to win a million dollars by sinking a foul shot at the National Basketball Association finals. Check our catalog
Turnabout by Margaret Haddix 223 pages
- "It isn't natural for you to be younger than your great-grandchildren. We messed around with nature, and we shouldn't have. Melly and Anny Beth both lived normal lives throughout the 20th century. But in 2000, when they are old and ready to die, they are selected to participate in Project Turnabout and are given an injection to make them grow younger...” Check our catalog
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale 314 pages
- While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland. Check our catalog
Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes 217 pages
- Over a summer vacation by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha begins to understand her grandmother, her connection to a classmate who has died, and herself. Check our catalog
The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse 181 pages
- After rescuing an adolescent girl from the sea, researchers learn she has been raised by dolphins and attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world. Check our catalog
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler 214 pages
- While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a troupe of Kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan. Check our catalog
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz 192 pages
- After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6. Check our catalog
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath 149 pages
- Eleven-year-old Primrose living in a small fishing village in British Columbia recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea. Check our catalog
Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson 281 pages
- As they get older, several sisters decide that they must kidnap children and bring them to their secluded island home to help with the work of caring for an assortment of unusual sea creatures. Check our catalog
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg 162 pages
- Claudia and her little brother, Jamie, run away from home to go live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, only to discover someone is also living there. Check our catalog
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle 203 pages
- Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. Check our catalog
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine 232 pages
- 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. Check our catalog
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 183 pages
- Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter. Check our catalog
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord 169 pages
- In 1947, a Chinese child comes to Brooklyn where she becomes Americanized at school, in her apartment building, and by her love for baseball. Check our catalog
The Giver by Lois Lowry 180 pages
- Twelve-year-old Jonas becomes the Receiver of Memories and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. Check our catalog
The Doll People by Ann M. Martin 256 pages
- A family of porcelain dolls that has lived in the same house for one hundred years is taken aback when a new family of plastic dolls arrives and doesn't follow The Doll Code of Honor. Check our catalog
Indigo's Star by Hilary McKay 265 pages
- Spurred on by his youngest sister, Rose, twelve-year-old Indigo sticks up for himself and an American boy who has replaced him as the primary target of the school bullies. Check our catalog
The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 131 pages
- Eleven-year-old motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role model, but when placed in homely Mrs.Plotkin’s class, she learns that it is what is inside of people that counts. Check our catalog
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien 233 pages
- Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived. Check our catalog
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell 184 pages
- Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life. Check our catalog
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park 152 pages
- Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself. Check our catalog
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson 128 pages
- The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm. Check our catalog
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen 195 pages
- On his way to visit his father in the Canadian mountains, Brian Robeson is the only survivor when the single-engine plane crashes.His body battered, his clothes in shreds, Brian must now stay alive in the boundless Canadian wilderness. Check our catalog
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck 148 pages
- Bodies in the parlor, tricking the sheriff … vacations are never dull with this Grandma! Check our catalog
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 185 pages
- The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. Check our catalog
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls 212 pages
- A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters. Check our catalog
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling 309 pages
- Orphaned Harry escapes his dreadful relatives when he is invited to attend Hogwarts Academy and learn how to use his wizard’s powers. Check our catalog
Holes by Louis Sachar 233 pages
- Overweight and unpopular Stanley is sent to a nightmarish correctional camp in Texas where he makes his first true friend, discovers buried treasure, and gains a new sense of himself. Check our catalog
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket 162 pages
- After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. Check our catalog
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 203 pages
- Life is never quite the same again for eleven-year-old David after the arrival of his new stepsister, a student of the occult. Check our catalog
Loser by Jerry Spinelli 218 pages
- Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself. Check our catalog
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor 188 pages
- The adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New York in the early twentieth century. Check our catalog
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor 276 pages
- A black family living in the South during the 1930's are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand. Check our catalog
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan 216 pages
- Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had. Check our catalog
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen 168 pages
- Thirteen-year-old Sammy's penchant for speaking her mind gets her in trouble when she involves herself in the investigation of a robbery at the "seedy" hotel across the street from the seniors' building where she is living with her grandmother. Check our catalog
Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt 312 pages
- Abandoned by their mother, Dicey, with her sister and two brothers, must make a long journey on foot to their grandmother's home. Check our catalog
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan 216 pages
- When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. Check our catalog
Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges 32 pages
- Retells the segment from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, in which George, the Red Cross Knight, slays the dreadful dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside for years and brings peace and joy to the land. Check our catalog
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz 111 pages
- Traditional and modern-day tales and "jump" stories of ghosts, witches, vampires, haunts, superstitions, monsters and horrible scary things. Check our catalog
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka 52 pages
- Young subversives everywhere will love these ten fractured fairy tales. Check our catalog
Babymouse: Our Hero! by Jennifer Holm 91 pages
- An imaginative young mouse is terrified to face her enemy in dodgeball, but with help from friends and family, she proves herself a hero. Check our catalog
Poetry
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein 166 pages
- A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings. Check our catalog
A Poke in the I by Paul B. Janeczko 35 pages
- Thirty concrete poems of all shapes and sizes are carefully laid on large white spreads, extended by Raschka's quirky watercolor and paper-collage illustrations. Check our catalog
updated 9/12/07