top of page
GRADES 5Â & 6
SUGGESTED SUMMER READING LIST
Click on cover images to purchase books via Amazon.
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: Welcome
REALISTIC FICTION
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: Team Members
Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she’d also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.)
The compelling story of a girl's fight to regain her life and dreams after being forced into indentured servitude.
A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family’s vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school.
Soccer, family, love, and friendship take center stage as Nick learns the power of words, wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams. Helping him along are his best friend, Coby, and Mr. Mac, a rapping librarian and inspiration.
Josh and his twin brother, Jordan, must come to grips with growing up, on and off the court. As they realize that breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game changer for the entire family.
Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. When Dad returns from deployment, Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal. Instead, it unravels.
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. It will take all of her courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the guests and the immigrants her parents are hiding, escape her boss, Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?
Otto and Sheed are the local sleuths in their zany Virginia town, masters of unraveling mischief using their unmatched powers of deduction. Summer's almost over, and the boys are craving just a little bit more time for fun, until a mysterious man appears with a camera that literally freezes time.
Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition.
Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you're only in the eighth grade, you're both a threat and a target. So Marcus heads out to search for his father in Puerto Rico.
Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.
Newly arrived in Brussels, Belgium, Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Aleppo, Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Now Ahmed is struggling to get by on his own, but with no one left to trust and nowhere to go, he’s starting to lose hope.
A gorgeously written, hopeful middle grade novel in verse about a young girl who must leave Syria to move to the United States. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Aisha Saeed.
This hard-hitting novel portrays the struggle of a smalltown eleven-year-old to find self-respect and a sense of purpose after the recent death of his violent, alcoholic father.
Bryan knows what's tight for him—reading comics, drawing superheroes, and hanging out with no drama. But drama is every day where he's from, and that gets him tight, wound up.
MS. EVANS'SÂ
MUST-READS FOR 2020!
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: Team Members
Six kids. One school year. A room to talk. In the place they call the ART room, the kids discover they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.
Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.
The day Grace is called from the slave cabins to work in the Big House, Mama makes Grace promise to keep her eyes down. Uncle Jim warns her to keep her thoughts tucked private in her mind or they could bring a whole lot of trouble and pain.
HISTORICAL FICTION & NONFICTION
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: Team Members
The true story (adapted for young readers) of an eight-oar crew of rowers from the University of Washington and their epic journey to win gold at the 1936 Olympic Games during the Great Depression and the rise of Adolf Hitler.
At the start of the Revolutionary War, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight for freedom—from slavery.
Visiting author Jack Gantos narrates a witty account of the summer he was "grounded for life" with a laugh-out-loud, dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place.
A heartbreaking and powerful story about a Black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.
Malala's own story (adapted for young readers)Â of how she fought for her right to be educated in Pakistan and survived being shot by the Taliban on her way home from school.
Lois Lowry looks back at history through a personal lens as she draws from her own memories as a child in Hawaii and Japan, as well as from historical research, in this stunning work in verse for young readers.
When Candice finds a letter in an old attic in Lambert, South Carolina, she isn't sure she should read it. But the letter describes an injustice that happened decades ago. And a fortune awaits the person who solves the puzzle.
Why did her mother abandon her home in India years ago? What was it like there? And, most importantly, who is her father, and why did her mom leave him behind? This heartwarming graphic novel weaves a tale about hardship and self-discovery.
In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.
PRAIRIE LOTUS is a powerful, touching, multilayered book about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father’s shop, and making at least one friend.
Full of struggle, heroism, and non-stop adventure, this book follows three very different children in different times of war who must flee their homelands to survive.
A powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but who begin to realize how much it colors their every day.
MRS. MCGRAW'SÂ
MUST-READS FOR 2020!
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: Team Members
A beautifully written novel about young people who must use their instincts and grit to survive. It shares an unflinching peek into the reality millions of homeless children live every day, while it also provides hope.
Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, THE NIGHT DIARY is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity... and for a hopeful future.
This is a stunning novel in verse about spiritual awakening, the power of art, and above all, the courage and resilience of the human spirit.
FANTASY & SCI-FI
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: Team Members
Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but did you know he really lived? Flamel was born in Paris in 1330. He discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty.
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch, Xan, who lives in the forest. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic.
Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. And Lyra may need to betray her uncle to save her friend.
Having suddenly found himself in a dark Underland, young Gregor learns that a prophecy has foretold his arrival. The adventures he now goes on will help him solve the mystery of his own father’s disappearance.
Since his mother's mysterious death, Magnus Chase has lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of police and truant officers. One day his uncle, whom his mother told him never to trust, reveals that Magnus is son of a Norse god.
Set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods, Tristan Strong is the newest magical hero in Rick Riordan's world of page-turning mythological quests.
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. Lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse. Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him.
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all these things. It has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.
Find out what happens in the chilling sequel to the Printz Honor SCYTHE from NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Neal Shusterman.
In the highly anticipated finale to the bestselling trilogy, dictators, prophets, and tensions rise. In a world that’s conquered death, will humanity finally be torn asunder by the immortal beings it created?
After Apollo is cast down from Olympus, weak and disoriented, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favor.
Can a robot survive in the wilderness?
WALL-E meets HATCHET in this NEW YORK TIMES bestselling, illustrated, middle-grade novel from Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown.
Grades 5 & 6 Suggested Summer Reading: About Us
bottom of page