Suggested Titles for Grades 5-6:

 

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

Guardians of Ga’Hoole series by Kathryn Lsky

I am not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos (and other Joey Pigza stories)

Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle

Mike Lupica books such as: Heat, Two Minute Drill, Summer Ball

City of Dogs by Livi Michael

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules (sequel) by Jeff Kinney

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate, Feiwel & Friends

How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

 

Nonfiction

Delicious: The Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud by Susan Goldman Rubin

Edward Hopper: Painter of Light and Shadow by Susan Goldman Rubin

The Long Gone Lonesome History of Country Music by Bret Bertholf

The Many Rides of Paul Revere by James Cross Giblin

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis also Tibet: Through the Red Box

Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold by James Rumford

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz.  Read along with other great Medieval Fiction like: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi or Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Tap Dancing on the Roof (Sijo poems) by Linda Sue Park

This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman