Books for Grades 5 and 6
Article in Juvenile Fiction,
This list is a mix of suggestions from the Central Branch of the library and Judy Freeman's "What's New in Children's Literature" Seminar.
J Avi Seer of Shadows
- Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs.
J Barry Peter and the Starcatchers
- Peter and Molly overcome bands of pirates and thieves to keep a fantastical secret safe.
J Clements Lunch Money
- Greg teams up with his rival Maura to create a series of comic books to sell at school.
J Creech Castle Corona
- Two orphaned peasant children find their lives transformed at Castle Corona.
J Cushman Rodzina
- A Polish-American girl travels west on an orphan train fearing a life of unpaid slavery.
J DiCamillo Because of Winn Dixie
- After finding a dog at the Winn-Dixie, a girl begins to make friends in her new town.
J Gantos Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
- Joey has trouble paying attention and controlling his mood swings.
J Gibson The Truth About Horses, Friends, and My Life as a Coward
- As she fearfully begins learning to ride the horses she never wanted her family to own, Sophie Groves begins to find friends.
J/YA Hale Rapunzel's Revenge
- In this Old West retelling, Rapunzel uses her hair as a lasso and to take on outlaws.
J Haven The Seven Keys of Balabad
- While his parents find living in Balabad endlessly interesting, Oliver feels very much out of his element until he gets caught up in a centuries-old mystery.
J Haworth Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning
- Violet's world is turned upside down by the arrival of a girl who seems intent on stealing Violet's best friend.
J Ibbotson Star of Kazan
- Orphaned Annika goes to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.
J Jacobsson In Ned's Head
- Ned records his thoughts about life in a diary in this funny book.
J Kelly The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
- In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate studies the natural world with her grandfather which leads to an important discovery.
J Klise Trial by Journal
- Lilly keeps a journal of her experiences on a jury in this zany story.
J Law Savvy
- When Meg's father is injured, she hopes to heal him using her "savvy."
J Lowry The Birthday Ball
- A bored Princess Patricia Priscilla switches identities with her chambermaid.
J Mack The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas
- The boys known as the Baker Street Irregulars help Sherlock Holmes.
J Morpurgo Kensuke's Kingdom
- Michael is swept off his family's boat and washed up on a desert island.
J O'Connor Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia
- Burdette finds out that things aren't always what they seem when she befriends a new boy at school.
J Ryan Paint the Wind
- Maya discovers a love of horses.
J Schlitz A Drowned Maiden's Hair
- Maud is delighted to be adopted by three sisters, but why is that she cannot let their neighbors see her?
J Selznick The Invention of Hugo Cabret
- Hugo, an orphan, lives in a Paris train station.
J Springer The Case of the Missing Marquess
- Meet Enola Holmes, the sister of detectives Sherlock Holmes.
J Teague The Doom Machine
- After a spaceship lands in Vern Hollow in 1956, juvenile delinquent Jack and studious Isadora form an unexpected alliance as they try to keep a group of extraterrestrials from stealing eccentric Uncle Bud's space travel machine.
J Wood Into the Volcano: a Graphic Novel
- Two brothers are trapped inside an erupting volcano.