Fifth Grade
Battle of the Books is a fast-paced trivia contest open to 5th grade students. Students may read any of the books on this list over the summer, but team selection and practice will not begin until late fall/early winter. These books have been chosen based on recommendations from students, librarians, and literacy coaches. Remember that not every book is appropriate or enjoyable for everyone. Choose the titles that work best for your tastes and sensibilities.
Book Pairing list.
Battle of the Books is a fast-paced trivia contest open to 5th grade students. Students may read any of the books on this list over the summer, but team selection and practice will not begin until late fall/early winter. These books have been chosen based on recommendations from students, librarians, and literacy coaches. Remember that not every book is appropriate or enjoyable for everyone. Choose the titles that work best for your tastes and sensibilities.
Book Pairing list.
Realistic FictionThe Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner Source
Gianna Zales is a star runner with one more hurdle to jump before she goes to cross-country sectionals – a monster leaf collection project. To get it done, she’ll have to survive a rival who desperately wants to take her place at sectionals, a grandmother who leaves her false teeth in the refrigerator, and a best friend whose feelings about her are changing like the leaves. Gianna Z needs a stroke of brilliance to make it work! The Graduation of Jake Moon by Barbara Park Source Like many devoted grandchildren, Jake Moon adores his grandfather Skelly. But lately it seems that Skelly is acting strangely, to say the least. He is constantly losing his car keys, putting his pajamas in the freezer, recounting crazy stories, and forgetting the names of people he knows. When Jake and his family learn that Skelly s bizarre behavior signals the early stages of Alzheimer s disease, they must pull together to cope with this difficult and debilitating illness. Will Jake s relationship with his grandpa ever be the same? As he strives to understand this complex and sensitive issue, Jake learns that laughter, love, and acceptance are the best medicine. SciFi/Fantasy The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm Source
Eleven-year-old Ellie has never liked change. She misses fifth grade. She misses her old best friend. She even misses her dearly departed goldfish. Then one day a strange boy shows up. He’s bossy. He’s cranky. And weirdly enough . . . he looks a lot like Ellie’s grandfather, a scientist who’s always been slightly obsessed with immortality. Could this pimply boy really be Grandpa Melvin? Has he finally found the secret to eternal youth? Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers Source Annabel Andrews thinks she has a tough life. She has an annoying little brother named Ben (better known as Ape Face), her mom is always after her to clean up her room, and Boris, the boy who lives upstairs, doesn't like her a bit. Annabel wishes she had her mother's much easier life — and one freaky, and hilarious, Friday, she gets it. She learns how difficult life can be when the laundry spins out of control, she sits in on a horrendous parent/teacher conference — about herself — and to cap it all, she loses Ape Face. Here is the original body-switching story that started a Hollywood trend. |
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Poetry |
Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt Source Kevin has a bad attitude. He’s the one who laughs when you trip and fall. In fact, he may have been the one who tripped you in the first place. He has a real knack for rubbing people the wrong way—and he’s even figured out a secret way to do it with poems. But what happens when the tables are turned and he is the one getting picked on? Rhyme Schemer is a touching middle-grade novel in verse about one seventh-grader’s journey from bully-er to bully-ee, as he learns about friendship, family, and the influence that words can have on your life, Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse by Tamera Will Wissinger Source GONE FISHING is about Sam, a boy who is so excited about his fishing trip with his dad that he can’t sleep the night before. When Sam’s little sister Lucy tags along at the last minute, though, Sam hopes she won’t ruin his fun. ActionStormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz Source
They told him his uncle died in an accident. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, they said. But when fourteen-year-old Alex finds his uncle's windshield riddled with bullet holes, he knows it was no accident. What he doesn't know yet is that his uncle was killed while on a top-secret mission. But he is about to, and once he does, there is no turning back. Finding himself in the middle of terrorists, Alex must outsmart the people who want him dead. The government has given him the technology, but only he can provide the courage. Should he fail, every child in England will be murdered in cold blood. Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery of the Museum Mile by Marcia Wells Source Sixth-grader Edmund Xavier Lonnrot code-name “Eddie Red,” has a photographic memory and a prodigious talent for drawing anything he sees. When the NYPD is stumped by a mastermind art thief, Eddie becomes their secret weapon to solve the case, drawing Eddie deeper into New York’s famous Museum Mile and closer to a dangerous criminal group known as the Picasso Gang. Can Eddie help catch the thieves in time, or will his first big case be his last? Historical Fiction The War That Saved My Life By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Source
Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute --- she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan --- and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother? Yellow Star by Jennifer Rozines Roy Source In 1939, the Germans invaded the town of Lodz, Poland, and moved the Jewish population into a small part of the city called a ghetto. As the war progressed, 270,000 people were forced to settle in the ghetto under impossible conditions. At the end of the war, there were about 800 survivors. Of those who survived, only twelve were children. This is the story of one of the twelve. |
Informational |
Peak by Roland Smith - still need to do Source
Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he’s left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand. But Peak quickly learns that his father’s renewed interest in him has strings attached. Big strings. |
Within Reach: My Everest Story by Mark Pfetzer Source In May 1996 the media scrambled to document the gripping story of sixteen-year-old Mark Pfetzer‘s expedition to Mount Everest. Not only was he the youngest climber ever to attempt the summit, he also witnessed the tragedy documented in Jon Krakauer‘s Into Thin Air, in which eight climbers perished in a sudden storm.Within Reach is Mark’s extraordinary account of this experience and of his triumphs over several other challenging peaks. At once triumphant and tragic, this story will be an inspiration to climbers, athletes, and armchair enthusiasts alike. |
MORE TO COME!
Running Out Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix First Light by Rebecca Stead Swindle by Gordon Korman Last Man’s Reward by David Patneaude Tale of Despereaux by by Kate DiCamillo Ragweed by Avi and Brian Floca |
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