Fifth graders are expected to read a minimum of eight books over the summer. Other books by the authors listed here may be substituted for the titles on the list. Keep a record of your reading on the log sheet attached. Bring your log to English class on the opening day of school.

Dangerous Games

As Dido Twite sails the high seas in search of Lord Herodsfoot, her travels take her to Aratu, a spice island where travelers seldom venture because of the deadly snakes and monkeys.

New to the town Anna is happy to find a friend, even if it's the bossy, quarrelsome Lindy, and is pleased to be allowed to join the secret society run by Lindy's older brother until she commits a "crime" the society won't forgive.

Alcott, Louisa May

Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England.

Little Men

Adventures in Jo March and her husband, Professor Bhaer's, school for boys, a place of light, warmth, comfort and delights, where self-knowledge and self-control are acquired along with book learning.

Orphaned Rose Campbell finds it difficult to fit in when she goes to live with her six aunts and seven mischievous boy cousins.

The Arkadians

Lucian narrowly escapes being put to death by a pair of villainous soothsayers and finds himself embarked on an adventure with a young girl and a poet turned into a donkey.

Bright Shadow

Five wishes can save a suffering kingdom--but at a high price to twelve=-year-old Morwenna, who is responsible for granting them.

Crispin:The Cross of Lead

In 1377 England, mysteries surround thirteen-year-old Crispin, a serf from a rural village who never knows his own name until his mother dies.

The eighth grade's plan to get two reluctant "lovers" together by means of a classroom production of Shakespeare's play has some very unexpected results.

S. O. R. Losers

Each member of the South Orange River seventh-grade soccer team has qualities of excellence but not on the soccer field.

Babbitt, Natalie

The further exploits of the Devil in his own realm and in the world above are recounted in ten more tales.

Stand Tall

Tree, a six-foot-three-inch twelve-year-old, copes with his parents recent divorce and his failure as an athlete by helping his grandfather, a Vietnam vet and recent amputee, and Sophie, a new girl at school.

Bellairs, John

Orphaned Lewis Barnavelt tries to help his uncle Jonathan and next-door neighbor turn back the hands of time and save the world from the disaster that will begin when the clock stops ticking within the walls of Jonathan’s house.

Blackwood, Gary

The Shakespeare Stealer

Wedge, a young orphan indentured to a cold, unscrupulous master, has a special talent–the ability to write a secret shorthand. The master is determined to acquire a script of "Hamlet" at any cost, so it becomes Wedge’s duty to transcribe it–or else!

Iggie’s House

When a black family with three children moves into a white neighborhood, eleven-year-old Winnie learns the difference between being a good neighbor and being a good friend.

It’s Not the End of the World

When her parents divorce, a sixth grader struggles to understand that sometimes people are unable to live together.

Boston, L.M.

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.

A Different Beat

Jessie develops self-esteem as she proves to herself and to her father that she can succeed both academically and personally at a performing arts middle school.

Brink, Carol Ryrie

The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.

Woodsie

No one's more surprised that hockey rookie Dixon Woods when he actually makes the champion Wolfbay Wings team.

Zip

Zip's best friend, Kenny Moseby, decides to desert the Wings to star for a rival club. Zip must try to turn his anger into great goal tending.

The In-Between Days

Reluctant to see any changes in his life on Dove Island, eleven-year-old George tried to get rid of his father's new girl friend.

Burnford, Shelia

A Siamese cat, an old bull terrier, and a young Labrador retriever travel together two hundred fifty miles through the Canadian wilderness to find their family.

Byars, Betsy Cromer

Simon learns some hard lessons about good and bad friendships when his good friend Tony's stories involve him in some very troublesome and complicated situations.

The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano

In 1755 an eleven-year-old African boy was kidnapped, forced into a sack, and carried off into slavery. Thus began a series of journeys that would take him halfway around the world and a struggle for freedom that would make him famous.

Cameron, Eleanor

Aided by the journal of a young woman who lived in nineteenth century France, Nina solves a murder mystery dormant since the time of Napoleon.

Christopher, John

Will, Henry, and Beanpole are running not for their lives but for their minds. The time is the future; the monstrous Tripods that control the world implant steel caps in the skulls of all fourteen-year-olds, rendering them docile, obedient, and helpless. Their only hope is to escape to the land beyond the White Mountains.

Cleary, Beverly

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.

Clements, Andrew

When fifth-grader Clara, a creative loner, published her own newspaper and editorializes on the absence of teaching in her classroom, she evolves into a popular editor while her teacher returns to the kind of motivating teacher he used to be.

The Face on the Milk Carton

As Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the ordinary little girl on the milk carton, she was overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl. It was herself.

Cooper, Susan

Three children on a holiday in Cornwall find an ancient manuscript, which sends them on a dangerous quest for a grail that would reveal the true story of King Arthur.

On his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers 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.

Aliens Ate My Homework

Rod is surprised when a miniature spaceship lands in his school science project and reveals five tiny aliens who ask his help in apprehending an interstellar criminal.

Mary Lou Finney grudgingly begins writing a journal as a summer project for school. Then her cousin Carl Ray comes to stay, and what started out as a dull assignment quickly becomes an amazing record of first love and family intrigues.

The Watertower

To escape the scorching summer heat, Spike and Bubba decide to swim in the rusting old watertower that has stood guard over their small Australian town for as long as anyone can remember.

Bud, Not Buddy

An orphaned runaway, Bud copes with the adult world with his numbered "Rules and Things". His few treasures from his former life are kept in a battered suitcase. One, a flyer advertising a musical group, leads him on a fantasy journey to an amazing reality.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

Lucy describes her life at "Lucky Diggins," a gold prospecting camp, to her grandparents and others she left behind in New England.

Everyone Else’s Parents Said Yes

Mathew Martin hates being the youngest kid in sixth grade, but he’s convinced things will get better after his eleventh birthday party–if only he could make up with his best friend and stop a group of picketing sixth-grade girls from ruining his party and his life.

Beause of Winn-Dixie

Ten-year-old Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida and all the good things that happen to her because of her big, ugly dog, Winn-Dixie.

Tiger Rising

After Rob’s mother dies, and he and his father move to a new town to get a fresh start, he discovers a caged tiger in the woods.

Daughter of the Sea

When a childless fisherman rescues and carries a baby to his wife, their lives seem complete. However, this act unsettles the balance of nature, and years later the sea creatures ascend to claim their own.

Eager, Edward

From the moment Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack discover the fragrant bank of wild thyme in Old Mrs. Whiton's garden, magic begins. The thyme garden opens the way to olden time, future time, and common thyme.

Enright, Elizabeth

The four Melendys decide to pool their resources so each can do a special thing on the Saturday that is his or her turn to receive the combined allowances.

The Melendy family moves to a house in the country where a secret room, a cupola, a stable and a brook provide Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver with adventures far different from the city life to which they were accustomed.

The Number Devil

In twelve dreams, Robert, a boy who hates math, meets a Number Devil who leads him to discover the amazing world of numbers.

The Warm Place

When Ruva, a young giraffe, is captured and sent to a zoo in San Francisco, she calls upon two rats, a street smart chameleon, a runaway boy, and all the magical powers of the animal world to return to "the warm place" that is home.

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

General Matsika’s children steal out of the house on a forbidden adventure and disappear. In Zimbabwe in the year 2194, the children’s parents call in Africa’s most unusual detectives–the Ear, the Eye and the Arm who have powers beyond those of other human beings.

A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears

King Watchamacallit sends his son on a quest intended to turn the clown prince into a sober young man, but Roger’s encounters with the Forever Forest, the Dastardly Divide, and the Valley of Vengeance do not go as planned.

Step by Wicked Step

Five schoolmates share the stories of their parents' estrangements, divorces, and remarriages and the effects these events have had on their lives.

While Stolly struggles to regain consciousness in a hospital bed, Ian recalls some of their best and worst times together as he writes a biography of his eccentric best friend.

A wooden boy, a copper saint and a ghostly marble statue open a door on mystery and romance.

The Ghost on Saturday Night

When Professor Pepper gives Opie tickets to a ghost raising instead of a nickel in payment for being guided through a dense fog, Opie manages to make money anyway by helping thwart a bank robbery.

Jim Ugly

The adventures of Jake and Jim Ugly, his father's part mongrel, part-wolf dog as they travel through the Old West trying to find out what really happened to Jake's actor father.

Flying Solo

When a substitute fails to show up for Mr. Fabriano’s sixth grade, the class takes it upon itself to go solo for the day, handling the schedule with surprising maturity (mostly).

Fox, Paula

Forced to live on the streets of New York after his mother disappears from their hotel room, eleven-year-old Clay is beguiled by two men who help him survive.

Robin's Country

A young boy escapes a cruel master only to find himself in an outlaws' hideaway deep in the great forest.

Jack on the Track: Four Seasons of Fifth Grade

After moving with his unbearable sister to Miami, Florida, Jack tries to break some of his bad habits but finds himself irresistibly drawn to things disgusting, gross and weird.

Garfield, Leon

Young William Jones is on a desperate search through darkest London for John Diamond, the son of a man his father apparently once cheated badly.

Smith

Smith, a twelve-year-old pickpocket in eighteenth century London’s underworld, has stolen a document just before two men kill its bearer. The theft sets in motion a series of adventures and encounters.

Club Earth

Will and Robbie’s home is slated to be the site of a first-class resort open to only the finest aliens.

Lily’s Crossing

As in years past, Lily will spend the summer in Rockaway, in her family’s house by the Atlantic Ocean. But this summer of 1944, World War II has changed everyone’s life.

The Winter Hare

Young Will is sent from his noble family to serve as a page in the household of the earl of Oxford where he must confront treachery within the castle as well as danger outside its walls.

A Boy and His Bear

Having been mistreated himself by the tanner’s wife while working as an apprentice, Dickon befriends an abused bear cub and struggles fearlessly to set the bear cub free from his horrible fate at the hands of the London Bear Garden workers.

Grahame, Kenneth

The escapades of four animal friends who live along a river in the English countryside-Toad, Mole, Rat and Badger.

Adam of the Road

The adventures of eleven-year-old Adam as he travels the open roads of thirteenth-century England searching for his missing father, a minstrel, and his stolen red spaniel, Nick.

The immortal tales from the court of King Arthur are about good overcoming evil, full of mystery, enchantment and chivalry.

Greene, Bette

Eleven-year-old Beth thinks that Phillip Hall likes her, but their on-again, off-again relationship sometimes makes her wonder.

Time for Andrew

When he goes to spend his summer with his great-aunt in the family's old house, Drew is drawn eighty years into the past to trade places with his great-great-uncle who is dying of diphtheria.

Drylongso

As a great wall of dust moves across their drought-stricken farm, a family's distress is relieved by Drylongso, who literally blows into their life with the storm.

Caesar's Antlers

Bette a mother sparrow separated by accident from her mate, takes her chicks on a long search when a faithful reindeer permits her to make a nest in her antlers.

Hesse, Karen

In letters to her cousin back ‘home’ in Russia, 12-year-old Rifka tells of her journey to America in 1919, from the dangerous escape across the border through Europe and across the sea to the new country.

A Murder for Her Majesty

Horrified at having witnessed her father’s murder and fearing that the killers are agents of Queen Elizabeth, eleven-year-old Alice Tuckfield hides in the Yorkshire Cathedral by disguising herself as one of the choirboys.

Don't Pat the Whombat

Wormz, Nicko, and their friends fear that their experience at a school camp in the Australian bush will be ruined by the presence of the dreadful Mr. Cromwell as a substitute chaperone.

Horowitz, Anthony

The Devil and His Boy

Young Tom finds himself adrift in the bustling city of London in 1593. Befriended by expert pickpocket, Moll Cutpurse, he lands a job as apprentice actor with a troop that has been hired to perform a comedy for the queen.

Hurmence, Belinda

A pampered young black girl who had been mysteriously transported back to the days of slavery struggles to escape her bondage.

Outcast of Redwall

Though raised by the good creatures of Redwall Abbey, the young ferret Veil was cast out after committing an unforgivable crime. Now, his vicious father is leading hordes of sea rats and vermin on the warpath, and Veil must choose his destiny -- as friend or foe of Redwall.

Orwell’s Luck

A girl discovers a wounded rabbit, which she nurses back to health. Named Orwell, the beatific bunny begins communicating with the girl through coded messages in the newspaper horoscope column.

Jarell, Randall

After his parents grow old and die a young man finds himself a second family of animals who live together in a wilderness beside the sea.

The story of a brown bat who couldn't sleep days. He kept waking up, looking at the world, and writing poetry.

Jones, Diana Wynne

A collection of three funny fantasy tales about weird happenings, magical mayhem, and twisting plots includes a story of an armchair that is transformed into a person, four grandmothers coming for a visit at once, and a friend of one's father who refuses to leave.

Kelly, Eric

Adventure and intrigue in fifteenth-century Eastern Europe when a Tartar chieftain tracks down the mysterious Tarnov crystal.

Goose Chase

Rather than marry a cruel king or a dim witted prince an enchanted goose girl endures imprisonment, capture by several ogresses, and other dangers before learning exactly who she is.

The Twinkie Squad

Douglas Fairchild, a sixth grade writer and dreamer thrown out of every school he has been to, transforms a group of excluded misfits in to the hottest clique in school.

Girls

Each of the girls in a middle-school clique reveals the strong manipulative hold one of the group exerts on the others, causing hurt and self doubt among the girls.

The Wreckers

Best known for making their fortunes on the wealth of nearby coastal shipwrecks and the death of their crews, a young crewmember finds himself in a fearful situation when he is stranded in the village after his ship goes under.

L'Engle, Madeleine

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.

Ella Enchanted

Young Ella of Frell embarks on a quest to overcome the gift of obedience, a curse bestowed on her at birth by a fairy.

Lisle, Janet Taylor

As Hillary works in the miniature village, allegedly built by elves in Sara-Kate's backyard, she becomes more and more curious about Sara-Kate's real life inside her big gloomy house with her mysterious, silent mother.

The Flower Children

After their mother’s death Olivia and Nellie go to live with their great aunt. They slowly bring her weedy old garden back to life as they search for the "flower children".

Forest

Twelve-year-old Amber's invasion of an organized forest community of squirrels starts a war between humans and beasts despite the protests of an unconventional and imaginative squirrel named Woodbine.

I Remember the Alamo

Twelve-year-old Jesse resents her father's decision to move his family to San Antonio where they are caught up in the revolution of 1835-1836 including the siege of the Alamo.

Lowry, Lois

Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but her brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud aid her nobly.

Her family's newly organized schedule for housekeeping makes thirteen-year-old Anastasia confident that she can run the household while her mother is out of town until she hits unexpected complications.

Gold Dust

In 1975, twelve-year-old Richard befriends Napoleon, a Caribbean newcomer to his Catholic school, hoping that Napoleon will learn to love baseball and the Red Sox, and will win acceptance in the racially polarized Boston school.

MacDonald, George

Diamond, a young boy living in nineteenth century London, has many adventures as he travels with the beautiful lady North Wind and comes to know the many facets of her protective and violent temper.

Seven Spiders Spinning

Seven Siberian snow spiders have been frozen for centuries. As they are carefully being defrosted, they escape and find themselves entranced by seven members of a girl's club, the Tattletales.

Good Night, Maman

After spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old Karen Levi and her older brother Marc find a new home in a refugee camp in Oswego, New York.

Dog Friday

Robin Brogan is determined to keep the dog he finds abandoned on the beach from being impounded by the police.

Secret Letters from 0 to 10

The new girl in Ernest’s fifth grade class charges into the tomb-like home he shares with his emotionless grandmother and dramatically alters his regimented life.

The Squire, His Knight and His Lady

After several years at King Arthur's court, Terence, as Sir Gawain's squire and friend, accompanies him on a perilous quest that tests all their skills and whose successful completion could mean certain death for Gawain.

Murphy, Jill

Jeffrey Strangeways

Jeffrey Strangeways achieves his dream of becoming a knight when he joins Sir Walter of Winterwood in a wild adventure.

Darnell Rock Reporting

Darnell's twin sister and other members of the Corner Crew have doubts about his work on the school newspaper, but the article he writes about a homeless man changes his attitude about school.

Witch Water

Lynn and her best friend, Mouse, are sure that their neighbor Mrs. Tuggle is a witch. Mrs. Tuggle is after Mouse, preying on her emotional turmoil after the separation of her parents. But Lynn is determined to protect Mouse and expose the witch's dark secrets.

North, Sterling

The author's carefree life in a small Midwestern town at the close of World War I and his adventures with his pet raccoon, Rascal.

Norton, Mary

With the powers they acquire from a spinster who is studying to be a witch, three children go on a number of exciting and gruesome trips.

O'Brien, Robert C.

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.

A Single Shard

Tree-ear, an orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potter’s village and longs to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.

Pearce, Philippa

At the chiming of the grandfather clock in the hall of his aunt and uncle's house, Tom slips out the back door into a beautiful garden that disappears in the daylight.

Nobody's Daughter

In 1913, when she is sent to the Austen Home for orphaned girls, Emily copes with her difficult circumstances with the help of the town librarian and the hope of finding her younger sister.

The wicked Count Karlstein plans to sacrifice his two young nieces to save himself from a pact he entered into with the Demon Huntsman.

Men of Iron

In seeking to avenge his unjustly accused father, young Miles Falworth is knighted and wins the friendship of King Henry IV.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Recounts the adventures of Robin Hood who slew a deer on a wager, became an outlaw in Sherwood Forest, and collected around him a merry band including Little John, Allan a Dale, Friar Tuck, and Will Stutley.

Raskin, Ellen

One fateful day, sixteen people gather for the reading of the very strange will of the very rich Samuel W. Westing. To their surprise, the will turns out to be a contest, challenging the heirs to find out who among them is Westing’s murderer and the winner may be a millionaire!

Rawls, Wilson

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.

Katie, who has supernatural powers, attempts to start a new life in another town with her mother. The attempt succeeds until Mr. Cooper asks Katie too many questions.

The Kidnappers: A Mystery

Joey is frustrated when no one believes him that he witnessed the kidnapping of the school bully, but when Joey is kidnapped by the same man, he knows that he and his classroom enemy will be forced to rely on one another in order to outwit the kidnapper and escape.

Robertson, Keith

Back in Grover's Corner's, New Jersey for the summer, Henry and his partner, Midge, establish a baby-sitting service and find a disappearing child and a peacock among their charges.

San Souci, Robert D.

Presents the life of Merlin, the magician from his miraculous birth through the age of seventeen before he met King Arthur.

Sewell, Anna

A nineteenth-century English horse tells his life story-describing his many experiences and masters both good and bad.

Tibaldo and the Hole in the Calendar

Tibaldo is supposed to celebrate his 12^th birthday on October 10, 1582. When Pope Gregory XII decrees a long-needed calendar reform, part of the correction involves dropping ten days from the year and Tibaldo’s birthday will be lost.

The Bad Beginning

When the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny, learn that their parents have perished in a fire at the family mansion, the children’s rocky course is set for misery and misadventure.

Taking Sides

Lincoln Mendoza has recently moved from a poor Hispanic neighborhood. When his new school's basketball team play his former team, he struggles over his loyalties.

Crash

Super-jock, Crash Coogan, got his name the Christmas day he got his first football helmet and used it to knock his cousin Bridget in the snow -- and he's been running over people ever since.

The Mouse of Amherst

A mouse becomes the perfect poetic companion to the reclusive poet Emily Dickenson.

Travers, P.L.

An extraordinary English nanny blows in on the East Wind with her parrot-headed umbrella and magic carpetbag and introduces her charges, Jane and Michael, to some delightful people and experiences.

Tunis, John Robert

As the newest addition to the Brooklyn Dodgers, young Roy Tucker's pitching helps pull the team out of a slump but, when a freak accident ends his career as a pitcher he must try to find another place for himself on the team.

Dodger manager Spike Russell's efforts to rally his team to a pennant victory are threatened by a scheming club secretary and the seeming irresponsibility of a star rookie pitcher.

Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

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.

Bad Girls

After meeting on the first day in Mrs. Chemsky's fifth-grade class, Margolo and Mikey help each other in and out of trouble, as they try to maintain a friendship while each asserts her independence.

The Machine Gunners

After an air raid, a group of English children find a German machine gun and hide it from the adults who are looking for it.

Belle Prater's Boy

When Woodrow's mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his grandparents' home in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin, and together they find strength to face the terrible losses and fears in their lives.

Scooter

Elena Rose tells of her event-filled first summer after moving with her mother to a new apartment, as new neighbors and friends become an important part of Elena Rose's life.

Wrede, Patricia C.

Bored with traditional palace life, a princess goes off to live with a group of dragons and soon becomes involved with fighting against some disreputable wizards who want to steal away the dragons' kingdom.

Wyss, Johann David

When a Swiss family and their four sons are shipwrecked on an isolated island, they adapt to their "New Switzerland" using many imaginative methods of farming and animal taming.

Yep, Laurence

Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920's.

Dove Isabeau

Young, beautiful Dove Isabeau is turned into a fire-breathing dragon by her evil stepmother and is saved from the spell by her true love Kemp Owain.