5th Grade

Al Capone Does My Shirst
Gennifer Choldenko
j Choldenko

Twelve-year-old Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 (when guards' families were housed there) and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
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Because of Winn-Dixie
Kate DiCamillo
j DiCamillo

Ten-year-old India describes her first summer in Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog, Winn-Dixie.
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Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson
j Paterson

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer. Together they create a hideaway called Terabithia.
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The Capture (Guardians of Ga'Hoole series)
Kathryn Lasky
j Lasky

A barn owl suspects trouble when he arrives at a school for orphaned owls.
With a clever new friend he embarks on a perilous journey to save all owls
from danger.
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Chasing Vermeer
Blue Balliett
j Balliett

After seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, two eleven-year-olds combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
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The City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau
j DuPrau

In the year 241 (Ember time), twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs in order to be a messenger and run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
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The Dark Hills Divide
Patrick Carman
j Carman

After she finds the key to a secret passageway leading out of the walled city of Bridewell, twelve-year-old Alexa realizes her lifelong wish to explore the mysterious forests and mountains that lie beyond. First in a series.
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The Dark is Rising (The Dark is Rising Sequence)
Susan Cooper
j Cooper

On his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical signs that will enable him to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.
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The Devil's Arthimetic
Jane Yolen
j Yolen

Sixteen-year-old Hanna was a typical American teenager, ignoring her family's heritage until a mystical Passover Seder takes her back in time to German-occupied Poland on an emotional journey of life, death, and survival.
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Dillon Dillon
Kate Banks
j Banks

During the summer he turns ten, Dillon Dillon learns the surprising story behind his name and develops a relationship with three loons that help him make sense of his life.
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Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons
Ernest Drake
j 398.2454 D761 dr

Introduces the world of dragons, pondering the different species and their abilities; includes a dragon-calling spell, dragon riddles, and samples of dragon wings and skin.
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Dragon Rider
Cornelia Funke
j Funke

After learning that humans are headed toward his hidden home, a silver dragon is joined by a brownie and an orphan boy in a quest to find the legendary valley known as the Rim of Heaven. They encounter friendly and unfriendly creatures along the way, and struggle to evade a relentless old enemy.
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Esperanza Rising
Pam Muñoz Ryan
j Ryan

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave a life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to work in Southern California's labor camps, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
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The Giver
Lois Lowry
j Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
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Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
j Paulsen

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends 54 days in the wilderness, learning to survive with the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother. He also learns how to survive his parents' divorce.
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Holes
Louis Sachar
j Sachar

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
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The House with a Clock in its Walls
John Bellairs
j Bellairs

A boy goes to live with his magician uncle in a mansion where a clock hidden in the walls ticks off the minutes until doomsday.
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The Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O'Dell
j O'Dell

Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends 18 years not only surviving through enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.
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Julie of the Wolves
Jean Craighead George
j George

While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a
wolf pack.
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Kira-Kira
Cynthia Kadohata
j Kadohata

Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia in the early 1960s, and the despair that ensues when one sister becomes ill.
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Kokopelli's Flute
Will Hobbs
j Hobbs

Thirteen-year-old Tepary discovers an old flute in a cliff dwelling, and through its power he learns about ancient Native American magic. After blowing on the flute, he also faces the problem of turning into a muskrat each night.
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Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
Obert Skye
j Skye

Two teenagers discover that for mankind to continue dreaming, the gateway between reality and dreams needs to be found and demolished.
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The Liberation of Gabriel King
K. L. Going
j Going

In the summer of 1976, a white boy who is being bullied, and an African-American girl who is facing prejudice decide to overcome their many fears together.
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Lion Boy
Zizou Corder
j Corder

A boy with the ability to speak the language of cats sets out from London to seek his kidnapped parents and finds himself on a Paris-bound circus ship learning to train lions. First in a series.
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Listening for Lions
Gloria Whelan
j Whelan

Orphaned thirteen-year-old Rachel is tricked into assuming a deceased neighbor's identity to travel to England, where her only dream is to return to Africa and rebuild her parents' mission hospital.
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Magyk
Angie Sage
j Sage

After learning that she is the Princess, Jenna is whisked from her home and carried toward safety under guard while being pursued by agents of those who killed her mother ten years earlier. First in a series.
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Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotisim
Georgia Byng
j Byng

Unlucky and unloved Molly Moon discovers a hidden talent for hypnotism and hypnotizes her way to stardom in New York City. First in a series.
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The Naked Mole-Rat Letters
Mary Amato
j Amato

When her father begins a long-distance romance with a Washington, DC zookeeper, twelve-year-old Frankie sends the zookeeper fabricated e-mail letters in an attempt to end the relationship.
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Olive's Ocean
Kevin Henkes
j Henkes

On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, her relationship with her grandmother, her feelings for an older boy, and her plans to be a writer.
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Penny from Heaven
Jennifer L. Holm
j Holm

During the summer of 1953, twelve-year-old Penny gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father's death.
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Redwall
Brian Jacques
j Jacques

When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of an evil rat and his villainous hordes, a young mouse determines to find a legendary sword that, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy. First in a series.
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Rules
Cynthia Lord
j Lord

Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a normal existence, but her world is further complicated by a friendship with a young paraplegic.
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Running Out of Time
Margaret Peterson Haddix
j Haddix

When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1995 tourist site under unseen observation by
heartless scientists.
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The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
Betty Birney
j Birney

Eben McAllister searches his small town to see if he can find anything comparable to the real Seven Wonders of the World.
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The Sisters Grimm : The Fairy-Tale Detectives
Michael Buckley
j Buckley

Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead.
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Skeleton Man
Jospeh Bruchac
j Bruchac

After her parents disappear and she is placed in the care of a strange "great-uncle," Molly must rely on her dreams about an old Mohawk story for her safety--maybe even for her life.
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The Waterstone
Rebecca Rupp
j Rupp

Twelve-year-old Tad, finding that he holds ancient wisdom and the power to draw beings together, embarks on a quest to seek a powerful crystal that will restore balance to the world.
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963
Christopher Paul Curtis
j Curtis

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Michigan, are drastically changed after they visit Grandma in Alabama during the summer of 1963.
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Whales on Stilts
M. T. Anderson
j Anderson

In this hilarious tale, a shy middle-school student and her best friends race against the clock to foil a plot to conquer the world with an army of whales.
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Which Witch?
Eva Ibbotson
j Ibbotson

A town's wizard decides that he must marry and have a child to carry on his tradition. He devises a competition in which the witch who does the most evil magic will be the one to marry him.
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Willow Run
Patricia Reilly Giff
j Giff

After moving with her parents to Michigan during WWII, eleven-year-old Meggie learns about different kinds of bravery from the people around her.
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Yellow Star
Jennifer Roy
j Roy

A Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
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