4–5 Reading List

These books are only suggestions. Your local library and bookstores have thousands of great books from which to choose.

Reading Level: L for low, M for middle, and H for high.

• Avi: Crispin: The Cross of Lead (H)
• Clifford: Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library (M)
• Crew:Fire on the Wind (M)
• Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (M)
• Fleischman: The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story (M)
• George: Julie of the Wolves (M)
• Heyerdahl: Kon-Tiki (H)
• Horvath: Everything on a Waffle (M)
• E. Frankwater, Konigsburg: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil (M)
• Lowry: Number the Stars (H)
• Naylor, P.R.: Saving Shiloh (M)
• Paulson: Hatchet (M)

The River (M)

• Press: The Heart of the Samurai (H)
• Roberts: Babysitting Is a Dangerous Job (M)
• Spinelli: Crash (M)
• Taylor: The Cay (H)
• Warner: The Boxcar Children (L)
• Williams: Titanic Crossing (H)

Biography

• Anderson: River Boy: The Story of Mark Twain (M)
• Ashby: The Amazing Mr, Franklin (H)

The Boy Who Read Everything (H)

• Barron: High as a Hawk: A Brave Girl’s Historic Climb (M)
• Byrd: Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer (H)
• Christensen: The Darling Nellie Bly: America's Star  Reporter (M)
• Collings: Airborne: A Photobiography of Wilbur and Orville Wright (M)
• Farris: My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up With the Rev. MLK, Jr. (M)
• Ferris: Demanding Justice: A Story About Mary Ann Shadd Cary (H)
• Fleming: Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Gentlemen’s Life (H)
• Fradin: Fight On! Mary Church Terrell’s Battle for Integration (M)
• Gutman: Race for the Sky: The Kitty Hawk Diaries of Johnny Moore (L)
• Harrah: Blind Boone: Piano Prodigy (H)
• Horowitz: Dvoák In America: In Search of the New World (H)
• Kurtz: Bicycle Madness (M)
• Krull: The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss (L)

A Woman for President: The Story of Victoria Woodhull (M)

• Lasky: The Man Who Made Time Travel (M)

A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley Slave Poet (M)

• MacLeod: Helen Keller: A determined Life (M)
• McCully: Squirrel and John Muir (L)
• Niven: Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet (M)
• Pitcairn: Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference (M)
• Schanzer: How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning (M)

Classics: Always Good Reading

• Alcott: Little Women (H)
• Babbit: Tuck Everlasting (M)
• Bagnold: National Velvet (H)
• Bunford: The Incredible Journey (H)
• Burnett: The Secret Garden (H)
• Byars: Summer of the Swans (H)
• Cleary: Dear Mr. Henshaw (M)
• Dahl: Danny, Champion of the World (H)
• Danziger: Forever Amber Brown (L)
• Fritz: Homesick: My Own Story (M)
• Gannett: My Fathers Dragon (M)
• Henry: King of the Wind (M)

Misty of Chincoteague (M)

• King-Smith: Babe, the Gallant Pig (H)
• Lindgren: Pippi Longstocking (L)
• MacDonald: Mrs. Piggie-Wiggle (L)
• Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables (H)
• Naylor: Shiloh (H)
• Newsom: The Mystery of the Cupboard (H)
• North: Rascal (H)
• Rowlings: Harry Potter (the first two of the series) (H)
• Steig: Dominic (H)
• White: Charlotte’s Web (M)
• Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods (M)

Historical Fiction

• Agosin:  I lived on Butterfly Hill (H)
• Alvarez: Before We Were Free (H)
• Bulla: Pocahontas and the Strangers (M)
• Clapp: Constance (H)
• Curtis: Bud, Not Buddy (M)

Elijah of Buxton (H)

• Dalgliesh: The Courage of Sarah Noble (L)
• Edinger: Africa Is My Home (H)
• Hiaasen: Hoot (H)
• Hiaasen: Flush (H)
• Morpurgo: War Horse (H)
• Gregory: The legend of Jimmy Spoon (L)
• Gündisch: If You Grew Up with George Washington, Gross How I Became an American (M)
• Hesse: Witness (H)
• Levine: The lions of little Rock (M)
• MacLachlan: Sarah, Plain and Tall (L)
• Scholastic: The Dear America Series (varied)

Humor

• Cutler: No Dogs Allowed (L)
• Danziger: Make Like a Tree and Leave (L)
• Ferris: Love Among the Walnuts (M)
• Haas: Burton and the Giggle Machine (L)
• Jung: Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities (L M)
• Kline: Orp and the FBI (M)
• Manes: Chocolate-Covered Ants (M)
• Naylor: The Boys Start the War (M)
• Paulson: The Dunc Culpepper Series (L)
• Spinelli: Fourth Grade Rats (M)
• Tolan: Surviving the Applewhites (M)

Mysteries and Scary Stories

• Bellairs: The Secret of the Underground Room (H)
• Creech: Ruby Holler (M)
• Curtis: Mr. Chickee 's Funny Money (M)
• Funke: The Thief Lord (M)
• Dixon: The Hardy Boys Series (M)
• Keene: The Nancy Drew Series (M)
• Kehret: Horror at the Haunted House (H)
• Park: Playing Beatie Bow (H)
• Roberts: Scared Stiff (M)

What Could Go Wrong (M)

• Ursu: Breadcrumbs (M)
• Wallace: Blackwater Swamp (L)

Award-Winners

• Appelt: The Underneath (H)
• Choldenko: Al Capone Does My Shirts (M)
• DiCamillo: Flora and Ulysses: The illuminated Adventures (M)
• Gantos: Dead End in Norvelt (H)
• Holm: Penny from Heaven (M)

The Fourteenth Goldfish (M)

• Kadohata: The Thing About Luck (M)
• Kelly: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (H)
• Larson: Hattie Big Sky (H)
• Lin: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (M)
• Myers: Harlem: A Poem (M)
• Patron: The Higher Power of Lucky (H)
• Philbrick: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (M)
• Mortenson and Relin: Three Cups of Tea (M)
• Munoz Ryan: The Dreamer (M)
• Schmidt: The Wednesday Wars (H)
• Shultz: Splendors and Glooms (H)
• Stead: When You Reach Me (H)
• Vanderpoole: Moon Over Manifest (H)
• Vawter: Paperboy (H)
• Williams-Garcia:One Crazy Summer (M)
•  Jacqueline Woodson: Brown Girl Dreaming (H)

School, Family, and Friends

• Ada: Amalia (M)
• Bauer: Stand Tall (M)
• Blume: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (M)
• Corbett: The Lemonade Trick (L)

The Baseball Bargain (M)

• Danziger: Everyone Else’s Parents Said Yes (M)
• DeClements: Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade (M)
• Denslow: Georgie Lee (M)
• Giff: Pictures of Hollis Woods (M)
• Gutman: The Kid Who Ran for President (M)
• Haas: Runaway Radish (M)
• Hurwitz: Teachers Pet (M)
• Johnston: Ellie Brady Hates Mr. Gl (M)
• Korman: Radio Fifth Grade (M)
• Lord: Rules (H)
• Lubar: Flip (H)

HIdden Talents (H)

• Martin: A Corner of the Universe (M)

Rain Reign (M)

• Morgenstem: A Book of Coupons (M)
• Palacio: Wonder (H)
• Park: A Single Shard (M)
• Park: Rosie Swanson: Fourth Grade Geek for President (M)
• Quattlebaum: Jackson Jones and Mission Greentop (M)
• Shusterman: The Schwa Was Here (H)
• Soto: Crazy Weekend (M)

Baseball in April and Other Stories (H)

• Spinelli: There's a Girl in My Hammerlock (M)
• Wahl: Candy Shop (L)

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Alexander: The Book of Three (H)
• Chick: Zoo (M)
• Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl (H)
• Coville: Aliens Ate My Homework (M)
• DiCamillo: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (M)
• Dickinson: The Ropemaker (H)
• Etra: Aliens for Lunch (L)
• Etra and Spinner: Aliens for Breakfast (L)
• Gauthier: My Life Among the Aliens (L)
• Levine: Ella Enchanted (M)
•  Levine: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (H)
• Malone: The 68 Rooms (M)
• Norton: The Borrowers (M)
• O'Brien: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (M)
• Pullman: Golden Compass series (H)
• Riordan: Percy Jackson series (H)
• Riordan: Stinker from Space (M)

Sports

• Alexander: The Crossover (H)
• Avi: S.O.R., Losers (L)
• Christopher: Ice Magic (M)

Undercover Tailback (M)

• Kline: Herbie Jones and the Monster Ball (L)
• Korman: The Toilet Paper Tigers (L)

The Zucchini Warriors (L)

• Slote: The Trading Game (L)
• Tamar: Soccer Mania (L)