# Important reading for a fifth grader **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369 "2003-09-13T07:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/21 "2003-09-14T03:51:30Z")
I read _Heidi_ when I was ten and loved it. _Tuck Everlasting_ is one I discovered as an adult. (Part of the fun of having grandchildren with terrific reading lists!) ---
**Author:** ![Wahoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee59a6/32.png) [@Wahoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wahoo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/22 "2003-09-14T04:27:44Z")
I second that ‘hooray’ for John Bellairs. I love all his books. He wrote series with three sets of characters. All excellent. Since he passed away a few years ago Brad Stickland finished several book that John Bellairs left unfinished so you will see both their names on some of the books. Brad Strickland has continued writing books with John Bellairs’ characters. His latest just came out last month. I’ve enjoyed them all and they are a great tribute to John Bellairs. [http://www.compleatbellairs.com/](http://www.compleatbellairs.com/) This is the definitive John Bellairs site but there are several other good ones. I highly recommend these books for all ages. Avid readers are all kids at heart anyway, right? ---
**Author:** ![Wahoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee59a6/32.png) [@Wahoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wahoo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/23 "2003-09-14T04:34:01Z")
Okay. It is late. I should be in bed but I have to clarify that last post. John Bellairs passed away. Brad Stickland has carried on his work and characters. That sixth sentence in the first paragarph did not sound quite right. Going to bed now. Great thread. I hope others will keep making suggestions too. All kids should learn to love to read and there are many wonderful older and newer books out there for them. (And for those of us still young at heart.) ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/24 "2003-09-14T05:13:20Z")
A couple more I just thought of: _Catherine, Called Birdy_, and _Where The Red Fern Grows_. I don’t think anyone’s suggested those yet. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/25 "2003-09-14T06:57:45Z")
I taught 5th grade for 7 years, including last year. The favorites among my class over that time, including those that I read to them, that we read together in literature circles, and that they read on their own were: _Holes_ by Louis Sachar (the most popular) _Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH_ (a close second) _There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom_ by Lois Sachar _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ by Scott O’ Dell _Esperanza Rising_ by Pam Munoz Ryan _A Single Shard_ by Linda Sue Park _Words By Heart_ by Ouida Sebestyen _Everything on a Waffle_ by Polly Horvath _Missing May_ by Cynthia Rylant _Because of Winn Dixie_ by Kate DiCamillo _Bud, Not Buddy_ by Christopher Paul Curtis _The Giver_ by Lois Lowry _Shiloh_ by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor _Abel’s Island_ by William Steig _M. C. Higgins the Great_ by Virginia Hamilton _Poppy_ by Avi _The Family Under the Bridge_ by Natalie Savage Carlson _Old Yeller_ by Fred Gipson The Best contemporary writers of fiction for this age are, with books in the order in which I would recommend them: **Jerry Spinelli** _Maniac Magee_ _Crash_ _The Library Card_ _Loser_ _Wringer_ _Stargirl_ **Katherine Paterson** _Bridge to Terabithia The Great Gilly Hopkins Jacob Have I Loved Lyddie Jip: His Story_ Then there are the series books: The _Time_ books by Madeline L’Engle _The Dark Is Rising_ sequence by Susan Cooper (skip the first one _Over Sea, Under Stone_, and start with _The Dark is Rising_. _Dark_ is a much better book, and you’re not missing anything essential from _Over_. _The Chronicles of Narnia_ by C. S. Lewis _The Prydian Chronicles_ by Lloyd Alexander _The Earthsea Series_ by Ursula K. Leguin _The Tillerman Series_ by Cynthia Voigt ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/26 "2003-09-14T16:15:46Z")
My daughter is 10 and her absolute favorite is _Artemis Fowl_by Eoin Coulter. There are now three books in the series and they are great fun. Do expect to have to explain some vocabulary, the author does not talk down to kids. She also loves anything by Eva Ibbotson including _Which Witch_ and _Secret of Platform 13_ ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/27 "2003-09-14T16:24:22Z")
Machiavelli’s “The Little Prince” is a must-read for this age group! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Magickly\_Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magickly\_Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magickly_Delicious)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/28 "2003-09-14T17:00:20Z")
When I was about that age, my absolute favorite book was [“True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.”](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=34F211SJEK&isbn=0380714752&itm=1) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369/29 "2003-09-14T17:18:43Z")
For what it’s worth, I (just for fun) took a course in children’s literature a few years ago, and the reading list consisted of _Secret Garden_ by Frances Hodgson Burnett _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ by Scott O’Dell _The Cay_ by Theodore Taylor _Julie of the Wolves_ by Jean Craighead George _A Wizard of Earthsea_ by Ursula Leguin _A Stranger at Green Knowe_ by Lucy Boston _Alice in Wondeland & Through the Looking-Glass_ by Lewis Carroll _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ by C. S. Lewis _Bridge to Terabithia_ by Katherine Paterson _Little House on the Prairie_ by Laura INgalls Wilder _Little Women_ by Louisa May Alcott\* _Tom Sawyer_ by Mark Twain I think that’s all. I enjoyed them all (some more than others, of course), and all could be considered “important,” I guess. I’d also second some of the others that have been mentioned so far, but there are too many good ones! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-reading-for-a-fifth-grader/201369.md?page=1)