Great Reads for 4th-5th Graders

**Update: just trying to keep my list updated. 🙂 here are our most recent read alouds and independent reads. I tried to just update my original post, but I somehow lost the comments,which I’m bummed about. I’m not sure how to keep a running post going on my blog and continue to update it and re-publish it, AND keep my comments? If anyone has a suggestion, let me know! 🙂 

This year, for the independent reading my girls will do, I wanted to make a list of “must reads” for the 4th-5th grade age group. I bought many of these books at our local bookstore and they are now in a basket in our school room. I wanted to make sure my girls were getting to read the GOOD STUFF and not just the books that correlate with our history! So, that will be their independent reading for this year! So many great books, so little time…this is a great way for me to make sure they are reading some great books this year. And whatever we don’t read this year, will just stay in the basket to be added to next year’s books!

Here is what we have read this year so far…in the 2012-2013 school year. (Our school year started at the beginning of June.)

Read Alouds
Little House in the Big Woods
Farmer Boy
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Kisses from Katie
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Island of the Blue Dolphins (audio)
My Side of the Mountain  (audio)
Caddie Woodlawn
Across Five Aprils (audio)
Shades of Gray

Hannah’s Independent reads
Civil War On Sunday
Family Under the Bridge
The Hundred Dresses
Hour of the Olympics
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Ginger Pye
Pinky Pye

Emily’s Independent reads
Civil War On Sunday
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Bridge to Terabithia
The Hundred Dresses
Hour of the Olympics
Animal Rescue: Honey the Unwanted Puppy
Dear Mr Henshaw
Helen Keller book
Frederick Douglas biography
Harriet Tubman biography

More Books in the Basket (to be read)
A Wrinkle in Time
All-Of-A-Kind Family
An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly
Anne of Green Gables
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
By the Great Horn Spoon!
The Black Stallion
The Giver  (which I didn’t realize til recently was a trilogy!)
Hatchet
Heidi
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
My Side of the Mountain
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
Number the Stars
The Ordinary Princess
Princess Academy
The Shakespeare Stealer
The Saturdays
The Swiss Family Robinson
Tom Sawyer
The View from Saturday
Walk Two Moons
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

**full disclosure: amazon affiliate links used.
**I have not pre-read all of these books. I took the titles from various lists I found online and just compiled a list of books I owned and could find at the used bookstore. I will read at least the beginning of each book before the girls start a new one, if I’m not familiar with it. If you see any questionable titles in my post, please let me know! 🙂