5th grade Nebraska Golden Sower Award reading list
Books referenced by Nebraska Golden Sower Award at the 5th grade level. Source: nebraskalibraries.org.
Try it on audio — free. Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.
Listen free on Audiblestarts instantlyNew members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.
About the 5th grade Nebraska Golden Sower Award reading list
Nebraska Golden Sower Award is the Nebraska Golden Sower Award framework. ReadingList tracks 47 titles referenced by Nebraska Golden Sower Award at the 5th gradelevel, each tied to a primary-source citation on the book’s detail page. Across the list, Lexile measures span 360L–790L. The framework is published at nebraskalibraries.org.
At the 5th grade level — the 3-5grade band — students are transitional readers, with the curriculum focused on moving from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn across longer chapter books. Per Common Core’s Appendix A complexity bands, text difficulty at this stage typically falls around roughly 400L to 800L. Measured against that 740–1010L range, of the 6 titles here with a Lexile score 2 are grade-level, 4 are more accessible, and 0 are stretch texts. A single Nebraska Golden Sower Award classroom can still span a wide range of reading levels.
Unlike a state reading list, a Nebraska Golden Sower Award list is portable: the same framework is taught across districts and, in the case of AP and IB, across countries. That makes these titles a reliable backbone for 5th grade planning whether you are a teacher mapping a unit, a homeschooler following a recognized sequence, or a parent checking what Nebraska Golden Sower Award expects.
How to use this list: treat the Nebraska Golden Sower Award titles as the core and layer in state-cited or thematically-related books to round out a 5th gradeyear. Each book’s page shows its Lexile measure, grade range, themes, and any challenge history, so you can match a text to a specific reader rather than to the grade label alone.
Nebraska Golden Sower Award at other grades
4th grade · 6th grade · 3rd grade · 7th grade · All 5th gradereading lists →
47 books
A Dog Called KittyWallace, Bill
Because of Mr. TeruptRob Buyea
Because of Winn-DixieKate DiCamillo · 610L
BunniculaDeborah Howe
Closed for the SeasonMary Downing Hahn
Deep and Dark and DangerousMary Downing Hahn
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's LibraryChris Grabenstein
Escaping the Giant WavePeg Kehret
Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the FridgeBill Wallace
Fuzzy MudLouis Sachar
Ghost BoysJewell Parker Rhodes · 360L
Is Anybody There?Eve Bunting
JaguarRoland Smith- LoserJerry SpinelliLoserJerry Spinelli
Maxi’s Secrets: (Or, What You Can Learn from a Dog)Lynn Plourde
Night of the TwistersIvy Ruckman
Nightmare MountainPeg Kehret
Nothing's Fair in Fifth GradeBarthe DeClements
OdderKatherine Applegate- Rescue Josh McGuireBen MikaelsenRescue Josh McGuireBen Mikaelsen
- RestartGordon KormanRestartGordon Korman · 730L
Satch and MeDan Gutman
Shiloh SeasonPhyllis Reynolds Naylor
Six Feet Below ZeroEna Jones
Show all 47 titles
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
- Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You · Barthe DeClements
- Skeleton Man · Joseph Bruchac
- Stepping on the Cracks · Mary Downing Hahn
- Stolen Children · Peg Kehret
- Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen · Candace Fleming
- Superfudge · Judy Blume
- The Best School Year Ever · Barbara Robinson
- The False Prince · Jennifer A. Nielsen
- The Ghost of Fossil Glen · Cynthia C. DeFelice
- The Ghost of Lizard Light · Elvira Woodruff
- The Grand Escape · Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) · Rick Riordan
- The Magic Misfits · Neil Patrick Harris
- The Old Willis Place · Mary Downing Hahn
- The War That Saved My Life · Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- The War with Grandpa · Robert Kimmel Smith
- The World According to Humphrey · Betty G. Birney
- There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom · Louis Sachar
- Titanic Crossing · Barbara Williams
- Two Degrees · Alan Gratz
- Wait Till Helen Comes · Mary Downing Hahn
- Wildfire · Rodman Philbrick
- Wonder · R.J. Palacio