5th grade Virginia Readers' Choice reading list
Books referenced by Virginia Readers' Choice at the 5th grade level.
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About the 5th grade Virginia Readers' Choice reading list
Virginia Readers' Choice is the Virginia Readers' Choice framework. ReadingList tracks 45 titles referenced by Virginia Readers' Choice at the 5th gradelevel, each tied to a primary-source citation on the book’s detail page. Across the list, Lexile measures span 570L–1000L.
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 3 are grade-level, 3 are more accessible, and 0 are stretch texts. A single Virginia Readers' Choice classroom can still span a wide range of reading levels.
Unlike a state reading list, a Virginia Readers' Choice 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 Virginia Readers' Choice expects.
How to use this list: treat the Virginia Readers' Choice 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.
Virginia Readers' Choice at other grades
4th grade · 6th grade · 3rd grade · 7th grade · All 5th gradereading lists →
45 books
7 X 9 = TroubleClaudia Mills
A Haunting in WilliamsburgLou Kassem
All the Lovely Bad OnesMary Downing Hahn
AllergicMegan Wagner Lloyd
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary ThingsLenore Look
Bea and the New Deal HorseL. M. Elliott
Because of Winn-DixieKate DiCamillo · 610L
Because of You, John LewisAndrea Davis Pinkney
Bridge to TerabithiaKatherine Paterson · 810L
Christina's GhostBetty Ren Wright
Earthquake TerrorPeg Kehret
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's LibraryChris Grabenstein
Exploring the TitanicRobert D. Ballard
Fig PuddingRalph J. Fletcher
Frankie Pickle and the Closet of DoomEric Wight
Front DeskKelly Yang · 640L
Ghost CadetElaine Marie Alphin
HoopsMatt Tavares
Island of the Blue DolphinsScott O'Dell · 1000L
John, Paul, George and BenLane Smith
Last Holiday ConcertAndrew Clements
MatildaRoald Dahl · 840L
My Friend the VampireAngela Sommer-Bodenburg- Say What?Margaret Peterson HaddixSay What?Margaret Peterson Haddix
Show all 45 titles
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- Squished · Megan Wagner Lloyd
- Summer of Riley · Eve Bunting
- Superfudge · Judy Blume
- Ten Kids, No Pets · Ann M. Martin
- The Doll in the Garden · Mary Downing Hahn
- The Ghost of Fossil Glen · Cynthia C. DeFelice
- The Ghost's Grave · Peg Kehret
- The Indian in the Cupboard · Lynne Reid Banks
- The Junkyard Dog · Erika Tamar
- The Lemonade War · Davies, Jacqueline
- The One and Only Ivan · Katherine Applegate
- The Sasquatch Escape · Suzanne Selfors
- The Secret of Platform 13 · Eva Ibbotson
- The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale · Jon Klassen
- The Terrible Two · Mac Barnett
- Thirty Minutes Over Oregon · Marc Tyler Nobleman
- Time for Andrew · Mary Downing Hahn
- Twins · Varian Johnson
- Wait Till Helen Comes · Mary Downing Hahn
- When Stars Are Scattered · Victoria Jamieson
- Wish · Barbara O'Connor