Alabama 5th grade reading list

Books with an Alabama citation for 5th grade include 11 Birthdays, Superfudge and The Dollhouse Murders. This list has 899 total books, 38 of them with an Alabama-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 390L to 1020L.

Top Alabama 5th grade pick: 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass — on 1 Alabama list

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Total books899Lexile390L–1020LSourceAlabama Course of Study✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned on state lists: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Elementary (K–5) titles appearing in the most states are Wonder (29 states), Because of Winn-Dixie (26 states), and Shiloh (25 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Our pick to start — most-cited for Alabama 5th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Alabama’s own curriculum documents for this grade — everything below is the wider national list. Read against the Common Core Appendix A complexity band; reading level is not thematic maturity, and several sit below the band because they are assigned for discussion.

  1. 11 Birthdays

    Wendy Mass

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  2. Superfudge

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  3. The Dollhouse Murders

    Betty Ren Wright

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers mystery, family and ghosts.

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  4. The War with Grandpa

    Robert Kimmel Smith

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7.

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  5. 42 Miles

    Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  6. A Week in the Woods

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  7. A Yellow Watermelon

    Ted M. Dunagan

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  8. And the Green Grass Grew All Around

    Alvin Schwartz

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  9. Boy at War

    Harry Mazer

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers world war, 1939-1945, causes and history.

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  10. Boy's Best Friend

    Kate Banks

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  11. Bunnicula

    Deborah Howe

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  12. Castles: Old Stone Poems

    J. Patrick Lewis

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  13. Cracker The Best Dog in Vietnam

    Cynthia Kadohata

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8.

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  14. Duke

    Kirby Larson

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers german shepherd dog, war use and world war, 1939-1945.

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  15. Ella Enchanted

    Gail Carson Levine

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, fairy-tale and independence.

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  16. Escaping the Giant Wave

    Peg Kehret

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  17. Girls Who Code: The Friendship Code

    Stacia Deutsch

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  18. He Has Shot the President!

    Don Brown

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  19. Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring

    Enigma Alberti

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  20. Million-Dollar Throw

    Mike Lupica

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers football, pressure and friendship.

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  21. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

    Alvin Schwartz

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  22. My Life as a Stuntboy

    Janet Tashjian

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  23. Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

    Barthe DeClements

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  24. Powwow

    George Ancona

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  25. Rats on the Roof and Other Stories

    James Marshall

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  26. Seven and a Half Tons of Steel

    Janet Nolan

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  27. Stone Fox

    John Reynolds Gardiner

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers family, determination and sacrifice. At 550L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  28. Strange Mysteries from Around the World

    Seymour Simon

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  29. Stuart Little

    E.B. White

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers family, adventure and friendship. At 920L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  30. Swamp Angel

    Anne Isaacs

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers tall tales, frontier and pioneer life, origin.

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38 books cited for Alabama 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Alabama’s Alabama Course of Study with a Alabama-specific citation.

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861 additional grade-appropriate books for 5th grade readers

The 899-book total above includes 38 titles with direct Alabama citation; these 861 additional titles cover 5th grade in the broader canon. They don't have an Alabama-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 861 titles

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Other Alabama grades

4th grade · 6th grade · 3rd grade · 7th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

4th grade · 6th grade · 3rd grade · 7th grade

Same 5th grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois

Browse 5th grade reading by theme

About the Alabama 5th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Alabama Course of Study with books from national sources that list titles for 5th grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Golden Kite Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction. ReadingList currently tracks 899 titles for 5th grade in Alabama, of which 38 carry a direct Alabama citation and 861 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 5th grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 390L–1020L.

5th grade sits in the 3-5 grade band, where students are transitional readers. At this stage the emphasis is on shifting from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn and sustaining attention across longer chapter books. Assigned reading skews toward early novels, narrative non-fiction, and a student's first assigned full-length stories, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 400L to 800L. Measured against that 740–1010L range, of the 61 titles here with a Lexile score 34 are grade-level, 26 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 1 is a stretch text that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 5th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Alabama’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Alabama Course of Study (alabamaachieves.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 5th grade list below blends Alabama-specific assignments with widely taught national titles. Every title links to its primary source on the book’s detail page, so you can confirm exactly where and why it is assigned.

How to use this list:match a title to your child’s most recent Lexile or guided-reading level rather than to the grade alone. Teachers building a 5th grade unit can pair a Alabama-cited core text with a grade-appropriate companion novel; parents previewing summer or supplemental reading can check each book’s content notes and challenge history before assigning it.

Common questions

What books do 5th grade students read in Alabama?
Books with an Alabama-specific citation for 5th grade include 11 Birthdays, Superfudge, The Dollhouse Murders, The War with Grandpa and 42 Miles. Individual schools and districts choose their own titles, so check with your child's teacher for the exact list.
How many books are assigned to 5th grade students in Alabama?
This list has 899 books for 5th grade students in Alabama. 38 of them have an Alabama-specific citation; the other 861 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Alabama?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Alabama reading list range from 390L to 1020L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Alabama-specific entries reference Alabama Course of Study (published at www.alabamaachieves.org). The other books come from national sources that list books for 5th grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Golden Kite Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction. Each book's page links the primary source for every listing.

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State-specific entries sourced from www.alabamaachieves.org. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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