Georgia 5th grade reading list

Books with a Georgia citation for 5th grade include Frizzy, To Catch a Thief and A Rover's Story. This list has 872 total books, 9 of them with a Georgia-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 390L to 1020L.

Top Georgia 5th grade pick: Frizzy by Claribel Ortega — on 1 Georgia list

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Total books872Lexile390L–1020LSourceGeorgia Standards of Excellence✓ 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 Georgia 5th grade

These are the 9 titles named in Georgia’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. Frizzy

    Claribel Ortega

    Cited in 1 Georgia curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  2. To Catch a Thief

    Martha Brockenbrough

    Cited in 1 Georgia curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 5.

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  3. A Rover's Story

    Jasmine Warga

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

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  4. Good Different

    Meg Eden Kuyatt

    Cited in 1 Georgia curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers neurodiversity, identity and acceptance.

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  5. Little Monarchs

    Jonathan Case

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

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  6. Nic Blake and the Remarkables

    Angie Thomas

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

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  7. Parachute Kids

    Betty C. Tang

    Cited in 1 Georgia curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers immigration, family and resilience.

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  8. The Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle

    Taryn Souders

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

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  9. The Way I Say It

    Nancy Tandon

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

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9 books cited for Georgia 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Georgia’s Georgia Standards of Excellence with a Georgia-specific citation.

863 additional grade-appropriate books for 5th grade readers

The 872-book total above includes 9 titles with direct Georgia citation; these 863 additional titles cover 5th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Georgia-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 863 titles

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Other Georgia 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 Georgia 5th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Georgia Standards of Excellence 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 872 titles for 5th grade in Georgia, of which 9 carry a direct Georgia citation and 863 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 58 titles here with a Lexile score 33 are grade-level, 24 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.

Georgia’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Georgia Standards of Excellence (gadoe.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 5th grade list below blends Georgia-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 Georgia-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 Georgia?
Books with a Georgia-specific citation for 5th grade include Frizzy, To Catch a Thief, A Rover's Story, Good Different and Little Monarchs. 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 Georgia?
This list has 872 books for 5th grade students in Georgia. 9 of them have a Georgia-specific citation; the other 863 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Georgia?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Georgia 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?
Georgia-specific entries reference Georgia Standards of Excellence (published at www.gadoe.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.gadoe.org. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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