Hawaii 5th grade reading list

Books with a Hawaii citation for 5th grade include Bud, Not Buddy; Holes and Maniac Magee. This list has 910 total books, 68 of them with a Hawaii-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 390L to 1020L.

Top Hawaii 5th grade pick: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis — on 1 Hawaii list

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Total books910Lexile390L–1020LSourceHawaii Common Core✓ 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 Hawaii 5th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Hawaii’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. Bud, Not Buddy

    Christopher Paul Curtis

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 4 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, identity and perseverance. At 950L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  2. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 4 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fate vs choice, friendship and justice. At 660L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  3. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 4 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, homelessness and family. At 820L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  4. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 4 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers race and identity, code-switching, middle school adjustment.

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  5. El Deafo

    Cece Bell

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers disability, friendship and self-acceptance. At 420L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  6. Island of the Blue Dolphins

    Scott O'Dell

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers survival, solitude and indigenous identity. At 1000L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  7. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  8. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers growing up, friendship and self-acceptance. At 410L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  9. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers Greek mythology, neurodivergence (dyslexia, ADHD) and friendship. At 740L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  10. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  11. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers loss, friendship and mother absence. At 610L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  12. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery and Howliday Inn EBOOK

    Deborah Howe

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

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  13. Dear Mr. Henshaw

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers family, identity and growing up.

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  14. Frizzy

    Claribel Ortega

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

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  15. Old Yeller

    Fred Gipson

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, courage and survival.

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  16. Ramona and Her Father

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers fathers, growing up and elementary school.

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  17. Roller Girl

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, perseverance and growing up. At 440L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  18. Sounder

    William H. Armstrong

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7.

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  19. Superfudge

    Judy Blume

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

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  20. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

    Brian Selznick

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7.

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  21. The Whipping Boy

    Sid Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers friendship, adventure and courage.

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  22. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  23. Under the Blood-Red Sun

    Graham Salisbury

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8.

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  24. A Boy at War

    Harry Mazer

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

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  25. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times reviewed and comic books, strips, etc..

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  26. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers puberty, menarche and christians.

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  27. Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days

    Stephen Manes

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories, behavior and boys, fiction.

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  28. Boy at War

    Harry Mazer

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

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  29. Bunnicula

    Deborah Howe

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

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  30. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

    Roald Dahl

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers outer space, fiction, science fiction and humorous stories.

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68 books cited for Hawaii 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Hawaii’s Hawaii Common Core with a Hawaii-specific citation.

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842 additional grade-appropriate books for 5th grade readers

The 910-book total above includes 68 titles with direct Hawaii citation; these 842 additional titles cover 5th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Hawaii-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 842 titles

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Other Hawaii 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 Hawaii 5th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Hawaii Common Core 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 910 titles for 5th grade in Hawaii, of which 68 carry a direct Hawaii citation and 842 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 63 titles here with a Lexile score 36 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.

Hawaii’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Hawaii Common Core (hawaiipublicschools.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 5th grade list below blends Hawaii-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 Hawaii-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 Hawaii?
Books with a Hawaii-specific citation for 5th grade include Bud, Not Buddy; Holes; Maniac Magee; New Kid and El Deafo. 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 Hawaii?
This list has 910 books for 5th grade students in Hawaii. 68 of them have a Hawaii-specific citation; the other 842 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Hawaii?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Hawaii 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?
Hawaii-specific entries reference Hawaii Common Core (published at www.hawaiipublicschools.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.

Reading guides for parents

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