Illinois 5th grade reading list

Books with an Illinois citation for 5th grade include Holes, Maniac Magee and The Westing Game. This list has 882 total books, 35 of them with an Illinois-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 390L to 1020L.

Top Illinois 5th grade pick: Holes by Louis Sachar — on 1 Illinois list

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Total books882Lexile390L–1020LSourceIllinois Learning Standards✓ 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 Illinois 5th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Illinois’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. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Illinois 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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  2. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Illinois 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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  3. The Westing Game

    Ellen Raskin

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 5 to 7. Covers mystery, identity and teamwork. At 750L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  4. Matilda

    Roald Dahl

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers intelligence, overcoming neglect and teacher-student bond. At 840L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  5. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, friendship and Holocaust. At 670L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  6. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Illinois 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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  7. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Illinois 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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  8. The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, brotherhood and basketball. At 750L it falls inside 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 Illinois 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 Illinois 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. Esperanza Rising

    Pam Muñoz Ryan

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers Mexican-American immigration, Great Depression and labor history. At 750L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  12. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers creativity, language and thought, intelligence. At 830L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  13. Ghost

    Jason Reynolds

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers running, family violence and mentorship. At 730L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  14. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers refugees, survival and family. At 800L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  15. The Dollhouse Murders

    Betty Ren Wright

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

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  16. The Indian in the Cupboard

    Lynne Reid Banks

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers friendship, responsibility and imagination.

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  17. Wait Till Helen Comes

    Mary Downing Hahn

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

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  18. When Stars Are Scattered

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers refugees, family and hope.

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  19. A Night Divided

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers courage, freedom and family.

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  20. All the Lovely Bad Ones

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers ghosts, family and mystery.

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  21. Alone

    Megan E. Freeman

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

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  22. Ella Enchanted

    Gail Carson Levine

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

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  23. Fever 1793

    Laurie Halse Anderson

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 2 to 8. Covers yellow fever, epidemics and survival.

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  24. Flight #116 Is Down!

    Caroline B. Cooney

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers aeronautics, fiction, airplanes, juvenile literature and airplanes, fiction.

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  25. Front Desk

    Kelly Yang

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers immigration, family and race. At 640L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  26. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    J.K. Rowling

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, courage and good vs evil. At 880L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  27. Hoot

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers environmentalism, friendship and activism. At 760L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  28. Mick Harte Was Here

    Barbara Park

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers grief, family and safety.

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  29. Parachute Kids

    Betty C. Tang

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

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  30. Powerless

    Matthew Cody

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers superheroes, friendship and memory.

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35 books cited for Illinois 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Illinois’s Illinois Learning Standards with a Illinois-specific citation.

Show all 35 titles

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847 additional grade-appropriate books for 5th grade readers

The 882-book total above includes 35 titles with direct Illinois citation; these 847 additional titles cover 5th grade in the broader canon. They don't have an Illinois-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 847 titles

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Other Illinois 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 · Ohio

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About the Illinois 5th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Illinois Learning Standards 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 882 titles for 5th grade in Illinois, of which 35 carry a direct Illinois citation and 847 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 35 are grade-level, 25 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.

Illinois’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Illinois Learning Standards (isbe.net). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 5th grade list below blends Illinois-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 Illinois-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 Illinois?
Books with an Illinois-specific citation for 5th grade include Holes, Maniac Magee, The Westing Game, Matilda and Number the Stars. 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 Illinois?
This list has 882 books for 5th grade students in Illinois. 35 of them have an Illinois-specific citation; the other 847 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Illinois?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Illinois 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?
Illinois-specific entries reference Illinois Learning Standards (published at www.isbe.net). 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.isbe.net. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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