New Hampshire 5th grade reading list

Books with a New Hampshire citation for 5th grade include New Kid, Brown Girl Dreaming and El Deafo. This list has 891 total books, 54 of them with a New Hampshire-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 390L to 1020L.

Top New Hampshire 5th grade pick: New Kid by Jerry Craft — on 1 New Hampshire list

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Total books891Lexile390L–1020LSourceNH College & Career Ready 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 New Hampshire 5th grade

These are the 30 titles named in New Hampshire’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. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  2. Brown Girl Dreaming

    Jacqueline Woodson

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers identity, family and civil rights. At 990L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  3. El Deafo

    Cece Bell

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  4. Matilda

    Roald Dahl

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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. The Graveyard Book

    Neil Gaiman

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers found family, the supernatural and the living, coming of age. At 820L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  8. The One and Only Ivan

    Katherine Applegate

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers animal welfare, captivity and freedom, friendship across species. At 570L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  9. The War That Saved My Life

    Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers war, resilience and disability. At 580L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  10. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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. A Mango-Shaped Space

    Wendy Mass

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

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  12. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  13. Before the Ever After

    Jacqueline Woodson

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

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  14. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

    Jeff Kinney

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers school, friendship and family. At 950L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  15. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

    Chris Grabenstein

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

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  16. Esperanza Rising

    Pam Muñoz Ryan

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  17. Fish in a Tree

    Lynda Mullaly Hunt

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, friendship and school. At 550L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  18. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  19. Ghost

    Jason Reynolds

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  20. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, inclusion and intelligence. At 700L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  21. Roller Girl

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire 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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  22. Superfudge

    Judy Blume

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

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  23. Swim Team

    Johnnie Christmas

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers perseverance, friendship and race.

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  24. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 2 to 5. Covers siblings, family and everyday life. At 470L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  25. The Penderwicks

    Jeanne Birdsall

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

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  26. When Stars Are Scattered

    Victoria Jamieson

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

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  27. Where the Red Fern Grows

    Wilson Rawls

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers boy-and-dog bond, rural self-reliance and perseverance. At 700L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  28. Wonderstruck

    Brian Selznick

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

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  29. A Long Walk to Water

    Linda Sue Park

    Cited in 1 New Hampshire curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers survival, perseverance and war. At 720L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  30. A Night Divided

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

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

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54 books cited for New Hampshire 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to New Hampshire’s NH College & Career Ready Standards with a New Hampshire-specific citation.

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837 additional grade-appropriate books for 5th grade readers

The 891-book total above includes 54 titles with direct New Hampshire citation; these 837 additional titles cover 5th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a New Hampshire-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 837 titles

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Other New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 5th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in NH College & Career Ready 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 891 titles for 5th grade in New Hampshire, of which 54 carry a direct New Hampshire citation and 837 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 37 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.

New Hampshire’s English Language Arts requirements are set by NH College & Career Ready Standards (education.nh.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 5th grade list below blends New Hampshire-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 New Hampshire-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 New Hampshire?
Books with a New Hampshire-specific citation for 5th grade include New Kid, Brown Girl Dreaming, El Deafo, 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 New Hampshire?
This list has 891 books for 5th grade students in New Hampshire. 54 of them have a New Hampshire-specific citation; the other 837 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in New Hampshire?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade New Hampshire 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?
New Hampshire-specific entries reference NH College & Career Ready Standards (published at www.education.nh.gov). 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.education.nh.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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