Pennsylvania 5th grade reading list

Books with a Pennsylvania citation for 5th grade include New Kid, El Deafo and The One and Only Ivan. This list has 895 total books, 37 of them with a Pennsylvania-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 390L to 1020L.

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

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Total books895Lexile390L–1020LSourcePA Core 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 Pennsylvania 5th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Pennsylvania’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 Pennsylvania 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. El Deafo

    Cece Bell

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  3. The One and Only Ivan

    Katherine Applegate

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  4. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  5. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  6. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers conformity vs individuality, memory, utopia and dystopia. At 760L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  7. When Stars Are Scattered

    Victoria Jamieson

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

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  8. Aliens Are Coming!

    Megan McCarthy

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

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  9. Belly Up

    Stuart Gibbs

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

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  10. Black Brother, Black Brother

    Jewell Parker Rhodes

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers racism, identity and justice.

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  11. Destiny Finds Her Way: How a Rescued Baby Sloth Learned to Be Wild

    Margarita Engle

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

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  12. Double Fudge

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories, families and brothers.

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  13. Fudge-a-Mania

    Judy Blume

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

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  14. Ghosts

    Raina Telgemeier

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

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  15. Hachiko

    Pamela S. Turner

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers dogs, hachiko (dog) and biography.

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  16. Henry's Freedom Box

    Ellen Levine

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers slavery, fiction, african americans, fiction and underground railroad, fiction.

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  17. Jake and Lily

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers individuality, brothers and sisters, bullies.

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  18. Lewis and Clark and Me

    Laurie Myers

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers seaman (dog), dogs and newfoundland dog.

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  19. My Teacher Is an Alien

    Bruce Coville

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, school and friendship.

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  20. No Talking

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8.

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  21. Nubby’s Story

    Aubre Andrus

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

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  22. Odder

    Katherine Applegate

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

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  23. Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum

    Meghan McCarthy

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

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  24. Saving Winslow

    Sharon Creech

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers donkeys, human-animal relationships and friendship.

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  25. Scranimals

    Jack Prelutsky

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animals, mythical.

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  26. Shiloh Season

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers kindness, dogs and dogs, fiction.

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  27. So You Want to be President

    Judith George

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3.

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  28. Sunny Side Up

    Jennifer L. Holm

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers family secrets, grandparent and child, dysfunctional families.

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  29. Swamp Angel

    Anne Isaacs

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

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  30. The Best School Year Ever

    Barbara Robinson

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, family and school.

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37 books cited for Pennsylvania 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Pennsylvania’s PA Core Standards with a Pennsylvania-specific citation.

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858 additional grade-appropriate books for 5th grade readers

The 895-book total above includes 37 titles with direct Pennsylvania citation; these 858 additional titles cover 5th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Pennsylvania-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 858 titles

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Other Pennsylvania 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 · Illinois · Ohio

Browse 5th grade reading by theme

About the Pennsylvania 5th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in PA Core 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 895 titles for 5th grade in Pennsylvania, of which 37 carry a direct Pennsylvania citation and 858 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 59 titles here with a Lexile score 34 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.

Pennsylvania’s English Language Arts requirements are set by PA Core Standards (education.pa.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 5th grade list below blends Pennsylvania-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 Pennsylvania-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 Pennsylvania?
Books with a Pennsylvania-specific citation for 5th grade include New Kid, El Deafo, The One and Only Ivan, Frindle and Refugee. 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 Pennsylvania?
This list has 895 books for 5th grade students in Pennsylvania. 37 of them have a Pennsylvania-specific citation; the other 858 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Pennsylvania?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Pennsylvania 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?
Pennsylvania-specific entries reference PA Core Standards (published at www.education.pa.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.pa.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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