Summer Reading: 5th Grade

"Archer has four important role models in his life--his dad, his grandfather, his uncle Paul, and his favorite teacher, Mr. McLeod. When Uncle Paul and Mr. McLeod get married, Archer's sixth-grade year becomes one he'll never forget" (publisher).

"Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847" (OPAC).

"Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them" (OPAC).

"Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential" (publisher).

"Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary" (OPAC).

"In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp" (OPAC).

"Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer...in the old house that belonged to her grandmother,...when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert" (OPAC).

"Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Based in part on the Grimms' fairy tales 'Faithful Johannes', 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Seven Ravens', 'Brother and Sister', 'The Robber Bridegroom', and 'The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs'" (OPAC).

“A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother” (OPAC).

"When eleven-year-old Yumi Chung stumbles into a kids' comedy camp she is mistaken for another student, so she decides to play the part" (publisher).

"At thirteen years old, Valeria 'Magic' Salomon is ... the star of the Overlords, the top boys' team in the state ... After her team is unexpectedly eliminated, she goes from their secret weapon to their scapegoat. Soon, she doesn't have a team at all anymore. She's not sure she has a relationship with her grandfather either" (OCLC).

"When she attains the ability to hear what boys are thinking, Clara hopes her newfound powers will reverse her ex-best friend's betrayal but ends up making a mess of everything and she finds that she must fix her mistakes as she tries to figure out old friendships and new ones" (publisher).

"Max Bretzfeld has become a British spy and is returning to Germany with two missions: to infiltrate the Funkhaus, the center of Nazi radio and propaganda; and to find his parents" (OCLC).

"Things begin to spin out of control for monitor lizards Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia and Meil the hawk the moment they board the school bus ... At school, Zeke suspects the new guidance counselor—who hails from the same pelican crime family as their nemesis—of turning Daniel and Alicia against him. Or was it something Zeke said" (OPAC).

"Melanie "Mel" Roberts and Ray Halfmoon may be from different Indigenous Nations, but the friends have become like siblings since their families moved in together. And they soon welcome a distinguished guest: Great-grandfather Bat, whose wing is injured, has taken refuge in their old oak tree ... They all set off on a road trip on the way to the historic game" (OPAC).

"Seventh grader Andrew is trying to keep his anxiety and OCD in check on picture day at his school, but one thing after another seems to heighten his angst, including a basketball to the face in gym class and news that his grandmother with Alzheimer's is missing. As his anxiety builds and threatens to pop into a full-blown panic attack, he finds some key allies in teachers and friends and learns tools that will help him cope" (OPAC).

"Mendel has famously bad luck, but his penchant for trouble may be the key to saving his remote Jewish village when the Cossacks invade" (publisher).

"An undead fox serving as the usher of souls has his life upended when a mysterious badger soul appears" (publisher).

"Mason lives in 2023 ... As part of an assignment, he writes a letter to Albert Einstein and it ends up getting a little too personal. He throws the letter into his closet . . . and the next day he gets a letter back from a girl named Talia, who lives in 1987. She has problems of her own, including classmates who make jokes because she's Jewish. She thought her friends would have her back. But it ends up the only person she really has to talk to is . . . a random boy from the future?" (publisher).

“A nonfiction graphic novel that explores the people and technology that made the moon landing possible” (OPAC).

“Looks at the cave rescue of the twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach in northern Thailand.” (OPAC).

"Eugene Yelchin recounts growing up in Cold War Russia" (OPAC).

"Answers to unusual questions, using mathematics. First two questions, as examples: How many birds would it take to pick you up and fly with you?; and, How many bees does it take to make one jar of honey?" (OPAC).

"A collection of anecdotes from the childhoods of famous activists, including Emma Watson, Martin Luther King Jr., Malala Yousafzai, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Harvey Milk, Dolores Huerta, Rosa Parks" (OPAC).

"This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African-American women who lived through the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country" (publisher).

"The author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South" (publisher).

"A book for middle-school-aged children about previous extinctions and possible threats to humans, from volcanoes, to asteroids, to pollution and diseases" (publisher).

"Pick a date--any date!--flip to that page, and take an instant trip through history--no time machine required! This treasure trove of historical facts from The HISTORY channel takes you on a journey through the most incredible events that have shaped our world. (Psst. Check out what happened on your birthday!)" (publisher)