5th Grade Recommended Reads

Spending the summer with his grandpa, a former Hollywood makeup and special effects artist for classic horror films, eleven-year-old Wen (aka Waffles) accidentally brings his props to life and must stop an all-out monster invasion with the help of Mummy Man and his pet turtle, Frank.

"A collection of jaunty and mischievously unsettling poems for middle-grade readers from award-winning poet Shannon Bramer and artist Cindy Derby, who brought us Climbing Shadows (NCTE Notable Poetry Book and Verse Novel, shortlisted for the Rocky Mountain Book Award). Shannon's twenty-eight poems in Nightmare Jones send delightful shivers down the spine. Written in a variety of styles and forms, they encompass magic realism and influences from fairy...

"The LGBTQ+ community is so much more than rainbow flags and the month of June. In this beautifully designed dynamic book, young readers will learn about groundbreaking events, including historic pushes for equality and the legalization of same-sex marriages across the world. They will dive into the phenomenal history of queer icons from ancient times to the present and read about Harvey Milk, Marsha P. Johnson, Audre Lorde, and more. Including several...

Catch the aliens before they catch you in this exciting extraterrestrial choose-your-own-adventure featuring illustrated puzzles perfect for fans of the Among Us game. Imagine you are a brilliant young scientist who has been chosen for a research mission to a distant planet. On your way back to Earth, you are woken early from cryosleep by the ship's computer. It has detected an alien lifeform, but you don't see any sign of one. You look at your fellow...

In 2008 South Side Chicago, ten-year-old Montgomery "Monty" Carver's hunt to find the origins of a mysterious golden key leads him to discover the rich history of his community.

When a cure for vampirism becomes mandatory, twelve-year-old vampire Lux must decide whether to submit to the treatment or fight for the right to be himself. Lux Priddy is a regular 12-year-old: he goes to school, hangs out with his best friend, Emma, and loves to pet every dog he sees. Except for one little thing - Lux is a vampire. And even though vampires came out of the coffin and into the public eye before he was even born, not everyone is happy...

"Stella knows fifth grade will be the best year ever. Her closest friends, Emiko and Latasha, are in her class and they got the teacher they wanted. Then their favorite television show, Witchlins, announces a new guidebook and an online game! But when the classwork starts piling up, Stella struggles to stay on top of it. Why does it take her so long to read? And when she can't deal with the text-heavy Witchlins guidebook, she can't keep up with her...

An illustrated guide to some of the most bizarre objects from history by archaeologist Anna Goldfield, including a guessing game for kids to play! Each page contains a mystery item from the past, with a set of clues as to what it was used for. Readers can take a guess before unfolding a giant flap to reveal the answer. Without giving too much away, the book contains Inuit snow goggles, designed to protect eyes from the blinding glare of the ice, an...

"A boy discovers an astronaut helmet that takes him to the planet Ibra where he must save the universe"-- Provided by publisher.

"All big sister Abby wants is to spend more time with her friends, far away from the sticky fingers and snooping eyes of her annoying brothers and sisters. But when a case of the chickenpox leaves the Lai kids covered in scratchy red spots and stuck at home together for two weeks of nonstop mayhem, Abby thinks this might be the end ... of her sanity. Yet she feels responsible for the situation since her best friend was Patient Zero and brought chickenpox...