Reading List 4-5 Grades
Browse the entire list or browse by selecting one of the following categories: fantasy, scary, humor, science fiction, sports, adventure, animals, contemporary, mystery, historical.
All of the books in this list can be found in the j fiction section. *** indicates a series. If you like this book, there are more.
THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE by Kate DiCamillo
Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.
THE FIELD GUIDE by Toni DiTerlizzi ***
When the Grace children go to stay at their Great Aunt Lucinda's worn Victorian house, they discover a field guide to fairies and other creatures and begin to have some unusual experiences. Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1.
THE FIRE WITHIN by Chris D'Lacey ***
When college student David Rain rents a room in an unusual boardinghouse full of clay dragons, he has no idea that they, along with some lively squirrels, will help jump-start his writing career. Sequel: Ice Fire
PRINCESS ACADEMY by Sharon Hale
While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.
FAIRY DUST AND THE QUEST FOR THE EGG by Gail Carson Levine
After a hurricane injures the fairies' godlike Mother Dove, whose magical feathers and precious egg are of powerful importance to both fairies and Neverland itself, it falls to newcomer Prilla and two companions to set things right.
CHARLIE BONE by Jenny Nimmo ***
Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking. Children of the Red King; Book 1
MY FRIEND THE VAMPIRE by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
A horror story fan, Tony Noodleman's life becomes more thrilling than anything he's ever read when he befriends a couple of vampires named Rudolph and Anna.
BEWARE! R.L. STINE PICKS HIS FAVORITE SCARY STORIES
by R.L. Stine
A selection of unsettling stories--one in graphic form along with two poems--by such authors as Ray Bradbury, William Sleator, Robert Service, Edward Gorey, Roald Dahl, Jane Yolen, and Mr. Stine himself.
THAT'S GHOSTS FOR YOU: THIRTEEN SCARY STORIES ( j That's)
An international collection of spine-tingling stories, including such titles as "Bigger than Death," "The Airi," and "The Man Who Sang to Ghosts."
CHILLS RUN DOWN MY SPINE by Jackie Vivelo
In these nine short stories, Vivelo gives traditional ghost stories a subtle twist as she explores deeper and darker secrets and emotions. Read aloud or read on your own...if you dare.
LUNCH MONEY by Andrew Clements
Twelve-year-old Greg, who has always been good at moneymaking projects, is surprised to find himself teaming up with his lifelong rival, Maura, to create a series of comic books to sell at school.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON by Cressida Cowell
Chronicles the adventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third as he tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan, the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, by catching and training a dragon.
THE GET RICH QUICK CLUB by Dan Gutman
Summer vacation in their small Maine town does not look too promising until twelve-year-old Gina and four of her friends make a pact to become millionaires before school starts in September.
TRIPPING OVER THE LUNCH LADY & OTHER SCHOOL STORIES (j Tri)
An anthology of ten humorous short stories about life in school written by well-known authors of children's books.
AKIKO ON THE PLANET SMOO by Mark Crilley ***
Summer vacation has only just begun when 4th grader Akiko is whisked off to a distant galaxy and put in charge of a perilous mission on the planet Smoo, where she soon gets a crash course in adventure.
CITY OF EMBER by Jeanne DuPrau ***
The city of Ember was built deep underground as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When 12-year-old Lina finds part of an ancient message, she is sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever!
EAGER by Helen Fox
Unlike Grumps, their old-fashioned robot, the Bell family's new robot, Eager, is programmed to not merely obey but to question, reason, and exercise free will.
THE AKHENATEN ADVENTURE by P.B. Kerr ***
When twelve-year-old twins Philippa and John discover that they are descended from a long line of djinn, their mother sends them away to their Uncle Nimrod, who takes them to Cairo where he starts to teach them about their extraordinary powers. Children of the Lamp Book 1.
THE TIME HACKERS by Gary Paulsen
When someone uses futuristic technology to play pranks on twelve-year-old Dorso Clayman, he and his best friend set off on a supposedly impossible journey through space and time trying to stop the gamesters who are endangering the universe.
BABE & ME: A BASEBALL CARD ADVENTURE by Dan Gutman ***
With their ability to travel through time using vintage baseball cards, Joe and his father have the opportunity to find out whether Babe Ruth really did call his shot when he hit that homerun in the third game of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
LOSE, TEAM, LOSE! by R.L. Stine ***
The biggest, toughest girl in school joins the football team and foils a sly fourth grader's attempts to win the affections of the snobbiest girl in the class. Rotten School #4.
MAKING THE SAVE by Matt Christopher ***
When the Soccer ‘Cats decide to earn money to buy a gift for Coach Bradley, Bucky goes out of his way to make the gift a wonderful surprise. Soccer ‘Cats series.
TECHNICAL FOUL by Rich Wallace
Jared, a high-scoring member of the Hudson City Middle School basketball team, gets angry when the point guard accuses him of being responsible for their string of losses, but finally realizes they can win only if he becomes a team player.
THE XANADU ADVENTURE by Lloyd Alexander
Vesper Holly's adventures continue as she, her guardians, and their friends journey to Asia Minor in search of the ancient city of Troy, but fall into the trap of an old nemesis.
LION BOY by Zizou Corder ***
In the near future, a boy with the ability to speak the language of cats sets out from London to seek his kidnapped parents and finds himself on a Paris-bound circus ship learning to train lions.
KENSUKE'S KINGDOM by Michael Morpurgo
When Michael is swept off his family's yacht, he washes up on a desert island, where he struggles to survive--until he finds he is not alone.
ICE DRIFT by Theodore Taylor
Two Inuit brothers must fend for themselves while stranded on an ice floe that is adrift in the Greenland Strait.. Throughout their six-month-long journey the brothers face bitter cold, starvation, and most frightening of all, vicious polar bears. But they still remain hopeful that one day they'll be rescued.
CHARLIE'S RAVEN by Jean Craighead George
Charlie Carlisle's grandfather is ill. Charlie's friend, Singing Bird, a Teton Sioux, tells him that ravens have curing powers, so Charlie steals a baby bird from its nest. Granddad, a retired naturalist, encourages Charlie to record his observations of the bird and study the effect it has on humans. Charlie just hopes that the raven will make Granddad well.
INTO THE WILD by Erin Hunter ***
For generations, four clans of wild cats have shared the forest. When their warrior code is threatened by mysterious deaths, a house cat named Rusty may turn out to be the bravest warrior of all. Warriors, Book 1.
SILVERWING by Kenneth Oppel ***
When a newborn bat named Shade but sometimes called "Runt" becomes separated from his colony during migration, he grows in ways that prepare him for even greater journeys.
ANGUS AND SADIE by Cynthia Voigt
Angus and Sadie, of mostly border collie heritage, are adopted by a young couple and start living on a Maine farm, where they begin to learn sheep herding and come to appreciate how they are different from each another.
CHASING VERMEER by Blue Bailliett
When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
DEFIANCE by Valerie Hobbs
While vacationing in the country, eleven-year-old Toby, a cancer patient, learns some important lessons about living and dying from an elderly poet and her cow.
KIRA-KIRA by Cynthia Kadohata
Chronicles the close friendship between Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.
THE AGONY OF ALICE by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor ***
Motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role model who does everything right; and when placed in homely Mrs. Plotkins's class she is greatly disappointed.
WHAT'S A SERIOUS DETECTIVE LIKE ME DOING IN SUCH A SILLY MOVIE? by Linda Bailey ***
While working as an extra in a movie being filmed close to her home, Stevie Diamond hears rumors that the production is haunted after numerous strange incidents befall the cast and crew.
THE DARK STAIRS by Betsy Byars ***
The intrepid Herculeah Jones helps her mother, a private investigator, solve a puzzling and frightening case. A Herculeah Jones mystery.
ASSASSIN by Patricia Finney ***
Thirteen-year-old Lady Grace Cavendish, the youngest and favorite maid of honor of Elizabeth I, must solve a murder mystery and clear the name of her betrothed. First of the Lady Grace Mysteries.
SAMMY KEYES AND THE SISTERS OF MERCY
by Wendelin Van Draanen ***
Sammy continues to make life with her grandmother interesting as she tries to discover who is stealing from St. Mary's church, befriends a homeless girl, and plays in a softball tournament against a bitter rival.
THE MISADVENTURES OF MAUDE MARCH by Audrey Couloumbis
After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, Sallie and her sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an adventure resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read.
IN DARKNESS, DEATH by Dorothy Hoobler ***
In eighteenth-century Japan, young Seikei becomes involved with a ninja as he helps Judge Ooka, his foster father, investigate the murder of a samurai.
THE TEACHER'S FUNERAL: A COMEDY IN THREE PARTS by Richard Peck
In rural Indiana in 1904, Russell's dreams of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew are disrupted when his older sister takes over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse after mean old Myrt Arbuckle "hauls off and dies."
BLUE FINGERS: A NINJA'S TALE by Cheryl Aylward Whitesel
Having failed apprenticeship as a dye maker, Koji is captured and forced to train as a ninja, where he remains disloyal until he discovers samurai have burned his former village.