Book Choices for Third To Fifth Grade
Have you read The Secret Garden twice? Do you know Stone Fox by heart? If so, you might be looking for new books to read and share with your family and friends. Well, look no further! The following lists contain summaries of some of the best books for 3rd through 5th graders. You’ll find one list for fiction and another list for poetry.
After choosing a book, check out the Reader’s Guide to Book Reviews. Here you’ll find questions, suggestions, and examples to help you create a fabulous book review for the literature you have chosen. The Reader’s Guide to Book Reviews matches the 3rd through 5th grade Gorman Learning Center prompts for Book Reviews. You can read the prompts here.
All of these books are on the 3rd through 5th grade Recommended Literature list of the California Department of Education (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/ll/ap/litsearch.asp).
Fantastic Fiction Finds
(Click here for Reader’s Guide to Book Reviews!)
Bandit’s Moon, by Sid Fleischman (1998)
Are you ready for a real California Adventure? Join Annyrose, a child of the California Gold Rush, as she escapes from the clutches of cruel O.O. Mary, only to meet up with the “The Robin Hood of the Gold Rush”… the famous bandit Joaquín Murieta! Fearless and bold, but unable to read, Joaquín asks Annyrose to teach him; in exchange, he’ll help her to find her older brother Lankly. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Don’t miss this book if you love adventure stories with lots of humor and heart.
Brave as a Mountain Lion, by Ann Herbert Scott, illustrated by Glo Coalson (1996)
Spider is usually happy to get 100% on his spelling test… but not this time. This time, his perfect score means that he’ll have to stand up in front of the whole school (and his whole family) for the spelling bee. Spider just knows that his legs will freeze together and the words won’t come out of his mouth on the big night. If you’ve ever been faced with a challenge and wondered what to do, the advice that Spider receives from his dad, grandma, and brother will speak to you, too.
Dave at Night, by Gail Carson Levine (1999)
When his father dies in 1926, eleven-year-old Dave expects to go live with his Uncle Jack in Chicago. Little does he know that the Hebrew Home for Boys—an orphanage in Harlem, New York—awaits. Streetwise Dave finds relief from the orphanage by slipping out into the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, where famous musicians, authors, and artists attend dazzling parties. Will Dave escape his situation with help from his friends, Solly Gruber and Irma Lee? You won’t be able to put the book down until you find out.
The Great Turkey Walk, by Kathleen Karr (1998)
How long would it take to walk from Missouri to Denver, Colorado—a distance of at least 800 miles? Now, how long would it take if you were herding a thousand turkeys? That’s exactly what Simon Green intends to find out. In the year 1860, after finishing up the third grade (for the fourth time) at age fifteen, Simon must spread his wings and move on. Walking turkeys to the Wild West town of Denver might make his fortune and change his life. His madcap adventures will certainly make you laugh out loud!
The Kite Fighters, by Linda Sue Park (2000)
Young-sup, who loves to fly kites, and his older brother Kee-sup, who loves to make them, are sometimes friends and sometimes rivals. If the two brothers want to win the New Year kite competition for the King, they’ll need to put aside their differences and combine their talents. But will their father agree to break with tradition and let his younger son fly the kite that Kee-sup makes? The Kite Fighters will strike a chord with you if you have brothers or sisters of your own.
Millicent Min, Girl Genius, by Lisa Yee (2003)
Being eleven years old is tough sometimes. Now imagine being eleven years old in eleventh grade! That’s how it is for Millicent Min, a genius in poetry, Latin, math, and everything else… except making friends. When her mom signs her up for volleyball, Millie fears the worst until she meets Emily, a girl her age who actually thinks Millie’s cool. Now, if she can just hide her I.Q. from Emily and get out of tutoring creepy Stanford (“Stinkford”) Wong, Millie might have the best summer ever. Fifth-graders, you’ll appreciate Millie’s sophisticated vocabulary and find a laugh on every page.
The Red Rose Box, by Brenda Woods (2002)
It is the summer of 1953 in Sulphur, Louisiana, when a suitcase painted with bright red roses arrives as a birthday gift for ten-year-old Leah Hopper. Soon Leah and her sassy younger sister Ruth are on a train with Mama and Gramma, heading to Hollywood to see their mysterious Aunt Olivia. This is just the beginning of a chain of events –exhilarating, frustrating, and even tragic– that will change Leah’s life forever. If you’re a fifth-grader who loved The Secret Garden, you’ll like this book. It presents deep feelings and hard truths about growing up in the 1950s American South and Los Angeles.
The Skirt, by Gary Soto (1992)
What if you lost something very important, and had to get it back all on your own? That’s exactly what happens to Miata when she gets off the school bus on Friday afternoon and leaves her folklórico skirt behind. Now it’s up to Miata and her best friend Ana to retrieve the skirt before Miata’s dance performance on Sunday, without her parents finding out. What will these two California girls do next? You’ll see—with lots of mischief and laughter along the way—when you read The Skirt.
A Sunburned Prayer, by Marc Talbert (1995)
Do you believe in miracles? Eleven-year-old Eloy is not sure that he does. However, when his abuela [grandmother] becomes seriously ill, he’ll take his chances and walk seventeen miles to a special sanctuary, el Santuario de Chimayó. This is a long, hot, sunburned journey on foot… but the journey inside Eloy’s heart is what really matters. A Sunburned Prayer is realistic in showing one boy’s struggle to understand his family as they make mistakes and make amends.
Tea With Milk, by Allen Say (1999)
May lives in two different worlds at once. At home with her parents, who speak Japanese, she eats rice and drinks plain green tea for breakfast—but at her friends’ houses, she eats pancakes and drinks tea with milk. When her family moves from San Francisco back to Japan, May must adapt to a new name—Masako—and a new life. Allen Say’s watercolor paintings will take your breath away as you read this true story about his own mother.
Powerful Poetry Previews
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Becoming Joe DiMaggio, by Maria Testa (2002)
Calling all baseball-loving fifth graders! If you’re looking for poems that tell a story better than any novel, this book is for you. In the summer of 1936, Joseph Paul and his grandpa, Papa-Angelo, listen to the radio and dream about Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. There is loneliness and pain in Joseph Paul’s life, but baseball and love from his mama, grandpa, and sisters sees him through. “Hits were the same as hope that summer,” says Maria Testa, who wrote this book about her own father’s childhood.
Candy Corn, by James Stevenson (1999)
What is candy corn, anyway? Yellow-and-orange hail scattered all over the street, pointy teeth lost by a Halloween dragon, or a book of funny poems by James Stevenson? If you said, “All of the above,” you’re right—and you’ll love these poems about auto parts, stone walls, school buses, and more. You can wolf Candy Corn down in a flash, then go on to devour Popcorn and Sweet Corn, more books by the same author.
Cool Melons – Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa, by Matthew Gollub, illustrated by Kazuko G. Stone (1998)
Issa, who lived from 1763 to 1827 in Japan, is one of the most famous haiku poets ever. In Issa’s world of imagination, delicious watermelons could turn to frogs and hop away, while a dragonfly’s eye could contain a faraway mountain. This book will take you on a tour of Issa’s life and his most famous haiku. Once he wrote a hundred poems in a single night… and after reading this book, maybe you will, too!
Gold Fever, by Verla Kay, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (1999)
The catchy poems and very funny illustrations in this book will make you feel like you’re right in the middle of the California Gold Rush! Join farmer Jasper on his hot, sticky, and dangerous journey all the way to Gold Rush territory. You’ll learn about Jasper’s sometimes silly, sometimes scary struggles and, before long, you’ll have the poems memorized. Where else will you find a poem that rhymes “Smelly shirt” with “Caked with dirt” or “River, rocks” with “Holes in socks”?
Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho, by Dawnine Spivak, illustrated by Demi (1997)
How did people travel in Japan four hundred years ago? They walked and rode horses over treacherous mountain paths. That’s what Matsuo Basho did, anyway—he walked all over the island of Japan, composing some of the most famous poems ever written. Imagine doing the same thing yourself on the way to Disneyland! If you are a traveler at heart, this book will take you to a different place and time.
Honey, I Love and Other Poems, by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Diane and Leo Dillon (1999)
What do you love? Do you love dressing up, jumping rope, laughing out loud, riding in the car, or hearing the sound of your cousin’s voice? Well, I love this book of poems by Eloise Greenfield, because she loves all these things and more. Honey, I Love and Other Poems has rhythm and style to spare. The poems will make you want to dance, sing, run, spin, twirl, swing, shout… and write!
Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/Jitomates risueños y otros poemas de primavera, by Francisco X. Alarcón, illustrated by Maya Christina González (1997)
Wow! This book is the coolest, with flavorful poems in Spanish and English on the things that really matter about spring. Juicy tomatoes, spicy chiles, fresas y sol matutino—you’ll find them all here, in ways that you never imagined. Poet Francisco X. Alarcón says, “Make these poems yours.” After you read this book, you’ll want to check out his other three poetry books about summer, fall, and winter.
Love to Langston, by Tony Medina, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (2002)
Langston Hughes is one of the most famous American poets for adults and kids. But what was his life like when he was a kid? This beautiful biography in poems and acrylic paintings will take you through Langston’s whole life and show you the people and places that inspired his poetry: jazz and blues music, Harlem and Africa, grandmas and family stories. “Sometimes life ain’t always a hoot or a holler, But if you manage to give it a bother… There’ll be better days up ahead, A whole mess of happenin’ days up ahead,” says author Tony Medina. Langston’s life shows how true it is.
Maples in the Mist, by Minfong Ho, illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng (1996)
The poems in this book are very, very old—from 1100 to 1400 years old, to be exact—but they sound as fresh as if they were written yesterday. Poems from the T’ang Dynasty in China are short and sweet, telling about the natural world: pine trees, wild geese, rivers, and misty mountains. If you want to be inspired to write your own poems, bring this book with you the next time you go for a hike with your family. (Special bonus: you can read the Chinese characters [letters and words] next to each poem!)
Nineteen Varieties of Gazelle, by Naomi Shihab Nye (2002)
OK, fifth-graders: are you ready for some serious poetry, about things that really matter in the world? Nineteen Varieties of Gazelle is a good place to start. After September 11, 2001, poet Naomi Shihab Nye was filled with sorrow at the attacks on the World Trade Center. She wanted to write a book to show the beauty of the Middle East, drawing from her Arab American heritage: black coffee, sun-filled gardens, peace and war and “different ways to pray.” Some of these poems will make you smile, and some will make you cry, so read them together with a parent or guardian. You won’t forget them.
Sierra, by Diane Siebert, illustrated by Wendell Minor (1991)
Up north, the Sierra Nevada looms. If you’ve hiked in these mountains, you might have been inspired to yell out “Hello!” and listen to the echoes. In Sierra, the mountain says “Hello” back, explaining its majestic history in poetry and paintings. The voice of the Sierra Nevada is ageless, patient, and rich with details, both large and small. Read this book before a summer trip to Sequoia or Yosemite National Park.
A Suitcase of Seaweed and Other Poems, by Janet S. Wong (1996)
Korean poems + Chinese poems + American poems equals what? For starters, a suitcase of seaweed, a slinky black dress, baking almond cookies, and leaving your shoes at the door. But of course, it equals a whole lot more… and you’ll find that “more” in Janet S. Wong’s book. These poems are honest, funny, and wise. By the time you finish reading, you will feel like the poet is an old friend.
Reader’s Guide to Book Reviews
In a book review, your opinion counts! This is your chance to share your opinion on a book you loved (or loathed), and explain why other people should read—or avoid—this particular book. Your readers will make a decision to read or not read the book based on the information you provide and the enthusiasm with which you express your opinion. That’s a lot of responsibility, but it can also be a lot of fun… because in a book review, you are the expert, and it’s what you believe that really matters.
What Belongs in a Book Review?
Most book reviews are organized into paragraphs and contain the following basic parts:
● An introduction that gives your opinion about the book
● A brief (1-2 paragraphs) summary of the book
● (Optional) Important information about the author of the book
● An explanation of why you liked or did not like the book
● Examples from the book to support your opinion
● A recommendation of who should or should not read the book
● A conclusion that leaves your reader excited about what he or she has learned
Each main idea of your book review will be in its own paragraph, but some parts—such as an explanation of why you liked the book or not—may take more than one paragraph.
Topics to Ponder, Questions to Ask
Your book review starts with how you feel about the book you read, but it goes far beyond that, becoming as unique as you are. Here are some questions to help you develop your ideas and your focus. You do not have to answer all of these questions in your book review. Try picking a few of your favorites, and keep them in mind while you read your book:
● What age group did the author write this book for? (Hint: sometimes the back or side flap of the book will list the grade level.) What age kids do you think should read this book, and why?
● What three adjectives do you think describe the book best? What three adjectives best describe the main character, setting, and ending of the book?
● What important information about the author can you find on the back of the book? What can you find out about the author from the Internet?
● What are three things that you like about the author’s writing style? (Sense of humor, descriptive language, realism?) Look for three quotes that show the things you like about the author’s style.
● What are three reasons that you would or would not recommend this book? Look for specific scenes, quotes, or characters that support your reasons.
● Would kids with specific interests like this book? (For example, ice skaters, kids who like horses, kids who are good at math and science, kids with many siblings, or only children?)
● Is the book set in a time and place similar to the one you live in? How does the author show what the time and place is like? If the time and place is different from the one you live in, how is it different?
● What message do you think the author wants to teach you in the book? Do you agree with the message? Why do you agree or disagree?
● For a change of pace, write about a book you did not like at all, and explain why.
Steps for Writing a Book Review
Don’t Forget… A Checklist for Revision