Great Book Recommendations!
*Please note: These are books I previously recommended to 6th grade students. I have not updated this list for 5th grade yet, so please be aware they may have content that is better suited to a middle school student.*
Some of these I have read personally. Some have been recommended to me by students or other teachers. Some are award winning novels. You absolutely do NOT have to read these books. These are just my personal recommendations if you're looking for a great book to read! Contact me with any questions or concerns!
Color Code:
Forrester's personal stamp of approval
Recommended by a student
Recommended by a teacher/educator
Former Sequoyah Book or other award winning book
On my wish list of books I plan to read this year
An excerpt is in our literature textbooks
Poetry/Prose:
- Under the Mesquite by McCall
- The Day Before by Sarah Ockler
- Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
- All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
- Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
- Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Realistic Fiction:
- Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
- Rules by Cynthia Lord
- The Heartbreak Messenger by Alexander Vance
- Flush by Carl Hiaasen
Historical Fiction:
- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
- Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
- Numbering All the Bones by Ann Rinaldi
Science Fiction:
- Maze Runner by Dashner
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
- Uglies by Scott Westerfield
- Star Wars Jedi Academy #1 by Jeffrey Brown
Fantasy:
- The Books of Pellinor Series by Croggon
- Beautiful Creatures by Stohl
- Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by JK Rowling
- Eragon by Christopher Paolini
- The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson #1) by Rick Riordan
- Savvy (Savvy #1) by Ingrid Law
- Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Mystery:
- Scat by Carl Hiaasen
- The False Prince by Jennifer A Neilsen
- Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Forevermore by Cindy Miles
- Paper Towns by John Green
Biography/Autobiography:
- Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba by Alma Flor Ada
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- Boy by Roald Dahl
- The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin by James Giblin
- Stolen Into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man by Judith Bloom Fradin
- Freedom Train: The Story of Harriett Tubman by Dorothy Sterling
Nonfiction:
- How They Croaked (The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous) by Bragg
- Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know by Graydon
- Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
- Almost Astronauts: 13 Women who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone
- Black Gold: The Story of Oil in our Lives by Albert Marrin