YEAR 5 RECOMMENDED READING LIST
Books underlined are class readers and will be studied in English lessons: they are
required reading. Other books can be read in any order, but have been divided into terms
to draw links between other books and topics on the curriculum. Some of the books (not all)
in each term link with the period being studied in History.
MICHAELMAS TERM
Historical theme: Age of Discovery
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A Knight of the White Cross: a tale of the Siege of Rhodes, G
A Henty (out of print; free on Kindle)
The Lark and the Laurel, Barbara Willard
Swallows and Amazons (series), Arthur Ramsome
Prince Caspian, C S Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia (entire series), C S Lewis
Robin Hood, Henry Gilbert (Wordsworth)
Under Drake’s Flag: a tale of the Spanish Main, G A Henty
(out of print; free on Kindle)
The Enchanted Island, Ian Serrailier
Harry Potter (series), J K Rowling
The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald (Puffin)
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert C O’Brien
The Borrowers, Mary Norton (Puffin)
The Reluctant Dragon, Kenneth Grahame
The Story of the Other Wise Men, Henry Van Dyke
The Green Fairy Book and The Yellow Fairy Book,
Andrew Lang (Hesperus Minor)
LENT TERM
Historical theme: The age of Empire
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Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (Puffin)
Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling (Puffin)
The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling (Puffin)
Kim, Rudyard Kipling (Puffin)
Puck of Pook’s Hill, Rudyard Kipling (Hesperus Minor)
King Arthur Trilogy, Rosemary Sutcliff
The Chronicles of Narnia, C S Lewis
Watership Down, Richard Adams (Puffin)
Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson (Puffin)
Version 2, 2014-15
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Dracula, Bram Stoker (Puffin)
The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, Norman Hunter
Through Russian Snows: a story of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, G A Henty (out
of print; free on Kindle)
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (Puffin)
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (Puffin)
White Fang, Jack London
TRINITY TERM
Historical theme: The Twentieth Century and War
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Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (Puffin)
Black Stallion (series), Walter Farley
Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett (Puffin)
Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
(Puffin)
Extraordinary Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (Puffin)
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle (Puffin)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
The Railway Children, Edith Nesbit
Private Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom and War Horse, Michael Morpurgo
The Silver Sword, Ian Serrallier
Version 2, 2014-15