5th Grade Summer Reading List
Palmetto Elementary School
2012-2013
NOTE TO PARENTS: Please read this entire document with your child!
This summer all incoming fifth graders must read four books which span the
following genres: fiction, non-fiction (2 books: 1 autobiography or biography, 1
“of interest”), and poetry. After reading your selected books, please complete
the graphic organizers which serve as a simple map to help you identify and
remember the important parts in each piece of text. These organizers (1 for each
genre) will be collected on the first day of school in August and used in class
during the school year. The four organizers are due on the first day of school!
During our fifth grade year, you will also be asked to create a project based on
your favorite Summer Reading book. Don't stress!!! Over the summer, just sit
back, relax, and enjoy reading the four books you have chosen. Our hope is
that you will develop the skills needed as an independent reader and a desire
to read for pleasure in your spare time.
The first genre of book that you will read this summer is fiction. Your fictional book
can be mystery, historical, realistic/contemporary, fantasy, or science fiction. Look over
the list of suggested books on one of the following pages, but don’t limit your choice
to those listed. When you’ve finished your fictional selection, fill out the graphic
organizer entitled “Story Map”.
Fiction
Suggestions for Fiction:
These books have been suggested by
Ms. Post, Mr. Lee, Ms. Green, Mrs. Omotade,
and 5th grade students:
Avi – Something Upstairs, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, “Who Was That Masked Man,
Anyway?”, Crispin, Ragweed, Nothing but the Truth, Poppy
Edward Bloor – Tangerine, Story Time, Crusader
Betsy Byars – Summer of the Swans, Death’s Door, Dead Letter, The Glory Girl, Disappearing Acts
Patrick Carman – any “Land of Elyon” books
Matt Christopher – Tight End, Football Fugitive, Red Hot Hightops, Spike It, Body Check, Dirt Bike
Runaway
Andrew Clements - The Landry News, Frindle, Lunch Money, The Janitor’s Boy, The School Story
Audrey Couloumbis – Getting Near to Baby, Say Yes, Summer’s End
Sharon Creech –Absolutely Normal Chaos, Pleasing the Ghost, Bloomability, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup
Christopher Paul Curtis – The Watson’s Go to Birmingham – 1963, Elijah of Buxton
Kate DiCamillo – The Tale of Despereaux
Sharon M. Draper - Romiette and Julio, Double Dutch, Copper Sun, Money Hungry, Begging for Change
Nancy Farmer - A Girl Named Disaster, The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm,
Sharon Flake – The Skin I’m In
Sid Fleischman - The Whipping Boy, The Ghost in the Noonday Sun, Jingo Django
Cornelia Funke – The Thief Lord, Inkheart, Inkspell, Dragon Rider
Jean Craighead George – Julie of the Wolves, My Side of the Mountain, There’s an Owl in the Shower
Dan Gutman – Honus and Me, Virtually Perfect, Jackie and Me, The Million Dollar Shot
Margaret Peterson Haddix – Among the Hidden, Among the Betrayed, Among the Imposters
Virginia Hamilton – Zeely, M.C. Higgins, the Great, The House of Dies Drear
Karen Hesse – Out of the Dust, Letters from Rifka, Just Juice, Witness, Stowaway, The Music of Dolphins
Carl Hiaasen – Hoot, Flush
Angela Johnson – Heaven, Bird, Toning the Sweep, Running Back to Ludie
Tracy Jones - Standing Against the Wind
Lois Lowry – The Giver, Us and Uncle Fraud, The Giver, Messenger, The Silent Boy
Mike Lupica - Heat
Norma Fox Mazer – Good Night, Maman
Patricia McKissack – Run Away Home, A Friendship for Today, Run Away Home, Long, Hard Journey
Donna Jo Napoli - Three Days, Bound, Trouble on the Tracks, For the Love of Venice, Stones in Water
Jenny Nimmo – Midnight for Charlie Bone
Linda Sue Park – A Single Shard
Gary Paulsen – Brian’s Winter, The River, Hatchet, The Crossing, The Quilt, The Monument
Shelly Pearsall – Trouble Don’t Last, Crooked River, All of the Above
J.K. Rowling – any Harry Potter books
Johanna Reiss – The Upstairs Room
Pam Munoz Ryan – Esperanza Rising, Paint the Wind
Cynthia Rylant – Missing May, A Blue-Eyed Daisy, I Had Seen Castles, The Storm
Louis Sachar – There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom, The Boy who Lost his Face, Small Steps
Jon Scieszka - See you Later, Gladiator, Summer Reading is Killing Me!, It’s All Greek to Me, 2095
Jackson Scholz – Batter Up, Fielder From Nowhere
Alfred Slote – Finding Buck McHenry
Lemony Snicket - any “Series of Unfortunate Events” books
Gary Soto – Taking Sides, Summer on Wheels
Jerry Spinelli – Loser, Crash, The Library Card, There’s a Girl in my Hammerlock, Milkweed, Wringer
Mildred D. Taylor - The Gold Cadillac, The Well, The Friendship, Let the Circle Be Unbroken
Bill Wallace – Never Say Quit, Aloha Summer, True Friends
Jacqueline Woodson - Hush
Jane Yolen – The Devil’s Arithmetic
Non-Fiction
The next two books you will read are non-fiction pieces of text. First, you should
choose a book (non-fiction) on a subject in science that interests you (storms,
insects, plants, animals, etc.). Fill out the “Need-To-Know” chart as you read
this selection. We have many suggestions to get you started on a selecting a
book:
Tornado! The Strongest Winds on Earth by Mike Graf
How Do Flies Walk Upside Down? Questions and Answers About Insects by Melvin Berger
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole
Animals Nobody Loves by Seymour Simon
Air Raid – Pearl Harbor! By Theodore Taylor
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story by Lila Perl
Immigrant Kids by Janet Bode
September 11, 2001 by Andrew Santella
True Stories of D-Day by Henry Brook
Amazing but True Sports Stories by Phyllis Hollander
Fast Track by Joe Layden
Isaac Newton by Kathleen Krull
Remember, the nonfiction book you read is your choice!
Autobiographies and Biographies
Then, choose an autobiography or biography as your second non-fiction read.
Choose someone to read about that has always interested you. Look over some of
the books recommended on the final page, but don’t limit your choice to these listed.
This is what we feel is so crucial – your interest in the subject! Fill out the
“Biography” graphic organizer as you read. Once you’ve completed this book, you
only have ONE more to go!!!!!!
Suggestions for Autobiography/Biography
* Voice of Freedom: A Story of Frederick Douglass by Maryann N. Weidt
* Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson by Barry Denenberg
* Amelia Earhart: Courage in the Sky by Mona Kerby
* How I Became A Writer by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
* Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World by Doris Faber
* Knots in my Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid by Jerry
Spinelli
* Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
* The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers
* Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart by Patricia Lauber
* Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers
* Orphan Train Rider: One Boy’s True Story by Andrea Warren
* Promises to Keep by Sharon Robinson
* Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson by Barry Denenberg
* Sacajawea by Joseph Bruchac
Poetry
The final (and fourth) genre that you will read this summer will
be poetry. Two of the featured poets in Fifth Grade are Shel
Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. We ask that you select three
poems in one of these authors’ books , such as Where the
Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, or A Pizza the Size of the
Sun. There are MANY more poetry books written by the
authors, so you do not have to use the three books mentioned
here in this paragraph . After reading your three poems in a
poetry book, please complete "Poetry Corner".
Fiction
STORY MAP
Directions: Fill in each box below with information about the novel.
Main Characters:
Setting:
(ti me and place)
Main Conflict/Problem:
Summary of Major Story Events:
Climax:
Resolution of Conflict:
Non-Fiction
NEED –TO – KNOW CHART
Title:
Author:
Before
Reading
What I hope to learn:
After Reading
What I now know:
Biography
Title:
Author:
What do I already know
about this person?
What did I learn about this person
while reading the book?
What else do I want to know about
this person?
Where can I look to find
this information besides the
Internet?
POETRY CORNER
Title:
Author:
Directions: Use the *Paraphrase Chart to help you translate key
parts of a poem into your own words.
*You are paraphrasing when you restate something in your own
words.


First write a quotation from the poem on the left.
Then, write your paraphrase of the quotation on the right and any other thoughts that
you have below it.
Lines (from the poem)
My Thoughts
My Paraphrase