Louisiana 5th grade reading list

The 744 books most commonly assigned to Louisiana 5th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books744Lexile410L–1020LSourceLouisiana Student Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned nationally: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Elementary (K–5) titles appearing in the most states are Wonder (29 states), Because of Winn-Dixie (26 states), and Shiloh (25 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Start here — most-cited for Louisiana 5th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Louisiana’s own curriculum documents for this grade — everything below is the wider national list. Read against the Common Core Appendix A complexity band; reading level is not thematic maturity, and several sit below the band because they are assigned for discussion.

  1. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers race and identity, code-switching, middle school adjustment.

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  2. The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, brotherhood and basketball. At 750L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  3. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers growing up, friendship and self-acceptance. At 410L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  4. Swim Team

    Johnnie Christmas

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers perseverance, friendship and race.

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  5. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers Greek mythology, neurodivergence (dyslexia, ADHD) and friendship. At 740L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  6. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  7. 11 Birthdays

    Wendy Mass

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  8. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times reviewed and comic books, strips, etc..

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  9. Alligator Sue

    Sharon Arms Doucet

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers tall tales, alligators and identity.

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  10. Athlete vs. Mathlete

    W. C. Mack

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers basketball, twins and brothers.

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  11. Awkward

    Svetlana Chmakova

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers basic reader, middle schools and comics & graphic novels.

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  12. Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

    Rita Williams-Garcia

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers death, grandparent and child, bereavement.

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  13. Coraline

    Neil Gaiman

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers fantasy, paranormal fiction and graphic novels.

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  14. Dear Mrs. LaRue

    Mark Teague

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers training, humorous stories and letters.

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  15. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

    Jeff Kinney

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers school, friendship and family. At 950L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  16. Dress Coded

    Carrie Firestone

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers new york times reviewed, schools, fiction and adolescence, fiction.

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  17. Found

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  18. Game Changer

    Tommy Greenwald

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers football, injury and truth.

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  19. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    J.K. Rowling

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, courage and good vs evil. At 880L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  20. My Dog, My Hero

    Betsy Cromer Byars

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers dogs and dogs, fiction.

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  21. Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

    O'Malley, Kevin

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers motorcyclists, giants and humorous stories.

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  22. Secrets of My Hollywood Life

    Jen Calonita

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers actresses, actors and actresses, actors and actresses in fiction.

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  23. Skeleton Key

    Anthony Horowitz

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers mystery, spies in fiction and terrorism in fiction.

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  24. So B. It

    Sarah Weeks

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, identity and journey.

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  25. Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus

    John Grandits

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers humorous stories, brothers and first day of school.

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  26. The Bad Guys

    Aaron Blabey

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers animals, heroes and rescues.

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  27. The Diary of a Killer Cat

    Anne Fine

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers cats, diaries and kinderbuch.

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  28. The Dunderheads

    Paul Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers schools, individuality and humorous stories.

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  29. The False Prince

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers identity, adventure and power.

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  30. The Terrible Two

    Mac Barnett

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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744 books cited for Louisiana 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Louisiana’s Louisiana Student Standards or national curricula with a Louisiana-specific citation.

Show all 744 titles

Reading the whole Louisiana 5th grade reading list? Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

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New members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.

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Teacher or librarian? Print this list as a checklist — free to photocopy for your class or library (details).

Other Louisiana grades

4th grade · 6th grade · 3rd grade · 7th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

4th grade · 6th grade · 3rd grade · 7th grade

Same 5th grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois

Browse 5th grade reading by theme

About the Louisiana 5th grade reading list

In Louisiana schools, 5th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Louisiana Student Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 744 titles for 5th grade in Louisiana, each tied to a Louisiana-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 410L–1020L.

5th grade sits in the 3-5 grade band, where students are transitional readers. At this stage the emphasis is on shifting from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn and sustaining attention across longer chapter books. Assigned reading skews toward early novels, narrative non-fiction, and a student's first assigned full-length stories, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 400L to 800L. Measured against that 740–1010L range, of the 51 titles here with a Lexile score 30 are grade-level, 20 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 1 is a stretch text that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 5th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Louisiana’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Louisiana Student Standards (louisianabelieves.com). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 5th grade list below blends Louisiana-specific assignments with the widely-taught national canon. Every title links to its primary source on the book’s detail page, so you can confirm exactly where and why it is assigned.

How to use this list:match a title to your child’s most recent Lexile or guided-reading level rather than to the grade alone. Teachers building a 5th grade unit can pair a Louisiana-cited core text with a grade-appropriate companion novel; parents previewing summer or supplemental reading can check each book’s content notes and challenge history before assigning it.

Common questions

How many books are assigned to 5th grade students in Louisiana?
744 books appear on ReadingList for 5th grade students in Louisiana, sourced from Louisiana Student Standards and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Louisiana?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Louisiana reading list range from 410L to 1020L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Entries reference Louisiana Student Standards (published at www.louisianabelieves.com) plus national curricula that apply to Louisiana schools: Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English Literature and Language, IB Diploma Programme, and Cambridge Assessment International. Every assignment row on each book's detail page links its primary source.

Reading guides for parents

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