Tennessee 5th grade reading list

The 739 books most commonly assigned to Tennessee 5th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books739Lexile410L–1020LSourceTN Academic 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 Tennessee 5th grade

These are the 28 titles named in Tennessee’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. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fate vs choice, friendship and justice. At 660L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  2. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Tennessee 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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  3. Bud, Not Buddy

    Christopher Paul Curtis

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, identity and perseverance. At 950L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  4. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers courage, forgiveness and light vs dark. At 670L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  5. The War That Saved My Life

    Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers war, resilience and disability. At 580L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  6. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, inclusion and intelligence. At 700L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  7. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Tennessee 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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  8. 11 Birthdays

    Wendy Mass

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

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  9. A Royal Conundrum

    Lisa Yee

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers friendship, humor and adventure.

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  10. Amari and the Night Brothers

    B. B. Alston

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers magic, family and courage.

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  11. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers loss, friendship and mother absence. At 610L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  12. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

    Chris Grabenstein

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

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  13. Fablehaven

    Brandon Mull

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, adventure and courage.

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  14. Ferris

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers family, humor and growing up.

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  15. Found

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

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

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  16. Fudge-a-Mania

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  17. Guts

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers anxiety, growing up and courage.

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  18. Odder

    Katherine Applegate

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

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  19. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers refugees, survival and family. At 800L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  20. Ruby Holler

    Sharon Creech

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

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  21. The Best School Year Ever

    Barbara Robinson

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, family and school.

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  22. The Lost Hero

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers mythology, heroism and memory.

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  23. The Million Dollar Shot

    Dan Gutman

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  24. The Old Willis Place

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  25. The Terrible Two

    Mac Barnett

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

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  26. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom

    Louis Sachar

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

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  27. Wait Till Helen Comes

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers ghosts, family and jealousy.

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  28. Wayside School Is Falling Down

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Tennessee curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers humor, school and friendship.

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739 books cited for Tennessee 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Tennessee’s TN Academic Standards or national curricula with a Tennessee-specific citation.

Show all 739 titles

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

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Other Tennessee 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 Tennessee 5th grade reading list

In Tennessee schools, 5th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from TN Academic Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 739 titles for 5th grade in Tennessee, each tied to a Tennessee-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 29 are grade-level, 21 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.

Tennessee’s English Language Arts requirements are set by TN Academic Standards (tn.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 5th grade list below blends Tennessee-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 Tennessee-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 Tennessee?
739 books appear on ReadingList for 5th grade students in Tennessee, sourced from TN Academic Standards and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 5th grade reading in Tennessee?
Lexile measures across the 5th grade Tennessee 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 TN Academic Standards (published at www.tn.gov) plus national curricula that apply to Tennessee 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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State-specific entries sourced from www.tn.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.