Vermont 5th grade reading list

The 734 books most commonly assigned to Vermont 5th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books734Lexile410L–1020LSourceVT Education Quality 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 Vermont 5th grade

These are the 27 titles named in Vermont’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 2 Vermont curriculum documents 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. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, homelessness and family. At 820L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  3. Bud, Not Buddy

    Christopher Paul Curtis

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents 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. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, friendship and Holocaust. At 670L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  5. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents 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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  6. El Deafo

    Cece Bell

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers disability, friendship and self-acceptance. At 420L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  7. Hatchet

    Gary Paulsen

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers survival, resilience and self-reliance. At 1020L it runs above the 740–1010L band — a stretch text.

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  8. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  9. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents 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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  10. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents 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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  11. 11 Birthdays

    Wendy Mass

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  12. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, 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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  13. Bunnicula

    Deborah Howe

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  14. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

    Jeff Kinney

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, 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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  15. Ella Enchanted

    Gail Carson Levine

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, fairy-tale and independence.

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  16. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

    Chris Grabenstein

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  17. Flush

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  18. Mick Harte Was Here

    Barbara Park

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers grief, family and safety.

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  19. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, 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. Rules

    Cynthia Lord

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, friendship and acceptance.

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  21. Small Spaces

    Katherine Arden

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  22. The Old Willis Place

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  23. The Terrible Two

    Mac Barnett

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  24. Wait Till Helen Comes

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 2 Vermont curriculum documents, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers ghosts, family and jealousy.

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  25. Dear Mr. Henshaw

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Vermont curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers family, identity and growing up.

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  26. Projekt 1065

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Vermont curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers WWII, spying and courage.

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  27. Rascal

    Sterling North

    Cited in 1 Vermont curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers nature, animals and family.

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734 books cited for Vermont 5th grade

Assignments tied directly to Vermont’s VT Education Quality Standards or national curricula with a Vermont-specific citation.

Show all 734 titles

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

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Other Vermont 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 Vermont 5th grade reading list

In Vermont schools, 5th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from VT Education Quality Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 734 titles for 5th grade in Vermont, each tied to a Vermont-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 52 titles here with a Lexile score 30 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.

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