BUCKINGHAM, BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL
Recommended Reading 2025 Grades 4 and 5
(Librarian Heather Lee)
New and Noteworthy
Applegate The One and Only Family
Abendanon The Songbird and the Rabutan Tree
Chen Boba Time for Pearl Li
Choldenko The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman
Dao Team Chu and Battle of Blackwood Arena (series)*
Gidwitz Max in the House of Spies
Hardinge The Island of Whispers
Huntoon Linus and Etta Could Use a Win
Keller Mihi Ever After, A Giant Problem (series)
Lai When Clouds Touch Us***
LaRocca Sona and the Golden Beasts
Leahy Mallory in Full Color
Lee-Yun The Last Rhee Witch
Marsh Medusa
Melleby Winnie Nash is Not Your Sunshine
Millington Olivetti
Ness Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody
Quigley Red Bird Danced
Safadi Kareem Between
Shang Secret Battle of Evan Pao
Sugiura Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind (series)
Sutanto Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit
Tracy Murray Out of Water
Wang The Many Meanings of Meilan
Warga A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall
Wendall Light and Air
Yang Finally Heard*** (series)
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Alexander Book of Three (series)
Applegate Willowdeen. Odder*
Baker Princess in Disguise (series)
Ballarini The Babysitters Guide to Monster Hunting (series)
Baptiste Rise of the Jumbies (series)
Baron Maya and the Rising Dark
Beasley Circus Mirandus
Black The Iron Trial (series)
Blackwood Miss Ellicott’s School for the Magically Minded
Buckly The Fairy Tale Detectives (series)
Burgess The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart (series)
Cervantes Storm Runner (series)
Chadda The Savage Fortress (series)
Chou Ravenous Things
Colfer The Fowl Twins (series)
Artemis Fowl (series)
Cooper The Boggart (series)
The Dark is Rising (series)
Cottrell-Boyce Sputnick's Guide to Life on Earth (series)
Coville Hatched (series) Into the Land of Unicorns
Cowell How to Train Your Dragon (series)
Dairman The Girl From Earth's End
DasGupta The Serpent’s Secret
(series)
DiCamilo The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
The Tale of Despereaux
DuPrau City of Ember
Emerson Last Day on Mars (series)
Fumaro Firefly Hollow
Funke Inkheart
Ghost Knight
George Fridays with the Wizards (series)
Gaiman The Graveyard Book
Coraline
Gibbs Space Case (series)
Gidwitz A Tale Dark & Grim (series)
Grabenstein The Smartest Kid in the Universe
The Island of Dr. Libris
Haddix The Strangers (series)
Found (series)
Among the Hidden (series)
Hale The Princess Academy(series)
Book of a Thousand Days
Harold The Worlds We Leave Behind
Healy The Hero’s’ Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (secret)
Hoffman Nightbird
Holm The Fourteenth Goldfish
Hunter Warriors (series)
Ibbotson Secret of Platform 13
Island of the Aunts
Creatures of Clawstone Castle
Jacques Redwall (series)
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (series)
Jinks How to Catch a Boggle
Johnson Mark of the Dragonfly (series)
Jones The Pinhoe Egg
Charmed Life
Islands of Chaldea
Jung Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities
Keller When You Trap A Tiger*
Kim The Last Fallen Star (series)
Korman Memory Maze (series)
Restart. The Fort*
Lee Tiger Honnor, Dragon Pearl
Lerangis Throwback(series)
80 Days or Die (series)
Levine Ella Enchanted
Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia (series)
Lin Before the Sword
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (series)
Mancusi New Dragon City
McMullen Have a Hot Time Hades (series)
Nimmo Midnight for Charlie Bone (series)
O’Brian Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Oh The Dragon Egg Princess
Odyssey Wizard of Dark Street (series)
Oliver Lisel and Po
Spindlers
Paquette Rules for Ghosting
Perkins Nuts to You
Pierce Alanna (series)
Test (series)
Magic Circle (series)
Ridley Larklight (series)
Riordan Lightning Thief (series)
Trials of Apollo (series)
Magnus Chase (series)
Kane Chronicles (series)
Son of Neptune (series)
Rowling Harry Potter (series and play)
Sage Twilight Hauntings
Magyk (series)
Todhunter Moon (series)
Said Varjack Paw (series)
Saunders Beswitched
The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop (series)
Land of Neverendings
Sleator Marco’s Millions (series)
Rewind
Solomons My Brother is a Superhero (series)
Stead When You Reach Me
Stonw Shuri (series)
Strange Our Castle By the Sea
In Nightingale Wood
Tessler Bounders (series)
Tanner Icebreaker (series)
Townsend Nevermoor (series)
Unsworth One Safe Place
Ursu Breadcrumbs
The Real Boy, Lost Girl
Zhang The Emperor's Riddle
Zhao Zackary Ying and the Dragon Emperor
Mystery, Adventure, Suspense
Almond Skellig
Anderson A Pocketful of Murder (series)
Balliett Chasing Vermeer (series)
Out of the Wild Night (a ghost story)
Bauer Tell Me
Bertman Sisterhood of Sleuths*
Bosch The Name of This Book is Secret (series)
Bad Magic (series)
Bowling 24 Hours in Nowhere
Bradley Double Vision (series)
Bunce Cold Blooded Myrtle (series)*
Carter The Winterborne Home For Vengeance and Valor (series)
Chambliss The Book Scavenger (series)
Choldenko Chasing Secrets
Clements Map Trap
DelRio Warren the 13th (series)
Dickinson The Kin (series)
Dilloway Momototo: Zander and the Dream Thief (series)
Dowd The London Eye Mystery
Ellis I Am a Taxi
Ephron Castle in the Mist
Fairstein Into the Lion’s Den
Gibbs Spy School (series)
Poached (series)
Charlie Thorn (series)
Gidwitz The Inquisitor’s Tale
Grabenstein Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (series)
Guterson Winterhouse
Gutman Genius Files (series)
Hahn Closed for the Season
The Old Willis Place
Wait Til Helen Comes
Hale Chet Gecko (series)
Hesse The Music of Dolphins
Stowaway
Hiaasen Hoot
Scat
Chomp
Flush
Skink
Horowitz Alex Rider (series)
Diamond Brothers (series)
Horvath Mr. and Mrs. Bunny
Detectives (series)
Jacques Pearls of Lutra
Marlfox
Lord Brocktree
Kelkar The Cobra's Song
Kerr Girl with the Glass Bird
Kliss Trial By Journal
Dying to Meet You (series)
Korman Zoobreak (series)
Criminal Destiny (series)
Restart
Lacey Island of Thieves (series)
LaFavre Theodosia & the Serpents of Chaos (series)
Lerangis Max Tilt: Fire the Depths (series)
Lupica Hero
Mass The Candymakers (series)
McMullen Mrs. Smith's Spy School for Girls
Messner Breakout
Milford Greenglass House (series)
The Thief Knot
Moss Lintang and the Pirate Queen
Oppel The Boundless
The Nest
Paulsen Hatchet (series)
Perkins Violet and Jobie in the Wild
Peti The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bea
Pflugfelder Nick & Tesla’s Super Cyborg Gadget Glove (series)
Ponti City Spies (series)
Framed (series)
Rennington Secrets and Scones
Rundle The Explorer
Rooftoppers
Rylander Codename Zero (series)
Sachar Holes
Fuzzy Mud
Schlitz Splendors and Glooms
A Drowned Maid’s Hair
Schwab City of Ghosts
Tunnel of Bones
Bridge of Souls (series)
Sedgwick The Black Dragon (series)
Selznick The Marvels
Wonderstruck
Inventions of Hugo Cabret
Smith Another Kind of Hurricane
Snicket Who Could That Be at This Hour (series)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (series)
Stevens Murder is Bad Manners (series)
The Guggenheim Mystery
Stewart The Secret Keepers
Mysterious Benedict Society (series)
Stone Tiger (Five Ancestors series)
Stratford Case of the Missing Moonstone (series)
White Nightbooks
Wood The Unmapped Sea (series)
Wooding Malice (series)
Historical Fiction
Anderson Fever
Applegate Home of the Brave
Avi Crispin
Cross of Lead (Series)
Captain Gray
Fighting Ground
Baillie Little Brother
Barrett Anna of Byzantium
Bawden Carrie’s War
Blackwood Second Sight
The Shakespeare Stealer (series)
Bradley The War that Saved my Life (series)
Bruchac Talking Leaves
Cheney The Play Maker
The True Prince
Cheng See You in the Cosmos
Choi Year of Impossible Goodbyes
Choldenko Al Capone Does My Shirts (series)
Curtis Journey of Little Charlie
Elijah of Buxton
Bud not Buddy
Cushman Apprenticeship of Meggie Swan
Catherine Called Birdie
Dobbs The Other Side of the River
Dillard J.D. and the Great Barber Battle
Draper Stella By Starlight
Erditch Chickadee
Birchbark House
The Game of Silence
Giff Genevieve’s Song
Nory Ryan’s Song
Waterstreet
Gingersnap
House of Taylors
On The Way Home
Hahn Promises to the Dead
Stepping on the Cracks
Hesse Witness
Holm The Trouble with May Amelia (series) Penny From Heaven
Horvath The Night Garden
Hughes Whistling in the Dark
Kadohata Kira-kira
Weedflower
Kelly Evolutions of Calpurnia Tate (series)
Lasky Night Witches
Night Journey
Lowry Number the Stars
Lugman-Dawson Freewater
Mathas Lisa’s War
In My Enemy’s House
Mazer Goodnight Maman
Mead A Year Without Rain
Swimming to America
Meyer Black Radishes
Meyer, C. Young Victoria
Beware Princess Elizabeth
Napoli King of Mulberry Street
Daughters of Venice
Park Prairie Lotus
A Single Shard
Peacock Red Thread Sisters
Peck A Long Way from Chicago
The Teacher’s Funeral
Pinkney Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It
Rhodes Towers Falling, Nineth Ward
Salazar Land of the Cranes, A Seed in the Sun
Shabbaz Betty Before X
Smith My Brother’s Secret
Spinelli Milkweed
Temple Tonight By Sea
Grab Hands and Run
Uchida Journey to Topaz
Vanderpool Moon over Manifest
Yep Dragon's Child
Dragonwings
Dragon’s Gate
Lady of Chiao Kuo
Realistic Fiction
Alexander Rebound
The Crossover
Booked
Ali Once Upon an Eid
Stories of Hope & Joy by 15 Muslim Voices
Almond My Name is Mina
Kit’s Wilderness
Raven Summer
Alvarez Return to Sender
Anderson One Last Shot
Ms. Bixby’s Last Day
Angleburger Darth Paper Strikes Back (series)
Applegate The One And Only Ivan (series)
Baldwin Where the Watermelons Grow
Bauer Close to Famous
Benjamin The Thing About Jellyfish
Birdsal The Penderwicks (series)
Blake Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World
Bowles They Call me Garo a Boarder Kid's Poems
Bruchac Rez Dogs*
Burgess Anna Maria Reys Does Not Live in a Castle
Cartaya Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish
Compestine Morning Sun in Wu Han*
Connor A Home for Goddesses and Dogs
Creech Walk Two Moons
Dairman All Four Stars (series)
Dhami Bindi Babes (series)
DiCannilo Ramie Nightingale (series)
Dinisten Circle of Elephants
What Elephants Know
Draper Blended
Dumas It Ain’t So Awful Falafal
Ellis Mud City
The Breadwinner (series)
Gantos Dead End in Norvelt (series)
Joey Pigza (series)
Gibbs Whale Done (series)
Glaser A Duet For Home
Grabenstein Home Sweet Motel (series)
Green Baseball Genius (series)
Grimes Garvey in the Dark*
Higuera Lupe Wong Won't Dance (series)
Holt My Louisiana Sky
Hollingsworth The Eleventh Trade
Holt Rhyme Schemer
House Arrest
Horvath My One Hundred Adventures (series)
Kaduhata The Thing About Luck
Kelly You Go First
Hello Universe
Kelker American as Paneer Pie
Khan Amina’s Voice
Kim Stand Up Yumi Chung
Krishnaswami Step Up to the Plate Maria Singh
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything
Lai Listen Slowly
Inside Out and Back Again
Lai Fly on the Wall
Lackie All the Impossible Things
Lord A Handful of Stars
Lewis A Story Like the Wind
Lezotte Show Me a Sign
Lowry Stay
Keeper’s Story
Lupica Summer Ball (series)
Marks From the Desk of Zoe Washington (series)
Stand Up Yumi Chung*
Marsden Moon Runner
Bird Spring
Buddha’s Tears
Marsh Nowhere Bo
Martin Reign Rain
A Dog’s Life
McAnulty Miscalculations of Lightning Girl
McKay Caddie’s World (series)
Mead Soldier Mom
Dawn and Dusk
Medina Merci Suarez Changes Gears (series)
Messner The Exact Location of Home
Naylor Shiloh (series)
Nye The Turtle of Oman, a novel
O’Connor How to Steal a Dog
On the Road to Mr. Mineos
Park A Long Walk to Water
Patterson Ali Cross
Public School Superhero
Pennypacker Pax, Here in the Real World
Philbrick Zane and the Hurricane
Palacio Wonder
Pichon Tom Gates’ Excellent Excuses (series)
Reed Simon B. Rhymin' (series)
Reynolds Look Both Ways (a tale told in 10 blocks)
Ghost (series)
Rhodes Ghost Boys, Paradise on Fire
Rylant Rosetown (series)
Saeed Omar Rising
Senzei Shooting Kabul (series)
Shang The Great Wall of Lucy Wu
Siddiqui Barakah Beats
Stone Clean Getaway
Watson Ways to Make Sunshine
Yang Front Desk (series)
New From Here (series)
Yusuf Magical Reality of Nadia
Nonfiction
Anno Anno’s Math Games
Arnosky Sketching Outdoors in Summer
Armstrong Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
Bang Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Changed the Earth
Barnard New Ocean: Life in a Changing Sea
Bell El Deafo
Bierhorst Dancing Fox (Arctic Folk Tales)
Bergin Melting Ice
Bybee Shining a Light: Celebrating 40 AAPI people who Changed the World
Dahl BOY
Dickmann Understanding Earth: Women Who Led the Way
Drummond Energy Island
Green City
Flynn This Book Stinks: Gross Garbage
Rotten Rubbish
The Science of Trash
Freedman The Wright Brothers
Lincoln, a Photobiography
Kids at Work
Indian Chiefs
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Fritz You Want Women to Vote Lizzie Stanton
Goble All Our Relatives
Gore An Inconvenient Truth (younger readers edition)
Goor Pompeii
Huyne The Land I Lost
Water Buffalo Days
Jaffrey Seasons of Splendor (Tales from India)
Keating Shark Lady
Kroll Lives of the Artists (Scientists, Musicians, Writers, Athletes etc.)
Macauley The New Way Things Work
Castle
How the Body Works
McCann If the World Were 100 People
McCaughrean Golden Hoard
Bronze Cauldron
Silver Casket
Markle Case of the Missing Little Brown Bat
Marrin Unconditional Surrender (civil war)
Meltzer The Amazing Potato
Gold
Rescue
Monteuma A Boy Called Beckoning
Murphy The Boys War
Blizzard
American Plague
Nivola A Life in the Ocean (Sylvia Earle)
Orr Polar Vortex and Climate Change
Paul One Plastic Bag
Prelutsky I Lost my Hippopotamus (poems)
My Dog is a Genius (poems)
Pringle Billions of Years
Amazing Changes (evolution)
Roberts The Waterwalker
Rosenstock Camping Trip that Changed America
Schlitz Good Masters
Sweet Ladies: Voices from a medieval village
Simon Climate Action: What Happened and What We Can Do
Snedden Yuck! A Big Book of Little Horrors
Thomson Nine Ton Cat: Behind the Scenes at an Art Museum
Weatherford A Song for the Unsung (Bayard Rustin)
Woode Science in Ancient Egypt (also Greece, China, Islam etc.)