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Books for 5th & 6th Graders Fall 2025 |
Aarzu All Around
by Marzieh Abbas
A cricket-loving Pakistani girl stifled by patriarchal expectations disguises herself as a boy in order to get a job to pay for her sister's medical bills.
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Cookie Crumbles: Their Just Desserts
by Tracy Badua
Baker extraordinaire Laila Thomas and budding journalist Lucy Flores are living it up at the top of the junior high food chain as eighth graders. But between busy schedules and kinda-boyfriends, these two best friends haven't gotten to hang out as much. So, when Jaden, an ex-competition rival, begs the duo to step back into the world of cooking competitions and crime - the answer is yes. Jaden is desperate: His father is accused of stealing prized jewels on the set of an amateur kids' holiday baking show. The plan is for Laila to smash the competition while Lucy investigates behind the scenes - but their half-baked plan gets turned totally upside down when Lucy ends up in front of the cameras instead.
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Billions to Burn
by Taylor Banks
Twelve-year-old African American Zeus embarks on a treasure hunt to find his grandfather and uncover the secrets that destroyed his grandfather's printing company during the Harlem Renaissance.
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The Library of Unruly Treasures
by Jeanne Birdsall
Gwen MacKinnon's parents are dreadful. Truly, deeply, almost impressively dreadful. Gwen's not upset at all when she's foisted onto her never-before-seen Uncle Matthew for two weeks. Especially when it turns out he has a very opinionated dog named Pumpkin. Things take a turn for the weird when Gwen makes a discovery in the local library. A discovery that involves tiny creatures with wings. No, they're not birds, they're called Lahdukan. But why can only Gwen and the youngest children, gathered for storytime, see them? The Lahdukan insist that Gwen is destined to help them find a new home. But how can a girl as unwanted, uncourageous, and generally unheroic as Gwen possibly come to the rescue? Pumpkin has a few ideas...
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Serwa Boateng's Guide to Saving the World
by Roseanne A Brown
Twelve-year-old half-vampire, half-Slayer Serwa and her friends journey across the United States to end the ancient magical conflict between her two worlds.
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The Storm Singer
by Sarwat Chadda
Twelve-year-old Nargis forms an unlikely alliance with a young prince and uses her power to control the elements to save the kingdom from an evil overthrower.
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Zarina Divided
by Reem Faruqi
A stirring coming-of-age story about a Muslim girl who, during the Partition of India, must learn to cope with loss, guilt, and change in order to grow.
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The Right Call
by Tommy Greenwald
Told through a combination of transcripts, articles, texts, and emails, star pitcher Cal must face the fallout after his father attacks an umpire during a game.
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Adia Kelbara and the High Queen's Tomb
by Isi Hendrix
Adia Kelbara may have defeated the power-hungry god Olark and saved Zaria, but now she must face something even more terrifying: her first semester as a student at the Academy of Shamans. As her abilities are tested during orientation, a mysterious affliction causes everyone except for Adia and Thyme to pass out - and a reanimated corpse appears, with a horrifying message. As if that wasn't bad enough, Emperor Darian sends news that the same phenomenon is happening across the kingdom. Now it will be up to Adia to push her powers to their limit and journey to the tomb of the ancient High Queen in search of answers and a cure for the sleeping sickness besieging Zaria.
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The Age of Enchantment
by Anna James
In Whetherwhy, everyone has magic inside them, grown from the changing seasons. But a rare few are Enchanters: people born with magic in their bones, who can wield all four seasons of magic. When Juniper discovers she is an Enchanter, she must leave behind everything she knows to begin studying at the Thistledown Academy. And when her twin brother, Rafferty, begins an apprenticeship at a nearby bookbinder to be close to her, he too has adventures of his own. As Juniper learns how to wield enchantment and hone her magic, Rafferty becomes involved with a mysterious secret society that meets after dark.
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The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks
by Katie Kirby
After her best friend moves away, eleven-year-old Lottie enters secondary school alone where she attempts to navigate the embarrassing moments of growing up, fitting in, and making new friends
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Graciela in the Abyss
by Meg Medina
In the deepest recesses of the ocean, Graciela - once an ordinary girl -now makes sea glass and assists her friend, Amina, as she welcomes newly awakened sea ghosts from their death sleep. Meanwhile, in the mortal world on land, twelve-year-old Jorge Leon works in his family's forge. He's heard of the supernatural spirits living beneath the ocean's waves, but when he discovers a hand-wrought harpoon with the power to spear a sea ghost, he knows he must destroy it any way he can. When the harpoon is accidentally reunited with its vengeful creator, unlikely allies Graciela and Jorge have no choice but to work together to keep evil spirits from wreaking havoc on both the living and the dead.
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An Encantadora's Guide to Monstros & Magic
by Sarah J. Mendonca
Rosa Coelho has spent her whole life hunting monstros and dreaming of a better life for herself and her grandmother. When the powerful Ministâerio dos Monstros threatens her family's struggling Encantadora shop, Rosa only has two weeks to scrape together the money for their debts. It seems like an impossible task... until Rosa tricks her way onto an infamous thief crew as their magical safecracker. Thrust into the world of high-class luxury and betrayal, Rosa is pulled into a scheme with the highest possible stakes: stealing from the Ministry itself. She must learn to trust her magical abilities and her crew--for if the heist goes wrong, everything she loves is forfeit.
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Hidden Strings
by K. J. Mist
Fourteen-year-old Tessa must confront her grief over her grandmother's passing in order to save her friends from a magical puppeteer hoping to entrap them forever as marionettes.
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The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez
by Jasminne Paulino
Alex, a neurodiverse seventh grader, works to convince his teachers and parents that he is ready to leave his self-contained classroom and join his grade's mainstream science class.
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Alea Aquarius: The Colors of the Sea
by Tanya Stewner
Alea Aquarius has accepted she is a mermaid and is determined to find out what happened to her parents and her people, so with newfound friends, she follows a clue to the Loch Ness.
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Please Pay Attention
by Jamie Sumner
After surviving a school shooting that left her feeling helpless in her wheelchair, Bea finds healing and empowerment through horseback riding therapy and begins to advocate for change.
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Vote for the G.O.A.T.
by Ali Terese
Two unlikely classmates come together to stand up against unfair school policies - and rescue their kidnapped school mascot, Babette the Goat.
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Darkness at Dreamer Mountain
by Ryan Wolf
Is there a more exciting place to spend winter break than a haunted theme park? Thirteen-year-old Teddy's uncle hosts a paranormal TV show called Shiver Search. He lets his nephew tag along with the crew for a special shoot. Dreamer Mountain is a long-abandoned amusement park with rust-covered rides and snow-steeped carnival stands. Yet some say they hear sounds rising up from the site at night. When the crew enters, what they encounter proves more mind-melting than they ever expected. Teddy finds a force that seems to know his personal hopes and fears, something that can warp and transform space and time. Can he survive the cosmic power that has taken hold of Dreamer Mountain?
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Candle Island
by Lauren Wolk
After the death of her father, Lucretia Sanderson and her mother, a famous artist, move to tiny Candle Island, Maine, where she learns the power of art and being true to yourself.
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The Last Kids on Earth and the Monster Dimension
by Max Brallier
To get the answers he seeks about his powerful Cosmic Hand, which might be able to stop the inevitable from happening, Jack must travel farther than he's ever been - he must go to the monster dimension.
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Charlie Hernândez & the Phantom of Time
by Ryan Calejo
Traveling back in time to 1950s Cuba to stop a mysterious incident that will eventually destroy the Land of the Living, Charlie, Violet and Raúl are pursued by an unspeakable evil as they scour the mountain rainforests of Havana for clues to untangle the past, present and future.
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Park Row Magic Academy: A Whisper of Curses
by J. Elle
When the Availables collapse the portal to their retreat, trapping them all, Ash, with Kyana acting weird and Russ live-casting everything to the Magick World, must make a difficult decision, in this adventure-filled sequel to A Taste of Magic.
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Spy School Goes North
by Stuart Gibbs
When Cyrus Hale is kidnapped by his old Russian nemesis from a remote Alaskan training facility, Ben, Erica and the others find their rescue mission complicated by the secret history of US-Russian relations, a young KGB agent and a lot of bears.
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The Vanderbeekers Ever After
by Karina Yan Glaser
When one of the Vanderbeeker siblings becomes seriously ill, the family spends their days at the hospital where they help a newly made friend even as they struggle with how their own lives have turned upside down.
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The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found
by Jordan Lees
When 11-year-old Benjamin, who doesn't believe in magic, receives a mysterious doll that transforms into a bird, he is led into an impossible realm - Wreathenwold - where he is drawn into a dangerous adventure as he tries to find his way out of the labyrinth and return home.
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Onyeka and the Heroes of the Dawn
by Tola Okogwu
Bringing a young Solari - children with superpowers - named Tobi back to the Academy of the Sun, Onyeka discovers the truth about Tobi's identity and superpower and realizes there are those who don't have Tobi's best interests at heart.
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Songs of Magic: A Thundering of Monsters
by S. A. Patrick
With the Piper of Hamelyn hunting for a mythical amulet to achieve true immortality, Patch and his dracogriff friend Barver must find a way to reunite with their friends to vanquish the evil Piper after being transported to a mysterious island where they are trapped by monstrous beasts.
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Cece Rios and the Queen of Brujas
by Kaela Rivera
When her vicious tía, Catrina, seizes the throne of Devil's Alley and sets her sights on the living world, Cece Rios must do everything in her power to stop the bruja queen from taking control of the four elements.
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Skandar and the Chaos Trials
by A. F. Steadman
For their third year of training, Skandar and his friends must complete a series of terrifying trials that pushes them to the limit, while Skandar's sister, Kenna, puts the island of Eyrie in danger, forcing Skandar to decide where his loyalties lie.
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Momo Arashima Breaks the Mirror of the Sun
by Misa Sugiura
When a group of popular kids disappears, Momo must steal the legendary Mirror of the Sun to defeat Tamamo-no-mae, the ultimate mean-girl of the Kami-verse, while grappling with the growing power connecting her with her storm god grandfather and her greatest foe.
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Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy
by Angie Thomas
It's not easy being a Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Some things are cool - like getting a pet hellhound for your twelfth birthday. Others, not so much - like not being trusted to learn magic because you might use it to take revenge on an annoying neighbor. All Nic Blake wants is to be a powerful Manifestor like her dad. But before she has a chance to convince him to teach her the gift, a series of shocking revelations and terrifying events launch Nic and two friends on a hunt for a powerful magic tool she's never heard of...to save her father from imprisonment for a crime she refuses to believe he committed.
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Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea
by Pari Thomson
Eager to rescue her mother and the missing Botanists, Daisy's next adventure finds her at sea in search of the lost city of Iffenwild, where green magic runs deep.
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Finally Heard
by Kelly Yang
When her mom's video on social media takes off, 10-year-old Lina Gao sets out to go viral herself but discovers there's a lot more to social media than she ever imagined and must find the courage to be her authentic self in this fast-paced world.
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