Recommended Reading Lists
Meadow Lands Elementary School Navigator Club
Fourth and Fifth Grade/Intermediate
Outdoor Adventure:
Peak by Roland Smith: A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to
reach the top of Mount Everest.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 114836
Reading level: 5.0
Points: 9.0 pts.
Interest level: MG+
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Young Sam Gribley leaves New York City and spends a year living by himself in a remote
area of the Catskill Mountains.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 64
Reading level: 5.2
Points: 6.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo
girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 49
Reading level: 5.8
Points: 6.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Zoobreak by Gordan Korman: After a class trip to a floating zoo where animals are
mistreated and Savannah's missing pet monkey is found in a cage, Long Island sixthgrader Griffin Bing and his band of misfits plan a rescue.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 133351
Reading level: 4.9
Points: 5.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance, all graduates of the Learning Institute for the Very
Enlightened and members of the Benedict Society, embark on a scavenger hunt that
turns into a desperate search for the missing Mr. Benedict.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 113801
Reading level: 5.6
Points: 18.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness,
learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and
learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 367
Reading level: 5.7
Points: 7.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Presents an illustrated edition of the 1903 story about the adventures of Buck, a part St.
Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike goldfields where he
eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 107
Reading level: 8.0
Points: 7.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
In spite of tremendous odds, a ten-year-old boy and his dog are determined to win a
dogsled race and the five-hundred-dollar prize.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 293
Reading level: 4.0
Points: 1.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
This is a simply written, moving story of the love between a young boy and his two dogs.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 95
Reading level: 4.9
Points: 11.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Mystery:
Gloria Skurzynski: Mysteries in Our National Parks series
Skurzynski, Gloria (published by National Geographic)
Mystery of the Wolf Stalker AR Quiz No. 25063 EN Fiction IL: MG - BL: 5.1 - AR Pts: 5.0
12-year-old Jack, his sister, and their foster brother go to Yellowstone National Park where Jack's
mother, a wildlife veterinarian, is investigating a report that wolves reintroduced to the Park have
killed a dog. The co-author is Alane Ferguson. Book #1
The Puzzling World of Wilson Breen by Eric Berlin
Winston Breen loves solving puzzles; and when his sister uncovers a twenty-five-yearold scavenger hunt--which leads to a ring worth thousands of dollars--he and his family
jump at the opportunity to solve it.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 117756
Reading level: 4.2
Points: 8.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Carole Marsh Mysteries Series: Real Kids & Real Places
The Mystery at Disney World by Carole Marsh
Mystery follows Christina, Grant, Crystal, and Mick on their vacation to Disney World,
where they need a little luck and loads of creativity to solve their latest case.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 74556
Reading level: 5.1
Points: 3.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Mystery (cont.)
Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Shadow Children series
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Book #1
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two
children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until
another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 29501
Reading level: 4.8
Points: 5.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Mystery of the Tolling Bell by Carolyn Keene (Read all of the Nancy Drew Mystery series)
Nancy Drew and her two friends help uncover a gang of swindlers while vacationing in a seaside
town.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 5632
Reading level: 5.3
Points: 5.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Ron Roy’s Capital Mysteries series (plus Ron Roy’s A to Z Mystery series)
Fireworks at the FBI by Ron Roy
KC and her friend Marshall help the FBI solve the mystery of who hacked into the
witness-protection program.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 107301.
Reading level: 3.9
Points: 1.0 pts.
Interest level: LG
Mystery (cont.)
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his
eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and, with the help of a new
friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are
eventually answered.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 120111
Points: 4.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.1
Interest level: MG
The 39 Clues book series (various authors)
One False Note by Gordan Korman (book 2 in the series)
Amy and Dan Cahill are in the lead to find thirty-nine clues that safeguard a great power,
and are in possession of a coded sheet of Mozart's music that will help them find the next
clue while their relatives follow in close pursuit.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 127226
Points: 5.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.9
Interest level: MG
Watcher in the Piney Woods by Elizabeth McDavid Jones (part of the Mysteries Through Time
series) In 1865, while helping her family keep their Virginia farm going through the end of
the Civil War, twelve-year-old Cassie meets a Confederate deserter and a Yankee
prisoner of war and tries to discover who has been stealing from the farm.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 50169
Points: 4.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.2
Interest level: MG
Fantasy
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a
Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to
glimpse Unknown Regions.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 69274.
Reading level: 5.0
Points: 9.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Gossamer by Lois Lowery
While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old
boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the
frightening Sinisteeds.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quz Number: 105737
R.L.: 4.4
Points: 4.0 pts.
The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
Eve gave up her belief in stories and magic after her mother's death, but a mysterious
seed given her as an eleventh-birthday gift by someone she has never met takes her and
a boy who claims to be a ghost on a strange journey, to where their supposedly cursed
town of Beaumont, New York, flourishes.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 117253
Points: 6.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.8
Interest level: MG
Fantasy (cont.)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (and other books in the Chronicles of
Narnia series)
Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the
magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch
who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number:
Reading level: 5.8
Points: 6.0 pts.
Interest level:
Into the Wild by Erin Hunter (Warriors series/book 1)
Rusty, a bored house kitten, is apprenticed by the ThunderClan and must struggle to fit
in when the group of feral cats is threatened by the enemy ShadowClan.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 67278
Reading level: 5.6
Points: 10.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
The Princess Tales series by Gail Carson Levine
Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep
In this retelling of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, Princess Sonora, who is ten times
smarter than anyone else, vows to choose for herself the best time to be pricked by the
spindle.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 41277
Reading level: 4.1
Points: 2.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Fantasy (cont.)
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of
Thread by Kate DiCamillo.
The adventures of Despereaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that
he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to
bring them all to ruin.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 70401
Reading level: 4.7
Points: 5.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
The Revenge of the Shadow King (Book 1 in Grey Griffin series) by Derek Benz & J.S. Lewis
When Max Sumner and three friends play a magical card game called Round Table, they
realize that it is up to them to prevent the wicked creatures of the cards from destroying
their town, indeed, their world.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 104967
Reading level: 5.6
Points: 15.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo (Book 1 in Dreamhouse Kings series)
When fifteen-year-old Xander and his family move into an old, abandoned house in the
middle of a dense forest outside of a small California town, they discover that not only
are some of the rooms portals into other places, but that malevolent forces are at work.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 16329
Reading level: 4.2
Points: 7.0 pts.
Interest level: MG
Historical Fiction
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression,
escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father-the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 29554.
Points: 8.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.0
Interest level: MG
The River Between Us by Richard Peck
During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young
ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 73789
Points: 5.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.9
Interest level: MG
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (complete Little House series!)
A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where
they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, build a well, and fight a prairie fire.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 53
Points: 8.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.9
Interest level: MG
Historical Fiction (cont.)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how
to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 379
Points: 4.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.5
Interest level: MG
I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: the Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl by Joyce Hansen
(Dear America series/ various authors and historical subjects) Twelve-year-old Patsy
keeps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and the
granting of freedom to former slaves.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 17624
Points: 5.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.0
Interest level: MG
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
In 1687 in Connecticut, Kit Tyler, feeling out of place in the Puritan household of her
aunt, befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community and suddenly finds
herself standing trial for witchcraft.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 98.
Points: 9.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.7
Interest level: MG
Across Five Aprils by Albert John Pucci
Jethro, who is nine years old when the first April blooms, must run the farm in southern
Illinois almost alone during the Civil War. Dangers on the home front prove as exciting as
those in battle.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 102
Points: 10.0 pts.
Reading level: 6.6
Interest level: MG
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home,
Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number:
Points: 1.0 pts.
Reading level: 3.9
Interest level:
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the
Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 47.
Points: 13.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.9
Interest level: MG
Graphic Novels
Patrick Henry, Liberty or Death: by Jason Glaser (Graphic Biographies)
Presents a short biography of American patriot Patrick Henry written in graphic novel
format, and focuses on his outspoken cause for liberty during the American Revolutionary
period.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: quiz: 101375
Points: 0.5 pts.
Reading level: 4.3
Interest level: Middle Grades
The Sinking of the Titannic by Matt Doeden (Graphic Library series: Graphic History)
Presents a comic book version of the story of the sinking of "unsinkable" ship "Titanic" in
1912.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: quiz: 85027
Points: 0.5 pts.
Reading level: 3.8
Interest level: Middle Grades
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne; retold by Carl Bowen (Graphic Revolve
series)
A graphic novel adaptation of Jules Verne's classic story that finds Scientist Pierre
Aronnax and his servant held captive by Nemo, the captain of the high-tech submarine,
"Nautilus."
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: quiz: 120186
Points: 0.5 pts.
Reading level: 3.0
Interest level: Middle Grades
Biographies
Who Was Martin Luther King? By Bonnie Bader (Who was--? Series)
An illustrated biography introducing students to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
discussing his childhood, schooling, beliefs, role in the civil rights movement, and other
related topics.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 120459
Points: 2.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.2
Interest level: MG
Walt Whitman: Words for America by Barbara Kerley
A biography of the American poet whose compassion led him to nurse soldiers during the
Civil War, to give voice to the nation's grief at Lincoln's assassination, and to capture the
true American spirit in verse.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 82893
Points: 0.5 pts.
Reading level: 5.4
Interest level: LG
Eleanor Roosevelt, a Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman
A biography of the first wife of a president to have a public life and career of her own.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 8464
Points: 6.0 pts.
Reading level: 7.8
Interest level: MG
Science Fiction
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for
Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 100589
Points: 7.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.7
Interest level: MG
The Alien by K.A. Applegate (#8 in the Anomorphs series)
Ax, an Andalite warrior-cadet, is stranded on Earth when his spaceship is attacked by the
evil Yeerks, and, although he has misgivings, he agrees to join forces with five humans
who have been given the power to morph into animals to help him fight the Yeerks and
avenge his brother's death.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number:
Points: 4.0 pts.
Reading level: 3.7
Interest level:
The Desperate Missions by Jude Watson (#1 in Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi series)
After Obi-Wan is betrayed by Anakin, Obi-Wan raises Luke Skywalker on the remote
planet of Tatooine. Later, Obi-Wan discovers that at least one Jedi has survived the
destruction of the Jedi Order by the Empire. Obi-Wan must make a difficult choice
between staying on Tatooine with Luke or going to the heart of the Empire to find the
Jedi.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 89054
Points: 5.0 pts.
Reading level: 4.9
Interest level: MG
Science Fiction (cont.)
A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne; adapted by Howard J. Schwach
(Series: Great Illustrated Classics)
An adaptation of Jules Verne's novel in which three men explore a volcanic crater in
Iceland that leads them to the center of the Earth and to incredible and horrifying
discoveries.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number:
Points: 3.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.1
Interest level:
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Bk. #1 in Missing series)
When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were
discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on
board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two
opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 121302
Points: 9.0 pts.
Reading level: 5.0
Interest level: MG
Magic Pickle by Scott Morse (Magic Pickle series)
The Magic Pickle, a secret weapon created in a special lab under the floor of Jo Jo
Wigman's bedroom, and Jo Jo set out to stop the Brotherhood of the Evil Produce.
Presented in graphic novel form.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 123266
Points: 0.5 pts.
Reading level: 2.6
Interest level: MG
Poetry
Science Verse by John Scieszka
Presents a story about a teacher who tells his class that they can hear the poetry of
science in everything and a student is struck with a curse where he hears nothing but
science verses that sound very much like some well-known poems.
Awful Ogre Running Wild by Jack Prelutsky
A collection of poems recounting the awesome adventures Awful Ogre has during his
summer vacation.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 122748
Reading level: 5.2
Points: 0.5 pts.
Interest level: MG
Langston Hughes edited by Arnold Rampersad (Poetry for Young People)
An illustrated collection of twenty-six poems by noted African-American poet Langston
Hughes, and contains a detailed introduction and biography, as well as brief notes
accompanying each poem.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 104894.
Points: 1.0 pts.
Reading level: 6.5
Interest level: MG
Non-Fiction
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim
Murphy
Provides an account of the yellow fever epidemic that swept through Philadelphia in
1793, discussing the chaos that erupted when people began evacuating in droves, leaving
the city without government, goods, or services, and examining efforts by physicians, the
Free African Society, and others to cure and care for the sick.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 69054.
Reading level: 9.0
Points: 6.0 pts.
Interest level: UG
Face to Face series by National Geographic
Face to Face with Grizzlies by Joel Sartore
Joel Sartore describes his experiences with bears while on assignment for "National
Geographic" magazine, and provides basic information about bears' bodies, habitats, and
behavior, as well as environmental and human factors that endanger bears. Includes
animal conservation ideas.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 115891
Points: 0.5 pts.
Reading level: 5.2
Interest level: MG
When is a Planet Not a Planet?: The Story of Pluto by Elaine Scott
Explains Pluto's reassignment on August 24, 2006, from planet to dwarf planet. Includes
illustrations.
Quiz Info
Accelerated Reader®
Quiz Number: 116718
Points: 1.0 pts.
Reading level: 6.6
Interest level: LG