5th Grade Complete List (pdf) | Pick of the Decade Complete List (pdf)
Pick of the Decade 1995-2005: Best Fiction
Park , Barbara . The Graduation of Jake Moon, 2000. Jake recalls how he has spent the last four years of his life watching his grandfather descend slowly but surely into the horrors of Alzheimer's disease. (See also: Mick Harte Was Here .) Paterson, Katherine. Preacher's Boy , 1999. In 1899, ten-year-old Robbie, son of a preacher in a small Vermont town, gets himself into all kinds of trouble when he decides to give up being Christian in order to make the most of his life before the end of the world. (See also: The Bridge to Terabithia , The Great Gilly Hopkins , Park's Quest , The Flip-Flop Girl and Jip: His Story .) Pinkwater, Daniel. Looking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken Chicken Story , 2004. Upon moving to Hoboken , New Jersey , a boy convinces his two new friends to help him track down the mysterious phantom who stole his bicycle, as well as Arthur Bobowicz, owner of a giant chicken that once terrorized local citizens. (Previous title: The Hoboken Chicken Emergency.) Pullman, Philip. The Firework-Maker's Daughter , 2001. In a country far to the east, Chulak and his talking white elephant Hamlet help Lila seek the Royal Sulphur from the sacred volcano so that she can become a master maker of fireworks like her father. Robinson, Barbara. The Best Halloween Ever , 2004. The six Herdman siblings always wreak havoc on Halloween, so the mayor decides that this year he will cancel Halloween. But the Herdman's still have some tricks up their sleeves and turn the worst Halloween into the best ever. (Previous titles: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and The Best School Year Ever .) Rodowsky, Colby. Spindrift , 2000. During the summer after seventh grade, Cassie sees her close-knit family life in Bethany Beach, Delaware, changing drastically as her older sister has a baby, reveals the true nature of her husband, and announces the breakup of her marriage. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , 1999. Although he lives with an aunt and uncle who hate him, Harry Potter thinks that he is just an ordinary boy until he gets a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, inviting him to study to be a wizard. (Sequels: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix .) Russell, Ching. Water Ghost , 1995. Living in China during the late 1940s, Ying gives all her hard-earned money to the grandmother of a classmate who has drowned. Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising , 2000. Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California , where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression. (See also: Becoming Naomi Leon .)
Sachar, Louis. Holes , 1998. As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. Sage, Angie. Magyk , 2005. In a world populated by wizards both ordinary and extraordinary, Jenna thinks that she is just a normal girl in a family of wizards, until she suddenly discovers that she is a princess and must run for her life. (First in the Septimus Heap Series .) Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. The Unseen , 2004. Feeling angry and out-of-place in her large family, twelve-year-old Xandra finds a magical key to a world of ghostly, sometimes frightening, phantoms that help her see herself and her siblings more clearly. Tolan, Stephanie. Surviving the Applewhites , 2002. Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy , where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had. Vail, Rachel. Daring to Be Abigail , 1996, o.p. During her summer at Camp Nashaquitsa , eleven-year-old Abby tries to reinvent herself, while worrying about her mother, missing her dead father, and getting to know her equally self-conscious bunkmates. Van Draanen, Wendelin. Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man , 1998. On Halloween night, seventh grader Sammy stumbles onto a mystery involving a twenty-year-old family feud and some heirlooms stolen by a man in a skeleton costume. (Sequels: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief ; Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy ; Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf ; Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Mustache Mary ; Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy ; Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes ; Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception and Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen .) Van Velde, Vivian. There's a Dead Person Following My Sister Around , 1999. Ted becomes concerned and intrigued when his five-year-old sister Vicki begins receiving visits from two female ghosts.
Waugh, Sylvia. Space Race , 2000. When he learns that he and his father must soon leave Earth, eleven-year-old Thomas Derwent is upset, but a terrible accident that separates the two of them makes Thomas's situation much worse. (Sequels: Earthborn and Who Goes Home? ) Whelan, Gloria. Homeless Bird , 2000. When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India 's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. (See also: The Impossible Journey and Chu Ju's House .) Wright, Randall. Hunchback , 2004. Thirteen-year-old Juffa, a hunchback orphan living in Castle Marlby, dreams of serving a prince, and when his wish comes true he becomes embroiled in adventure and intrigue. Yep, Laurence. Hiroshima , 1995. Describes the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima , Japan , particularly as it affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens. Yolen, Jane. Odysseus in the Serpent Maze , 2001. Thirteen-year-old Odysseus, who longs to be a hero, has many opportunities to prove himself during an adventure which involves pirates and satyrs, a trip to Crete's Labyrinth, and the two young girls, Penelope and Helen, who play a major role in his future life. (First in the Young Heroes series which includes: Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons ; Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast and Jason and the Gorgon's Blood .) Yolen, Jane. Boots and the Seven Leaguers , 2000. Teen troll Gog and his best friend Pook work as roadies for a troll rock and roll band until Gog's younger brother gets kidnapped. |
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