Reading Lists for 4th, 6th, & 10th Grades

 
New school year, new curriculum, new reading lists.

What books are you excited to read this year?

Putting together reading lists for my oldest has always been a struggle.  And then came my middle kiddo who loves most books and will read anything I give him.  Ironically, it was through his love of print-reading that I gave up the idea that all books had to be print-read. Finding books for my daughter was no longer a shore–hallelujah!  Now, with my youngest moving into fourth grade, it’s time to start reading lists for him, as well.

Yes, the lists for fouth & sixth grade are long.  No, I don’t expect them to read every one of the titles.  I like to give them a variety, so they still have some choice in what they read.

Related Historical Fiction for Studying the 20th Century

Fourth Grade

This is the first year he’ll have an assigned reading list.  He enjoys reading but he’s not likely to pick up a book to read just for fun.  He’ll alternate between books from my list and books of his own choosing.

When my oldest was this age, I didn’t appreciate how quality picture books could still be a great addition to reading lists.  I was in too big of a hurry for her to grow up.  Now that my baby is this age?  I’m desperate to keep him young!  I don’t know how he’ll react to them but I hope he chooses to read them.

Freckle Juice
The Hundred Dresses
Ben & Me
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Indian in the Cupboard
Pippi Longstocking
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Because of Winn Dixie
Pink and Say
Ben’s Revolution
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies {biography}
The Book Scavenger
The Bell Rang {slavery}
I’m Just No Good at Rhyming and Other Nonsense
In the Past
Once There Was a Story
The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Sixth Grade

In the previous two years, he’s alternated between my list and his own choices.  This year he’ll read almost exclusively from my list.  He loves print reading, but if he wants to audio-read any of these books, I’ll definitely count them.  He’s taking a literature class with our co-op, so I’ll mark those with an * at the bottom of the list.

RELATED Historical Fiction for Middle School

Island of the Blue Dolphins (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
One Half From the East
My Side of the Mountain (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Brown Girl Dreaming
Bud, Not Buddy (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis {Taliban rule in Afghanistan}
Caminar
Call of the Wild (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Finding Langston
Frankenstein (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
The Wednesday Wars (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
Paperboy {segregation/Civil Rights} (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
This Is Just a Test {Cold War}
Zane and the Hurricane
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin {Chile in the early 1900s}
Inside Out and Back Again
It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel
Johnny Tremain
Julie of the Wolves (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
The Night Diary (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party {Chinese Cultural Revolution}
War of the Worlds
Esperanza Rising
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (part mystery, part history of the Civil Rights era his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Refugee
Somewhere Among
Walking Home
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Anne of Green Gables

The last five books of the Chronicles of Narnia series (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for the entire series)
Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963
Tuck Everlasting*
The Cay* (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Wonder* (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Holes* (his rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟)

Tenth Grade

My daughter is taking British Literature with our homeschool co-op.  I’ll mark those at the bottom of the list with an *.  The rest of the books are ones I’ve assigned to her for American history. 

Yes, they’re mostly historical fiction.  No, I don’t expect her to learn 100% accurate history from them.  They are an add-on for her history class; something to have fun with.  She enjoys historical fiction but gravitates towards WW2; I want to introduce her to books beyond that time period.

The Crucible
Fever 1793
Dread Nation {slavery}
Orphan Train {late 1800s}
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn {turn of the 20th century}
Fly Girl {WW 2}
The Help {Civil Rights era}
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
Pride and Prejudice
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
Beowulf