Reading Beyond Grades 4-5

For children in grades 4-5 reading at a 7th grade level. Books that are challenging but still appropriate for younger readers.

Showing 1 - 16 of 16  There are a total of 27 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The best at it"
Star rating for The best at it
Description:
Twelve-year-old Rahul Kapoor, an Indian-American boy growing up in small-town Indiana, struggles to come to terms with his identity, including that he may be gay.
Book cover for "The bridge home"
Star rating for The bridge home
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Four determined homeless children make a life for themselves in Chennai, India.
Book cover for "Front desk"
Star rating for Front desk
Author:
Average Rating:
4.9 stars
Description:
Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade...
Book cover for "Gracefully Grayson"
Star rating for Gracefully Grayson
Description:
"Grayson, a transgender twelve-year-old, learns to accept her true identity and share it with the world"--
Book cover for "Harbor me"
Star rating for Harbor me
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"When six students are chosen to participate in a weekly talk with no adults allowed, they discover that when they're together, it's safe to share the hopes and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world"-- Six kids discover the power of sharing their secrets and their stories ... It all starts when six kids are sent to a room for a weekly chat - by themselves, with no adults to listen in. At first they fear this new unfamiliar and wonder...
Book cover for "Hurricane child"
Star rating for Hurricane child
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Born on Water Island in the Virgin Islands during a hurricane, which is considered bad luck, twelve-year-old Caroline falls in love with another girl--and together they set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother.
Book cover for "The inquisitor's tale, or, the three magical children and their holy dog"
Star rating for The inquisitor's tale, or, the three magical children and their holy dog
Description:
Crossing paths at an inn, thirteenth-century travelers impart the tales of a monastery oblate, a Jewish refugee, and a psychic peasant girl with a loyal greyhound, the three of whom join forces on a chase through France to escape persecution.
Book cover for "The lightning queen"
Star rating for The lightning queen
Author:
Description:
On the Hill of Dust, in the remote mountains of Mexico, an eleven-year-old Mixtec boy called Teo lives with his family and the animals that he has healed, but one day a Romany caravan rolls into town with a young girl who calls herself Esma, the Gypsy Queen of Lightning--it is the beginning of a life-long friendship that will change both their lives.
Book cover for "Lincoln's grave robbers"
Star rating for Lincoln's grave robbers
Description:
A true crime thriller -- the first book for teens to tell the nearly unknown tale of the brazen attempt to steal Abraham Lincoln's body. Reissued in Scholastic Focus, with an exciting new cover. The action begins in October of 1875, as Secret Service agents raid the Fulton, Illinois, workshop of master counterfeiter Ben Boyd. Soon after Boyd is hauled off to prison, members of his counterfeiting ring gather in the back room of a smoky Chicago saloon...
Book cover for "The night diary"
Star rating for The night diary
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.

11. Refugee

Book cover for "Refugee"
Star rating for Refugee
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Although separated by continents and decades, Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany; Isabel, a Cuban girl trying to escape the riots and unrest plaguing her country in 1994; and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015 whose homeland is torn apart by violence and destruction, embark on harrowing journeys in search of refuge, discovering shocking connections that tie their stories together.
Book cover for "Room to dream"
Star rating for Room to dream
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family--to China! A total dream come true. Mia can't wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China's going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life, like . . . 1. Lupe's taking classes at the high school! And Mia's own plans to be a big writer are . . . stuck....
Book cover for "Sachiko"
Star rating for Sachiko
Description:
Read the true story of a young girl who survived the Nagasaki atomic bomb and her long journey to find peace. This compelling, well-researched narrative offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II and their aftermath.
Book cover for "Samurai rising"
Star rating for Samurai rising
Description:
FINALIST FOR THE YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICITON FOR YOUNG ADULTS! Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life Game of Thrones. This epic tale of warriors and bravery, rebellion and revenge, reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family-and lost. His father was...
Book cover for "Three keys"
Star rating for Three keys
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Mia Tang thinks she's going to have the best year ever. She and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel, Mia gets to run the front desk with her best friend, Lupe, and she's finally getting somewhere with her writing! But as it turns out, sixth grade is no picnic."--Publisher.
Book cover for "The watch that ends the night"
Star rating for The watch that ends the night
Author:
Description:
Recreates the 1912 sinking of the Titanic as observed by millionaire John Jacob Astor, a beautiful young Lebanese refugee finding first love, "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, Captain E.J. Smith, and others including the iceberg itself.