Reading List


This is a reading list aimed mainly at our Year 5 children compiled by our lovely assistant, Amber.

It's important to add as a must-read, The Eternity Train by our very own tutor, Ahsan. Details are here.

These are our favourite children's fiction books for this age group - if you know of other amazing and much-loved books which you feel deserve a place here, please get in touch to let us know!


Skellig by David Almond

Harry Potter Series by J K Rowling

The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series by J R R Tolkien

Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

War Horse / Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Holes by Louis Sachar

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Wonder by R J Palacio

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman

Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke

Ingo by Helen Dunmore

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Five Children and It by E Nesbit

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Clockwork by Philip Pullman

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J R R Tolkien

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Railway Children by E Nesbit

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

Flambards by K M Peyton

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Watership Down by Richard Adams

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

Peter Pan by J M Barrie

The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley Holland

Boy by Roald Dahl

Going Solo by Roald Dahl

Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipović

The Weirdstone of Brisangamen by Alan Garner

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L Engle

The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Fire series by Chris D Lacey

Tale of Redwall series by Brian Jacques

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe

The Box of Delights by John Masefield

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsberg

Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden

Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

Kasper, Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo

The Other Side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo

The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Varjak Paw by S F Said

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne

Once by Morris Gleitzman

Pig Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman

The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle

Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Wave Me Goodbye by Jacqueline Wilson

Young Sherlock Holmes series by Andrew Lane

Five Find-Outers Mystery Series by Enid Blyton