Books & Reading: Year 5 Great Reads

Humorous Fiction

My Life

A nail-biting - no, make that toe-biting - thrill ride through one boy's life.

I'm Tom Weekly. This is a nail-biting - make that toe-biting - thrill ride through my life.

This is where I pour out whatever's inside my head. Like the time a bloodthirsty magpie out to get me. Or when I had to eat Vegemite off my sister's big toe. And don't forget the day I ate 67 hot dogs in ten minutes. My life gets a bit weird sometimes but that's how I roll.
Top 3 reasons to read this book
1. Cures for nits
2. Hover underpants
3. Instructions for teleporting

Adventure Stories

Sports Stories

The Kaboom Kid

David Warner wasn’t always the Australian cricket legend he is today. He was once a kid, too, just like you.

Follow the adventures of Little Davey Warner, his friends, and his dog, Max, who are OBSESSED with cricket. They love it so much they want to play it all day long, but there’s always something – or someone – getting in their way.

This bumper collection of the first four exciting stories in this bestselling series features Davey and his friends in The Big Switch, Playing Up, Keep It Down and Hit For Six!

Diary of a Sports Star series by Shamini Flint

Great reads about kids and sports. If you like Wimpy Kid, you'll like these! There are many sports in the series.

Great Series

Tales from Schwartzgarten series by Christopher William Hill

​These are gruesomely funny tales! Meet Eugene, the lily-livered prince; Osbert, the avenge; the Woebegone twins; and Marius. For lovers of Lemony Snicket.

My Australian Story series by various authors. These stories bring history to life. Written in diary form, each one gives a unique insight into a major event in our history.

Do you dare? Another series giving readers a snapshot of our past.

You Choose is a series of interactive novels for the highly adventurous. Read if you dare! Mistakes will cost you dearly! Can you survive to the end? 

Spirit Animals series

Separated by vat distances, Conor, Abeke, Mellin and Rollan have each summoned a beast of legend - a spirit animal. Now their fate is set. An ancient threat is rising once again, conquering whole cities with terrifying speed. The four young heroes and their animals must band together to find legendary talismans - before they fall into enemy hands.

Young Samurai series by Christopher Bradford

Shipwrecked on the shore of Japan, twelve-year-old Jack Fletcher is wounded and alone. His father and the entire crew have been slaughtered by ninja pirates. Jack’s last remaining possession is his father’s rudder, an invaluable book of maps and notes about the world’s uncharted oceans. Masamoto-sama, one of Japan’s greatest samurai, rescues Jack, adopts him, and sends him to samurai school, where Jack will be trained in the Way of the Warrior. Will it be enough to help Jack defeat Dragon Eye, the ruthless ninja who is intent on stealing the rudder at any cost?

Mr Bambuckle's Remarkables

He's the first teacher to cook us breakfast.
Is his spark-maker beetle really that dangerous?
I heard he drank yak's milk in Mongolia.
He's the only person who isn't afraid of Canteen Carol.
My mum says he used to be in the circus.

The class in room 12B has a new teacher, and nothing is ever going to be the same . . .

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Dear Reader,

I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

Naruto

Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. His wild antics amuse his teammates, but Naruto is completely serious about one thing: becoming the world's greatest ninja!

UZUMAKI NARUTO

Twelve years ago the Village Hidden in the Leaves was attacked by a fearsome threat. A nine-tailed fox spirit claimed the life of the village leader, the Hokage, and many others. Today, the village is at peace, and a troublemaking kid named Naruto is struggling to graduate from Ninja Academy. His goal may be to become Hokage, but his true destiny will be much more complicated. The adventure begins now!

Wings of Fire

A thrilling new series soars above the competition and redefines middle-grade fantasy fiction for a new generation!

The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy -- a foretelling that calls for great sacrifice.Five dragonets are collected to fulfill the prophecy, raised in a hidden cave and enlisted, against their will, to end the terrible war.But not every dragonet wants a destiny. And when the select five escape their underground captors to look for their original homes, what has been unleashed on the dragon world may be far more than the revolutionary planners intended . . .

Fantasy

Skulduggery Pleasant

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant

Ace Detective
Snappy Dresser
Razor–tongued Wit
Crackerjack Sorcerer
and
Walking, Talking,
Fire-throwing Skeleton

—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

Percy Jackson

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is on the most dangerous quest of his life. With the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to catch a thief who has stolen the original weapon of mass destruction — Zeus’ master bolt. Along the way, he must face a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. Most of all, he must come to terms with a father he has never known, and an Oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.
 

Harry Potter

Harry Potter's life is miserable. His parents are dead and he's stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he's a wizard. 

How to Train Your Dragon

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb?

Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons--and becomes a hero. This action-packed, hilarious, and perfectly illustrated novel is a modern classic beloved by millions across the globe.

Deltora Quest

The evil Shadow Lord is plotting to invade Deltora and enslave its people. All that stands against him is the magic Belt of Deltora with its seven gems of great and mysterious power. When the gems are stolen and hidden in dark terrible places throughout the kingdom, the Shadow Lord triumphs, and Deltora is lost.

In secrecy, with only a hand-drawn map to guide them, two unlikely companions set out on a perilous quest. Determined to find the lost gems and rid their land of the tyrant, they struggle towards their first goal - the sinister Forests of Silence.

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Historical Fiction

Inspired by a true story. It's 1940, and Joseph has been packed off to stay with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no great fondness for children. To Joseph's amazement, she owns the rundown city zoo where Joseph meets Adonis, a huge silverback gorilla. Adonis is ferociously strong and dangerous, but Joseph finds he has an affinity with the lonely beast. But when the bombs begin to fall, it is up to Joseph to guard Adonis's cage should it be damaged by a blast. Will Joseph be ready to pull the trigger if it comes to it?

From best-selling author Lauren Tarshis comes a historical fiction series about the world's most extraordinary events—perfect for your classroom history buffs and thrill seekers.

My Australian Story is a series of historical novels for older children published by Scholastic Australia which was inspired by Dear America. Each book is written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event or time period in Australian history.

For 60,000 years the rest of the world had pretty much left Australia and its Aboriginal nations alone. Then it became a home for Britain's criminals and poor. Now a con man had found gold and suddenly everyone was heading to Australia: adventurers, revolutionaries, camels...

Australia would never be the same. Join the heroes and villains of the past as they hunt for nuggets, struggle across unknown deserts and triumph in one of the greatest engineering marvels the world has ever seen, in the next action-packed instalment of Fair Dinkum Histories! It's history as you've never seen it before.

August 1611. Jack Fletcher is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan - his beloved father and the crew lie slaughtered by ninja pirates.
Rescued by the legendary sword master Masamoto Takeshi, Jack's only hope is to become a samurai warrior. And so his training begins.

But life at the samurai school is a constant fight for survival. Even with his friend Akiko by his side, Jack is singled out by bullies and treated as an outcast. With courage in his heart and his sword held high, can Jack prove himself and face his deadliest rival yet?d in helping him,id Barney

By the 1790s orphaned Barney Bean finally has his own farm in the early NSW colony. All his dreams are coming true!
But now we are to learn of Barney's biggest secret yet: how he helped Australia's first bushranger escape.

Was Black Caesar a wronged man, an ex-slave who vowed to be free? Or was he a laughing villain, a trickster who planned to terrorise the colony?

And in helping him, did Barney do right or wrong?

You decide.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, best friends Wally and Roy, and new mate Tom, are among the first to enlist.

But their great adventure soon turns to disaster. The day after the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, more than 2000 of their fellow Anzacs are dead and the bold attempt by the Allied commanders to knock the Turks out of the war becomes a stalemate.

As the Gallipoli campaign drags on, Wally, Roy and Tom find themselves locked in combat with a formidable enemy, a ferocious landscape, flies, fleas, cold and disease.

With Nazi planes raining bombs on England night after night, every boy in Garmouth has a collection of shrapnel and other war souvenirs. But nothing comes close to the working machine gun Chas McGill pulls out of a downed bomber. While the police search frantically for the missing gun, Chas and his friends build a secret fortress to fight the Germans themselves.

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.
 
So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?