6th-Grade-Book-List
Annotated list of book suggestions for 6th graders.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks
The Red Umbrella
In 1961 after Castro has come to power in Cuba, fourteen-year-old Lucia and her seven-year-old brother are sent to the United States when her parents, who are not in favor of the new regime, fear that the children will be taken away from them as others have been.
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Among the Hidden
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
Book 1, Shadow Children series
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Hoot
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. New to Florida, Roy is on the school bus when he spots the running boy--running away from the bus, carrying no books and wearing no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail, which leads him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, and a renegade eco-avenger.
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The Night Diary
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.
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Turtle in Paradise
In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.
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One for the Murphys
Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household.
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Roller Girl
A graphic novel adventure about a girl who discovers roller derby right as she and her best friend are growing apart.
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The Parker Inheritance
Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure--but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert.
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Kira-Kira
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.
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OCDaniel
A thirteen-year-old boy's life revolves around hiding his obsessive compulsive disorder until a girl at school, who is unkindly nicknamed Psycho Sara, notices him for the first time and he gets a mysterious note that changes everything.
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball
When an unexpected inheritance gives Greg Heffley's family a chance to make big changes to their house, they soon discover that renovations may not be worth the effort.
Book 14, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
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Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid : Rowley Jefferson's Journal
In his first journal, middle schooler Rowley Jefferson, Greg Heffley's sidekick, records his experiences and misguided decision to write a biography of Greg, who, in his own mind, is destined to become rich and famous.
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Masterminds
Eli Frieden lives in the most perfect town in the world: Serenity, New Mexico. In this idyllic place, every lawn is perfectly manicured and everyone has a pool and a tree house. Honesty and integrity are valued above all else. The thirty kids who live there never lie-they know it's a short leap from that to the awful problems of other, less fortunate places. Eli has never left Serenity . . . why would he ever want to? Then one day he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens, it changes everything.
Book 1, Masterminds series
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Inside Out & Back Again
Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama. Age: 8-12.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
This is the book that was published first and made The Chronicles of Narnia one of the most beloved series of all time! However, some consider this Book 2 in the series, because the events in “The Magician’s Nephew”, which was published later, actually happened before “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. Whichever book you start with, get ready for a wonderful ride!
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Travel Team
After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory.
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A Mango-Shaped Space
Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss of something important to her.
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At the Bottom of the World
Traveling to Antarctica for a prestigious science competition, twelve-year-old Jack and his genius foster siblings, Ava and Matt, become caught up in a mystery involving a missing scientist.
Book 1, Jack and the Geniuses series
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Bridge to Terabithia
Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. Leslie’s family is regarded with some curiosity - a family with so many books, and no television! Jess Aarons is disturbed by Leslie, who challenges his accepted order of things, but the two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. Then tragedy strikes.
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Family Ties
"I'm the greatest family member you'll ever meet." Kevin Spencer has a history of big ideas going completely awry. This time around, it's personal--suddenly he's kind of in charge of a double wedding in his backyard, and a whole tribe of wacky relatives is crowding him out of his own house.
Kevin Books series
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Field Trip
Ben and his twin classmates, Charlotte and Jacob, are missing a school field trip so Ben's father takes them, his new apprentice Brig, and the dogs on an adventure. Ben manages to try out for a hockey academy against his parents' wishes and the twins turn the road trip into a learning experience.
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Hatchet
When the pilot of his small plane has a heart attack and the plane crashes, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
Book 1, Brian series
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A Long Way from Chicago
What happens when Joey and his sister, Mary Alice--two city slickers from Chicago--make their annual summer visits to Grandma Dowdel's seemingly sleepy Illinois town? August 1929: They see their first corpse, and he isn't resting easy. August 1930: The Cowgill boys terrorize the town, and Grandma fights back. August 1931: Joey and Mary Alice help Grandma trespass, poach, catch the sheriff in his underwear, and feed the hungry--all in one day. And there's more, as Joey and Mary Alice make seven summer trips to Grandma's--each one funnier than the year before!
if you enjoy this book, try "A Year down Yonder" and "A Season of Gifts" for more adventures with Grandma Dowdel!
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The Westing Game
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
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The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.
Book 1, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
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Freaky Friday
Thirteen-year-old Annabel woke up to the ultimate surprise. It was the rollers in her hair that first tipped her off--she had turned into her mother! Follow the events of a hilarious day in the life of Annabel as she develops a healthy respect for her mother and a new angle on her own life.
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The Tapper Twins Go to War (with Each Other)
An oral history that reports, through transcribed recordings, text messages, photographs, illustrations, screenshots, and more, an epic prank war between twelve-year-old twins Reese and Claudia Tapper of New York City.
Book 1, Tapper Twin series
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Book 1, Harry Potter series
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Locker Hero
Questioning his resolve to attend public school after being homeschooled when he is targeted by a bully, Max aspires to become like his favorite comic book heroes and finds an unexpected opportunity to be the hero his middle school needs.
Book 1, The Misadventures of Max Crumbly series
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Okay for Now
As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends, an abusive father, and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him until he finds an ally in Lil Spicer--a fiery young lady. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon's birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage.
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A Light in the Attic
Here in the attic you will find Backward Bill, Sour Face Ann, the Meehoo with an Exactlywatt, and the Polar Bear in the Frigidaire. You will talk with Broiled Face, and find out what happens when Somebody steals your knees, you get caught by the Quick-Digesting Gink, a Mountain snores, and They Put a Brassiere on the Camel.
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Peak
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
Book 1, Peak series
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Maniac Magee
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.
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Unicorn Power!
When challenge-loving April leads the girls on a hike up the TALLEST mountain they've ever seen, things don't go quite as planned. For one, they didn't expect to trespass into the lands of the ancient Cloud People, and did anyone happen to read those ominous signs some unknown person posted at the bottom of the mountain? Also, unicorns...
Book 1, Lumberjanes series
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.
Logan Family Saga series
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Loot: How to Steal a Fortune
When Alfie McQuinn, the notorious jewel thief, is killed on a job, his last words to his son, March, are to "find jewels" and this instruction leads the boy to Jules, the twin sister he never knew he had--and the perfect partner to carry on the family business.
Book 1, Loot series
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One Crazy Summer
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
Book 1, One Crazy Summer series (Gaither Girls)
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Beyond the Bright Sea
Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift in a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow's only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn't until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger.
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Wolf Hollow
Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran.
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Harbor Me
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.
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