6th Grade Reading List (Homeschool)

Ava will be in 6th grade next year, and I have had a blast picking curriculum.  Hands down, my favorite has been literature.  The girl reads at an extreme level for her age, and we will not do a formal literature program- just good books.



I read The Book Whisperer, and I highly recommend you look into it.  She basically says give a kid enough books to find what they like to read, letting them quit and start new ones if they don't like what they are on, and eventually they will like reading.  And that schools are destroying reading for kids by making them do endless book reports and grammar lessons with what they are reading. Instead of book reports, she has the kids do journaling.  The kids write about what they read and liked and she responds back to them in their journal.  We will be doing the same thing this year.



She also requires her kids to read 40 books a year.  Yep, you read that right.  The least amount of books someone has read in her class is 22.  Twenty two books.  Amazing.

So for Ava, I have gone and made a list of books, quite a few more than 40, but I honestly don't expect her to finish them all.  I searched book lists and put down books I love and came to this grouping.  She will be allowed to read any books off this list, in any order that she wants.  She can stop a book if she doesn't like it, but our end year goal is 40.

Here is our list, in no particular order:

Through the Looking Glass
Peter Pan
The Secret Garden
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Fever 1793
Anne of Green Gables
Enders Game
Robinson Crusoe
The Borrowers
Mysterious Benedict Society
Little Women
Wizard of Oz
Sherlock Holmes
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe
Kensuke's Kingdom
Around the World in 80 Days
Wind in the Willows
Adventures of Robin Hood
Jungle Book
The Little Prince
Gregor the Overlander
Matilda
A Wrinkle In Time
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler
A Little Princess
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Princess Bride
Treasure Island
Lost World (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, not Michael Crichton)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Pippi Longstocking
Cryptid Hunters
Eragon
Ravenmaster's Secret
The Secret Zoo
Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Watership Down
All Creatures Great and Small
The Moffats
All the Little House books
Redwall
Mary Poppins- first three books
The Ship That Sailed to Mars
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell
Journey to the Center of the Earth
One Crazy Summer
The Westing Game
The Borrowers Afield
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Island of the Blue Dolphins
My Side of the Mountain
The Giver

Most of them are considered classics for kids, and probably you are wondering where Harry Potter is- well, she's read them already.  There also isn't any Hunger Games even though it popped up on every 6th grade reading list I saw, as well as some other books that I would deem "not yet".  I was a little surprised at how many books seemed mature for a 6th grader.

Also, if you have any suggestions that aren't here I would LOVE them.  I say the list is for Ava, but if I am totally honest, children's literature is my favorite to read!