5th Grade Reading List

I've got my son's reading list for 5th grade this fall.

I am not impressed.

Chocolate Touch
Chocolate Fever
Milton Hershey
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Witches
The Castle in the Attic
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
George Washington's Socks
Maniac Magee
Tangerine
BFG
The Cay
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM

I mean the choices are okay. They are all classics. A little bit of Roald Dahl never hurt anyone.
I think I was just expecting to see something more challenging. All the books seem more like 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

If I was going to choose:

Wonderstruck
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Tuck Everlasting
The Graveyard Book
Holes
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Hatchet
Walk Two Moons
Flipped
The Wright 3

It seems to me that the teachers are using the same books they used when they started out teaching. There is nothing new in that list. The newest book is Tangerine which was published in 1997. I know there have been a lot of great books written since then but why aren't teachers using them? Are they afraid to read new books? Are school districts afraid to approve something newer? I don't get it. If the idea is to get kids interested in books then lets give them books that make them think and that challenge them. Lets also give them books that were written in their lifetimes. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is great, but it's not a class lit set read.

It's frustrating for me both as a parent and as a librarian. Not every child has the benefit of a librarian mother to curate book choices for them. They rely on their teachers, but most teachers don't have time to read, or just plain don't make time to read. How can they teach a child to love reading if they don't themselves? My child's 5th grade reading list just shows a lack of effort on the part of the teachers and school district. I am sorely disappointed.