The Giver by Lois Lowry
What a great book! Targeted at young adults, it's about a young boy in a utopian society. This is, I think, the third time I've read it (for a book club this time), and it was still good. Some of the surprises were still chilling and horrific, even when I knew what was coming, or maybe partly because I did know what was coming.
There are apparently a couple of companion books to this one, not exactly sequels but somehow associated. They are Messenger and Gathering Blue. I'm looking forward to reading them, especially after an article in Reason magazine recently, which was about children's literature with libertarian themes.
It's crazy to have fifth graders read The Giver and then not discuss it with them. It really is way too serious for that age, unless you want to also talk about why Nazis did what they did to Jews and how they justified it. That's one way you could look at parts of The Giver.
Justin might like The White Mountains series by John Christopher. There's a trilogy that starts with The White Mountains and a prequel called When the Tripods Came. It's about a future society when aliens have invaded earth and control people's minds after a certain age. The main character figures out what's going on before he reaches that age and tries to escape. Jon read it when he was young, and we both ready it recently (as adults, anyway, which is to say, not that recently). They are full of adventure but also address some of the themes commonly addressed by books that describe societies that seem perfect.