The Class 5 English book — NCERT’s Marigold — runs 10 chapters across 174 printed pages, and the official PDF for every chapter is on this page.
The PDF gives you the pages, but the chapter map below shows what is inside each of Marigold’s 10 chapters: which are poems, which are stories, where the vocabulary and writing blocks sit, and how long each unit runs. The Class 5 hub lists every NCERT book for the class.
Download the Class 5 English book PDF
Every file in the table below is NCERT’s own PDF, hosted on the official portal at ncert.nic.in — the same files schools and students download directly from NCERT. Each row links one chapter of Marigold, so you can go straight to the unit you need.
| Ch. | Chapter | Pages | Official PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice-cream Man | 19 | |
| 2 | Teamwork | 22 | |
| 3 | My Shadow | 16 | |
| 4 | Crying | 20 | |
| 5 | Rip Van Winkle | 12 | |
| 6 | Class Discussion | 16 | |
| 7 | Topsy-turry Land | 20 | |
| 8 | Nobody's Friend | 18 | |
| 9 | Song of People | 13 | |
| 10 | Malu Bhalu | 18 |
The CBSE Class 5 English book PDF at a glance
A few numbers hold the whole book in one screen.
- 10 chapters and 10 verified official PDFs, one per chapter — 174 printed pages in total.
- Nine of the ten chapter titles are poems; Rip Van Winkle is the only prose story in the set.
- Chapter length runs from 12 pages (Rip Van Winkle) to 22 pages (Teamwork).
- Every chapter follows the same pattern: a poem or story followed by activity blocks such as New Words, Let’s Read, Let’s Talk and Let’s Write.
- Only Chapter 1 prints a formal activity block — Find Out and Write a Report; the other nine chapters put practice inside the reading, speaking and writing blocks.
- Revision runs through the activity tasks: each Marigold chapter works through named activities such as Reading is Fun, Let’s Write, Let’s Talk and Word Building.
- Chapter study pages are listed in the Class 5 English chapter pages section below, each marked Available, Drafting or Not yet built.
Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus.
What each chapter teaches
The book measures 10 chapters and 174 printed pages, with 0 indexed syllabus sections, 1 printed activity block and 0 extracted exercise questions. The directory below is the full count, chapter by chapter.
| Ch. | Chapter | Sections | Activities | Figures | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice-cream Man | — | 1 | — | — |
| 2 | Teamwork | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | My Shadow | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Crying | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Rip Van Winkle | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Class Discussion | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Topsy-turry Land | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Nobody's Friend | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Song of People | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Malu Bhalu | — | — | — | — |
Here is what each column counts:
- Section — one of NCERT’s own numbered headings. This book indexes none; its blocks are unnumbered.
- Activity — a printed activity block. Only Chapter 1 carries one.
- Question — an end-of-chapter exercise. None were extracted from this book.
- Figure — a numbered figure. None are indexed, because the book’s illustrations print without captions.
Marigold does not number its sections, exercises, or illustrations, so the figure index on this page is empty.
Most chapters (all except 5 and 10) carry an additional reading text after the main one. That is where the extra stories and rhymes in the pairing table below come from.
Where the directory counts, the table below names: it maps every chapter to its additional reading texts, so you can jump straight to a named story such as The Talkative Barber or The Little Bully.
| Chapter | Main text | Additional texts named in the chapter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice-cream Man | Wonderful Waste! |
| 2 | Teamwork | For Want of a Nail; Flying Together; The Ant and the Dove |
| 3 | My Shadow | Robinson Crusoe |
| 4 | Crying | My Elder Brother |
| 5 | Rip Van Winkle | (none indexed) |
| 6 | Class Discussion | The Talkative Barber; A Lion |
| 7 | Topsy-turry Land | The Magic Kite |
| 8 | Nobody’s Friend | The Little Bully |
| 9 | Song of People | The Village Child; The City Child; My Teacher |
| 10 | Malu Bhalu | (none indexed) |
Note: Chapter 7’s poem text is indexed as Topsy-turvy Land; the chapter title printed in the book is Topsy-turry Land.
Chapter 1: Ice-cream Man
The summer poem Ice-cream Man opens the book and pairs with the story Wonderful Waste!, its New Words, Word Building, Let’s Write and Let’s Listen blocks carry the vocabulary load, and Find Out and Write a Report marks the only formal activity block in the whole book.
Chapter 2: Teamwork
The poem Teamwork and the rhyme For Want of a Nail teach cooperation, the story Flying Together and the fable The Ant and the Dove show the same idea in action, and at 22 pages this is the longest chapter in the book — Picture Composition gives early writing practice.
Chapter 3: My Shadow (pp. 42-57)
Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem My Shadow is paired with a Robinson Crusoe reading excerpt, and its Fun Time and Working Together blocks make this the chapter classrooms usually enjoy most.
Chapter 4: Crying
The poem Crying treats tears as natural and then moves on, the story My Elder Brother sets a bookish elder brother beside a playful younger one, and the chapter’s heavier practice sits in Say Aloud, Word Building, Creative Writing and Project Work.
Chapter 5: Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle, the tale of a man who sleeps for twenty years, is the only prose-led chapter in the book and the shortest at 12 pages, with Vocabulary Building, Creative Writing and Conversation Time carrying most of the work.
Chapter 6: Class Discussion
The poem Class Discussion is about a child who stays silent while others talk, and it pairs with the humorous story The Talkative Barber and a short text A Lion, with Word Fun and Let’s Read and Do adding language play.
Chapter 7: Topsy-turry Land
Topsy-turry Land imagines an upside-down world and pairs with the story The Magic Kite, and its Fun with Sounds block practises pronunciation in a chapter that runs 20 pages.
Chapter 8: Nobody’s Friend
The poem Nobody’s Friend shows that selfishness leaves a child friendless, and it pairs with the story The Little Bully, with Say Aloud and Fun with Sounds for speaking practice.
Chapter 9: Song of People
The poem Song of People watches the city crowd on the move, the chapter also carries The Village Child, The City Child and a piece on My Teacher, and its Language Use block is where grammar practice sits.
Chapter 10: Malu Bhalu
Malu Bhalu follows a young polar bear learning to swim from her mother, and Use a Chart, Fun with Sound Words, Language Use and Project Work close the book.
Class 5 English chapter pages
Each chapter below has its own study page in this directory, and the status in the list shows where that page stands right now. Working through the whole class instead? The NCERT books directory holds every class and subject this site indexes.
| Ch. | Chapter page |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ice-cream Man |
| 2 | Teamwork |
| 3 | My Shadow |
| 4 | Crying |
| 5 | Rip Van Winkle |
| 6 | Class Discussion |
| 7 | Topsy-turry Land |
| 8 | Nobody's Friend |
| 9 | Song of People |
| 10 | Malu Bhalu |
Is there an NCERT Class 5 English grammar book PDF?
There is no separate NCERT Class 5 grammar book in this directory. Grammar practice is embedded in the Marigold chapters themselves: each chapter’s activity blocks do the vocabulary, speaking and writing work that other books file under grammar.
Because the grammar is spread across blocks rather than one book, a student revising a specific topic should open the block that carries it and do its task.
A sensible order of work for this book:
- Read the poem aloud first — nine of the ten chapters open with a poem, and reading it aloud fixes rhythm and new words before any task. The prose opener is Rip Van Winkle (Chapter 5).
- Learn the New Words before reading the paired story — every chapter except Chapter 4 prints a New Words or vocabulary block before its comprehension questions; Chapter 4 covers words through Word Building instead.
- Do the comprehension block — every chapter prints either a Reading is Fun or a Let’s Read block (Chapter 4 carries both), and this is where the book checks that the text was understood.
- Talk through Let’s Talk — the speaking block appears in every chapter and is the fastest way to build sentence confidence.
- Finish with Let’s Write or Creative Writing — most chapters close with a writing block; where one is absent (Chapters 6 and 10), Think and Write, Use a Chart or Project Work take its place.
If you are here for the grammar blocks specifically, they map like this:
- Word Building — Chapters 1 and 4.
- Say Aloud — Chapters 4 and 8.
- Language Use — Chapters 9 and 10.
- Fun with Sounds — Chapters 7, 8 and 10 (Chapter 10 calls it Fun with Sound Words).
- Vocabulary Building — Chapter 5, with Fun with New Words in the same chapter.
One caution: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus.
Related resources
This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.
- NCERT books directory — the index of every class and subject this site carries.
- Class 5 hub — the landing page for the Class 5 books on this page.
Sources and data verification
- Where the data comes from — the NCERT Marigold (Class 5 English) edition on this page, with chapter ledgers read from the official PDFs on ncert.nic.in.
- What this page covers, and what it does not — it covers chapter titles, page spans, activity blocks and topic blocks. It does not include a figure gallery (the book’s illustrations print without captions), state-board books such as the West Bengal Board Class 5 English book, or answer keys.
- Academic session — this listing is maintained for the current session using the NCERT information available to us; NCERT’s own PDFs settle the edition.
- Which authority settles what — NCERT settles textbooks, editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations. For a textbook edition, consult NCERT, not CBSE.
Reference: NCERT Class 5 English textbook (Marigold), official edition on ncert.nic.in. Figure captions and section titles quoted from the textbook; page references are to the official PDF.
Frequently asked questions about the Marigold book
How many chapters are there in the NCERT Class 5 English book?
The NCERT Class 5 English book (Marigold) has 10 chapters across 174 printed pages. Every chapter follows the same shape: a poem or story followed by activity blocks such as New Words, Let’s Read, Let’s Talk and Let’s Write.
Is the Class 5 English book PDF free and official?
Yes. The PDFs in the download table above are NCERT’s own files, hosted on ncert.nic.in, and they are free to download. Linking to NCERT’s files keeps the official text and pagination intact.
Which chapter has the Robinson Crusoe story in the Class 5 English book?
Chapter 3, My Shadow (pp. 42-57), pairs Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem with a Robinson Crusoe reading excerpt. The Robinson Crusoe text is indexed as a named block inside that chapter.
Does the NCERT Class 5 English book have grammar?
There is no separate NCERT Class 5 grammar book in this directory; grammar practice is embedded in the Marigold chapters. Word Building appears in Chapters 1 and 4, Say Aloud in Chapters 4 and 8, and Language Use in Chapters 9 and 10.
Where can I find answers to the Class 5 English exercises?
This page does not publish answer keys, and the book itself prints no numbered exercise questions — its tasks are activity blocks such as Let’s Write and Creative Writing. Attempt each task in your own words, then check your work against the chapter’s New Words list and your teacher’s feedback.