NCERT Class 5 English Book (Marigold): What Is Inside, Chapter by Chapter

The Class 5 English book is the NCERT Marigold reader — 10 chapters across 174 printed pages — and the official PDF for every chapter is on this page.

The PDF gives you the text; this page tells you what is inside it. Below is the poem-story unit map of the whole book, where the speaking and writing tasks sit, and how long every chapter runs — so you can find the chapter you were asked to study without opening all ten files.

Download the Class 5 English book (official NCERT PDF)

These are NCERT’s own files, hosted on ncert.nic.in — the same PDFs a classroom teacher uses. Open a chapter in the browser or download it: each row in the table links straight to the official chapter PDF, free and without registration.

For one page that confirms the edition and hosts every chapter file, NCERT’s official Marigold textbook page (https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?eeen1=0-13) is the authoritative source.

Marigold at a glance

• 10 chapters, eight of them pairing a poem with a reading text.
• 10 official chapter PDFs, each linked straight from ncert.nic.in in the table above.
• 174 printed pages, from the Ice-cream Man unit to Malu Bhalu.
• 1 named activity recorded across the whole book — the report-writing task in Chapter 1.

One scope note: this page indexes a single textbook, the Marigold reader, not the whole CBSE Class 5 English scheme.

How the Marigold book is put together

The poem-story unit map below shows the book’s repeated pattern: a poem opens, a reading text follows, activities close.

Eight of the ten units run poem-then-reading. The two exceptions are Chapter 5, Rip Van Winkle — a story read on its own — and Chapter 10, Malu Bhalu, a poem that ends the book.

Because the route repeats, a parent or teacher can predict where any lesson sits: opening poem, paired reading, then the talk-and-write tasks that round the unit off.

What is inside each chapter

Read the table with one thing in mind: Marigold has no numbered instructional sections, so the section column in the directory reads zero for every chapter and the named tasks carry the teaching instead.

In this table, an “activity” is a named task such as Find Out and Write a Report; a “question” would be a numbered end-of-chapter exercise set. Marigold prints none of those separately.

Every unit closes with tasks like Let’s Talk and Let’s Write instead, and the practice work lives inside those named tasks — which is why the activity count stays small even though the book never lacks for work.

Chapter 1: Ice-cream Man (pp. 1-19) — poem plus Wonderful Waste!

Marigold opens with a summer poem about the ice-cream man, pairs it with the story Wonderful Waste!, and carries the one activity task recorded in the whole book — Find Out and Write a Report — after its New Words and Reading is Fun work.

Chapter 2: Teamwork (pp. 20-41) — poem plus Flying Together

The Teamwork poem and the For Want of a Nail rhyme lead into the story Flying Together, and the unit leans on cooperation through speaking and composing tasks — Picture Composition and Let’s Talk — rather than a page of written exercises.

Chapter 3: My Shadow (pp. 42-57) — poem plus Robinson Crusoe

The only unit in the book with a verified page range, pages 42 to 57, it pairs Robert Louis Stevenson’s My Shadow — a child watching his shadow’s behaviour — with the Robinson Crusoe story, and its Working Together and Fun Time tasks make it the most playfully arranged chapter in the reader.

Chapter 4: Crying (pp. 58-77) — poem plus My Elder Brother

The poem Crying makes the surprising case that crying can do you good, the story My Elder Brother explores sibling comparison and self-respect, and Creative Writing and Food for Thought close the unit by asking for the child’s own opinion.

Chapter 5: Rip Van Winkle (pp. 78-89) — a self-contained story chapter

Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle — the man who sleeps for twenty years — is the shortest chapter at 12 pages and the one standalone story unit with no paired text, followed by Fun with New Words, Vocabulary Building and Creative Writing.

Chapter 6: Class Discussion (pp. 90-105) — poem plus The Talkative Barber

The poem Class Discussion notices the child who stays quiet while everyone else talks, the comic story The Talkative Barber follows, and Think and Write, Let’s Read and Do and Word Fun keep the whole unit discussion-heavy.

Chapter 7: Topsy-turvy Land (pp. 106-125) — poem plus The Magic Kite

In the nonsense world of Topsy-turvy Land everything runs backwards before the story The Magic Kite, and this chapter carries the book’s most listening- and sound-focused task set — Fun with Sounds and Let’s Listen.

Chapter 8: Nobody’s Friend (pp. 126-143) — poem plus The Little Bully

The poem Nobody’s Friend shows a child who shares nothing at all, the story The Little Bully adds its lesson about kindness, and Word Building, Say Aloud and Let’s Practise some Writing make this one of the writing-practice-heavy units.

Chapter 9: Song of People (pp. 144-156) — poem plus The Village Child and The City Child

The poem Song of People celebrates people moving through the world, the paired poems The Village Child and The City Child set two lives side by side, and the unit’s Let’s Interview task is the only interview activity in the book.

Chapter 10: Malu Bhalu (pp. 157-174) — a closing poem-only chapter

The closing poem Malu Bhalu follows a young polar bear learning to swim, and with no paired reading text it winds down the book through Use a chart, Fun with Sound words and Language Use.

Chapter study pages for Class 5 English

The chapter study pages below go deeper into each unit’s poems, stories and tasks; the table marks which are published and which are not yet built.

How to use this book for revision

1. Read the opening poem aloud — every unit starts with one, from Ice-cream Man to Malu Bhalu — and settle the New Words before going further.
2. Follow the poem with its paired story in the same sitting: Robinson Crusoe after My Shadow, The Talkative Barber after Class Discussion.
3. Do the oral tasks first — Let’s Talk, Say Aloud and Let’s Listen appear in every unit, which is what makes this a talk-first book rather than a worksheet book.
4. Keep Let’s Write and Creative Writing for last, because they draw on the vocabulary the unit built earlier.
5. Use Chapter 5, Rip Van Winkle, as the standalone revision read — it is the only unit that works without a paired text.

One caution: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official CBSE syllabus before planning revision.

Related NCERT book 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 — every class and subject list on this site, starting from the root.
• Class 5 hub — where the Class 5 NCERT books live together.

Start at the hub to see how Marigold sits beside the rest of the Class 5 set.

Sources and data verification

• The book described: the NCERT Marigold textbook for Class 5 English, official edition hosted on ncert.nic.in.
• What this page covers: the Marigold reader only — not the wider CBSE Class 5 English scheme or supplementary readers.
• Session: this listing is maintained for the current session using the NCERT information available to us.
• Who decides what: NCERT settles the textbook, its editions and its PDFs; CBSE settles the curriculum, syllabus and examinations.

Reference: NCERT Class 5 English textbook, 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

How many chapters does the Class 5 English book Marigold have?

Marigold has 10 chapters across 174 printed pages. Eight of the ten pair a poem with a reading text; Chapter 5 and Chapter 10 stand alone.

Is the Class 5 English book PDF on this page official and free?

Yes. Each link goes to NCERT’s own file on ncert.nic.in, where the textbooks are free to download. There is no registration and no charge.

Which chapter of the Class 5 English book has Robinson Crusoe?

Chapter 3, My Shadow, pages 42 to 57, pairs Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem with the story of Robinson Crusoe. It is the one unit whose page range is verified in the table above.

Where do the writing tasks sit in this book?

Every unit closes with a writing task — Let’s Write, Creative Writing or a similar one. The writing-practice-heavy units are Chapter 5, Rip Van Winkle, and Chapter 8, Nobody’s Friend.

Do the Marigold chapters cover the whole Class 5 English syllabus?

No. Marigold is the NCERT reader; the examinable Class 5 English syllabus is set by CBSE and can differ from the textbook contents. Check the current official CBSE syllabus before exam preparation.