Book suggestions

Both of my two are asking to start reading "big kid" books. To them that means no pictures. LOL When they first started talking about it 3 or 4 months ago, we started Harry Potter. They loved the idea of reading the book, but didn't have the attention span. I wonder if we should start again or if anyone has some suggestions of something that might be better to start with.

Also, how did you make the transition to chapter books?


TIA

 

At that age, mine read the Dick and Jane "chapter books"--they were able to read it on their own (well one was, the other followed along). Mine also like the longer Dr. Seuss stories, and when I have them in an anthology, they thought it was a "real chapter book", each chapter is a different book

 

My girls LOVE the Junie B Jones series. They are chapter books with a few pictures, but not many.

 

We're currently reading Mr. Popper's Penguins, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox is next.

I think Harry Potter is a bit much for five year olds, there are a ton of short (50-75 pages) chapter books written for the five to seven year olds.

Books that they've loved:

Charlotte's Web
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Frecklejuice
Some of the Magic Treehouse books (these are at Target and are actually on sale this week.)


Looking through this list I can see the Ralph S. Mouse books will be xmas presents this year along with the Captain Underwear books. Maybe the Ramona and Beezus books too.

 

All our favorite chapter books from that age still have small black and white pictures!


Some favorites from 4-6:

Some we did as all read alouds, some were read on-their-own, and some were a mix of me reading outloud first book and then the girls reading the rest. Reading level would vary from 1st grade level up to 3rd roughly, so it was pretty variable.


My Fathers Dragon series

Winnie the Pooh (written at higher level but appeals to younger kids)

Moongobble and Me series

Bink and Gollie Series

Magic School Bus Chapter Books (all black and white, but still pictures)

Bunnicula series

Magic Tree house series (has black and white pictures--- start at 1st grade reading level and then go up in the series to a 3rd grade level)

My First Choose your Own Adventure Series

Freckle Juice

Time Warp Trio

Nate the Great

Dog Diaries / Cat Diaries

Ivy and Bean Series

Little House on the Prairie Series

Endless Rainbow Magic Fairy collection (more likely to appeal to girls)

Magic School Bus (step readers 2/3- chapter books with color pictures)

5 True series (dogs, dolphins, horses, etc) Small pictures at start of chapters

Breyer Stable Mates series(chapter but has pictures)

Butterfly Meadows series

Frances Series

Minnie and Moo

Katie Woo series

Cork and Fuzz Series

Black Lagoon Series

The Littles Series

Mr.Poppers Penguins

Cam Jansen (both the Early Cam Jansen and older ones- both chapters just different levels)

The Magic Finger and other books by Ronald Dahl






Favorite picture books that are harder than 'easy readers':

Fancy Nancy series (excellent vocabulary!)

Animalia

Bill Peet books (animal based)

Short Collections--- mythology, fables, Mixed-up Fairy Tales, etc.

Magic School Bus large hardback books

Jan Brett Books

Mrs. Frizzles Adventures

Alphabet books (fabulous out there with little known words or alliteration or informational )

A is for........(a book for each state and its letter. We own the states we live in)

Scrambles States of America

Bird! Bird! Bird! , Ant! Ant! Ant! and Trout Trout Trout! : Animal chant books (so much fun!!!!)

DK non-fiction books of anykind






Other good books that you can get with beautiful illustrations every few pages, but are fun to read over the course of a few days are:

Alice in Wonderland

Pippi Longstocking

Wizard of Oz

Secret Garden

Mary Poppins

Peter Pan

and a few more classics



At that age poetry can also be fun!

A Light in the Attic

Where the Sidewalk Ends








Favorite Magazines (mine LOVE magazines!)

Ranger Rick

Ask

Highlights






But remember that many many picture books have excellent reading levels! Often some picture books can be harder to read than early reader 'chapter style". Also lots of non-fiction has pictures but is written beyond a beginning reader level.

The lists overlapped a lot depending on my kids interest.

I would take them to the library and just get a BUNCH of books. See what catches their fancy. Ask the librarians for suggestions. We also did some longer chapter books on tape/CD while girls followed along a few chapters a night (they STILL like to do this even thought they can read fluently).

Most of these books my DDs STILL read years later--- they like to reread favorites. A few they have outgrown and no longer are interested in.

Can you tell I love books

Enjoy and Happy Reading!

 

DD likes some of the series books - Henry & Mudge, Mr. Putter & Tabby, Little Bear and Junie B. Jones. She goes through a lot of books and have been checking them out at the library. She loves the movie Mr. Popper's Penguins and didn't realize there were books as well. I will look for them at the next library visit.

 

My one daughter is a very strong reader and likes Magic Tree House books. She also often brings home Magic School Bus books from school in her reading folder. She'll read anything and everything!!

My other daughter is not a strong reader...yet. And she really has no interest in me or her sister reading the Magic Tree House books out loud. But she does love the "sillier" chapter book series. She loves Ivy and Bean and Junie B. Jones. She's okay with Little House books, and she liked Mr. Popper's Penguins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

 

Roald Dahl books! Charlie and the chocolate factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, etc. My girls loved them! Also Ramona and Ralph Mouse series (by Beverly Cleary) were also big hits.

 

Ditto Roald Dahl!

Also, Ivy is in LOVE with the Oz books, which I also adored as a kid. They're wildly imaginative but not too scary (even for my scaredy-cat little girl - there are only a couple parts out of all the books that freak her out). There's a whole series beyond just the Wizard of Oz, and all except the first have these gorgeous Art Nouveau illustrations.

 

Just chiming in to agree with anything by Beverly Cleary, Roald Dahl, and the Little House series (especially the earlier ones in the series). These have all been big hits with my boys. They also loved the Magic Treehouse series, The Neverending Story and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Harry Potter gave us the same ussie you had– they loved the idea but not the actual book. I think they'd be better suited to it in a year or two.
Right now we're reading The Secret Garden and they're loving it– though it has some tough Yorkshire accents in it!

 

We also like the Boxcar Children series: little mysteries, some pictures throughout, like one per chapter.

 

So funny, I have Ronald Dahl on my list above since they are great books for that age (any beyond) but my one of my DDs HATED the pictures.

She would not read any more of the books since the 'weird sketchy' pictures creeped her out. HAHA!

 

Oh, one thing about Harry Potter - Ivy & I read the first three, and she enjoyed them, and they weren't too scary for her, but a lot of the social dynamics were over her head. All the kids-being-mean-to-each-other stuff, long standing feuds, teachers being mean, class struggles (rich/poor, pureblood/Muggle born), etc. Not that there isn't plenty of conflict in kindergarten, just the level of exchanges between the characters was different. It didn't bother her (that I could tell), she just seemed confused/uninterested in that stuff.

 

Thanks so much for all the ideas!

And what a great idea for Christmas coming up!