Oh, Junie B. Jones (don’t forget the “B”!). Do you love her because your child enjoys reading, or do you hate her for her annoying behavior and horrid grammar? Personally, I feel neutral. Whether you like Junie or wish you’d never met her, we all need a break. While the series on this list are not necessarily…
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Early and First Chapter Books for Kids
The books on these lists are early chapter books. They are good choices for kids who have moved beyond easy readers but are not yet read for middle grade novels.
The age range for this type of book is typically 6 to 10, but that will vary by skill level, of course. Generally, the characteristics of early chapter books are large font, lots of black and white illustrations, short chapters and fewer than 150 pages.
In addition, take a look at my parent tips for help choosing early chapter books.
A few favorite lists:
19 Book Series: Alternatives to Magic Tree House
If you have a child just starting to read chapter books, you are no doubt familiar with the Magic Tree House series featuring a pair of time traveling siblings. But what do you read when you finish the 4,683 books in the series? Where will you find more books like Magic Tree House so your…
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Superhero Chapter Books for Kids Ages 6-10
This year’s national summer reading theme is “Every Hero Has a Story”. Now, such a theme is not limited to traditional superheroes, but it seemed like a good time to gather all my superhero chapter book recommendations for early chapter book readers into one place. Some of these books I’ve suggested before, but some new favorites…
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Magic Early Chapter Books For Kids Ages 5-9
I’ve been working on putting together book lists that will be useful for summer reading. Since summer is that mythical magical time, it seemed like a list of magic early chapter books would be a good addition to my ongoing series of lists for kids who are past easy readers but not yet ready for…
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Early Chapter Books for 5 to 8 Year Olds
Last week’s adventure early chapter books list could not encompass all the early chapter books I have been wanting to recommend lately, so here is one more list. I simply could not come up with a specfic theme for chapter books for 5 year olds to 8 year olds, and so you will have to accept the eclectic-ness of…
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Adventure Early Chapter Books For Kids
I’ve been wanting to add to my series of book lists featuring early chapter books for kids for quite some time now, but couldn’t figure out a theme — until I hit on the idea of adventure books. My youngest son loves lots of action with heroic (and funny) protagonists so an adventure early chapter…
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12+ Books for Kids Not Ready for Harry Potter
Every child should read Harry Potter, but not every child is ready to read the entire series in one go. I mentioned in my post about how to choose chapter books for kids that the age of the protagonist is a good general guideline for the age of the reader. Harry Potter is 11 in…
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14 Chapter Books about the Theater
I loved reading the theater-themed books for this list! As I said a few weeks ago, when I shared 12 of my favorite picture books about the theater, our family has made theater an essential part of our lives. I’ve often joked that all my theater training serves me well, now that I spend so much time reading…
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Paris Books for Kids {Chapter Books}
Last week I shared a list of Paris picture books. This week you can introduce your kids to the joys of France’s famed city with a few très jolie chapter books set in Paris. Although the titles are fiction, they still offer opportunities to learn about Paris. These selections are for a variety reading levels, from…
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Addictive Summer Reading Chapter Books for Independent Readers (ages 7-10)
If you are preparing a summer reading list for your third grader, this book list will be right up your alley. Kiddo will be entering 3rd grade in the fall, so I’ve been searching out some early chapter books with a summer theme for his independent reading. The reading level of these books falls in the…
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