Books For Your Emerging Reader

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Now that Josie is in school, all my teacher energy is needing a place to be focused.

It’s hard to transition from being the master and creator of your child’s education to a less active role.  Poor Gabe is getting a whole lot more instruction, but Josie is still getting her fair share.  One area I am honing in on is reading.

Josie was a late starter when it comes to reading.

Man.  Do I ever hate saying that.  Because, hello, she’s seven.  And reading earlier than that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be a genius.  I know that, really, I do.  However, it is so easy to fall into the comparison trap when your friends children are reading chapter books while your precious offspring is struggling through Henry and Mudge.

*side note, we love Henry and Mudge and that series is what helped Josie break into real reading.

Just this past Summer, Josie had some major reading breakthroughs.

It was like a light bulb switched on and the girl could read.  It was such an exciting time.  Since than, I’ve held fast to having her read for 20 minutes each day.  The book choice never mattered to me as long as she was reading.  Although I knew she had the tools she needed to read chapter books like so many of her peers, she was just more drawn to easy readers.  After the rough start she had, I really think those books gave her the confidence she needed to want to keep reading.

Just recently, Josie has started to show some interest in chapter books.

Trouble was, most chapter books are just too long and she is seriously intimidated by the length of each book.  I had the hardest time finding books that were in that were indeed chapter books, but still gentle enough to not break her new found love of reading.

So rather than have you need to do all the hunting that I did, I thought I would share a few of the books that have been hits around here.

The Critter Club Series

This series is adorable.  The books are all about four best friends that are set on rescuing animals.  Each book also has the girls facing common issues that elementary school kids may face.  Nothing crazy, but for sure relatable.  There are illustrations on almost every page which seems to help hold the reader’s interest.  So far, we have only read this one, but her library list has these right at the top.

Mercy Watson Series

Oh Mercy.  This pig!  I read this to Josie a couple years ago.  We both really liked it.  This pig, who loves buttered toast, gets into all sorts of mischief.  There are six books in the series and they are all good.  There are pictures on each page (Josie loves that) and the chapters are very short.

Freckle Juice

We all know Judy Blume.  I’m fairly certain this is an original copy from when I was Josie’s age.  This story is a classic.  If you haven’t read this book, Andrew is a boy who thinks that if he had freckles, his mom wouldn’t make him take baths.  A girl in class offers him her recipe for Freckle Juice which is where this crazy story starts.  This whole book is very short, making it an instant gratification deal for young readers.  Josie laughed out loud many times.  So much fun.

Daisy Dawson

This is another series that we have only read one book of.  Daisy Dawson opened a fun world for Josie, one where the animals talk!  She’s pretty convinced now that the animals talk to her now, which is exactly what happened to Daisy one day.  The language in this series is easy enough, while still having some challanging words thrown in.

Ivy and Bean Series

This series is fun because the two girls didn’t think they would ever be friends, but a chance encounter started a great friendship.  Kind of relevant as Josie is finding ways to make her own new friends.  These girls are funny and Josie likes the books.  They are almost too long for her to be interested, so I usually have to offer to read every other chapter to keep her going.

Princess Posey

These books are geared towards first graders, but have been great for where Josie is with reading.  Not only are they pretty easy to read, but Posey is nervous about starting school and that’s a hot topic around here.

Nancy Drew Notebooks (ready for chapters)

I found a bunch of these for super cheap at Goodwill.  These books each have a fun mystery, much like the regular Nancy Drew books, but are geared more towards early readers.  Josie still needs some help with these, mostly because she’s not super interested in the mysteries.  I’m pretty sure that if I found one about animals, she’d be all in.

So that’s my list of chapter books to get your early reader off and running.

I’d love to hear any suggestions you may have.  Good luck and Happy Reading!

1 COMMENT

  1. Great list, Daisy Dawson is adorable. Some fun series depending on what they like to read are: Ready Freddy, My Weird School, Junie B Jones, Magic Treehouse, Heidi Hecklebeck, Absolutely Lucy, Bink and Gollie, Amelia Bedelia, oh my I could go on. I’ve had a book review blog for years and volunteer at the school library for years also.

    I have many beginning chapter books and great read aloud reviews coming if you want to hop on over.

    Shannon

    http://lettersnumbersandbooksohmy.blogspot.com/

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