Hello, everyone!
My kids are 6, 4, and 2. My oldest (and maybe my second one) are ready for chapter books. I am trying hard to remember some of my favorites from when I was a kid, and I could use some help jogging my memory!
Some of my favorites were things like Island of the Blue Dolphin, Anne of Green Gables, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. I also loved Frog and Toad.
What were some of your favorites? And what are some of your kids' favorites?
The first chapter books my boys got into were Goosebumps. When I was a kid I remember Anne of Green Gables, Little House, Judy Blume, Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlottes Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys.
These are not all chapter books, but kids here in Hawaii grow up reading these. It makes for very fond memories.
How about reading some various Hawaiian folktales to them? there are kids books on it.
Calvin Coconut- The Hero of Hawaii
and the other Calvin Coconut books from the series.
Momotaro
The Luminous Pearl- a Chinese folktale
Miss Takuan
Frog and Toad totally rock.
James and the Giant Peach
Treasure Island
The Wind in the Willows
Little House series
Nancy Drew series
Encyclopedia Brown! Remember those? Lol
Young readers' authors I loved (and still do): Beverly Cleary (reading Ralph S Mouse to my 6yr old right now), the EB White books (Stuart Little, Charlottes Web, Trumpet of the Swan), anything by Roald Dahl, Jack Prelutski and Shel Silverstein's poetry and lots of classics: Rudyard Kipling (not just Jungle Book, but even my 3 year old loves his "Just So Stories"), the Paddington Bear series, Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Little Men and Little Women. Later, coming into 4th or 5th grade: the Laura Ingals-Wilder books and Anne of Green Gables....Kidnapped, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Black Stallion series, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, the James Kjelgaard books (Big Red, Irish Red, etc). I loved biographies of strong and important women (Madame Curie, etc) as well as journal style books (Christopher Columbus). The C.S. Lewis books, The Hiding Place, I loved books dearly!
In addition:
Geronimo Stilton series
Is your Mama a Llama?
All Shel Silverstien books
All Dr. Seuss Books
charlotts web
stuart little
trumpet of the swan
rebecca of sunnybrook farm
newer books which they may relate to a little better
magic treehouse books (there are probably 50 or more of these)
horrible harry (probably about 20 of these)
amelia bedelia (probably about 20 or more of these as well)
bailey school kids
wayside school kids
boxcar children (porbably about 50 or more of these)
Hi K.-
I loved (and my girls did too) the Little House on the Prairie series...(much better than the TV show).
I loved Little Women.
I also loved biographies...particularly of historical women figures...(from 2nd grade (and several years after), I lived at west point as my dad was a professor...and could NOT get over no women cadets...or priests for that matter...so my mom compensated with books on significant women throughout history!)
Looking forward to the other suggestions!
Happy reading!
michele/cat
I loved Blueberries for Sal, and Black Beauty. My son loves the Froggy series, and Garfield.
Alice and Wonderland
Black Beauty
Gone With The Wind
Were the classic ones I can think of
The Babysitters Club
Sweet Valley High
Were the "of the times" ones I can think of
I read the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo to my daughter when she was 3 going on 4. She still loves them! They are about a very funny pig and her misadventures. Perfect for any kid. Kate also wrote The Tale of Despereaux and The Adventures of Edward Tulane that are both on our pile of to-be-read books.
We have also read most of the Little House books. She also loved Charlotte's Web.
All kids seem to like the Magic Treehouse books. As a kid I loved The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. I just helped a 1st grade boy find some books in the library today. He wanted to read all of the Fudge books by Judy Blume starting with Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. Freckle Juice and the Green Kangaroo books by Blume are also good. The Trouble With Chickens books are great! My daughter also liked the book Tales for Picky Eaters. She loved The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith. I love the Calvin Coconut books! Kids also like the Junie B. Jones books, Polk Street Kids, and just about any series book. (At this age I probably would not suggest the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books or Harry Potter although others might. The humor/subject amtter is a little too mature for that age in my opinion. There is plenty of time to read them when your kids are older.)
Don't forget to look at nonfiction books too. There are some great nonfiction picture books out there that have tons of information and are fun to read. They are so much better than the old black and white chapter books that never seemed age appropriate when I was a kid.
Spirit Bear
Witch of Blackbird Pond
Chasing Red Bird
Walk Two Moons <<< LOVE~!!!
Ruby Holler
Maniac Magee
How to Eat Fried Worms
The Cricket in Times Square
For younger, Peggy Rathman books are AWESOME!!
Beverly Clearly - all the Ramona books, Ralph S Mouse Books, etc.
Little House on the Prairie
Charlotte's Web (I'm now reading this to my five year old for the 2nd time)
We just found Ivy + Bean books and my son and his friend are both loving them! I think they're new, but they're great first chapter books.
For the reader-type books:
Frog and Toad (as you mentioned)
Oliver and Amanda Pig books (author's last name is Van Leeuwen)
There are other books by the author of Frog and Toad, like Mouse Soup, Uncle Elephant and a couple of others
Some picture book favorites, first, are all the Berenstain Bear books, all the Doctor Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Mo Willems, BusyTown books (Richard Scarry?)...too many others to name!
For chapter books, at such a young age...I know my daughter really enjoyed the Ramona books and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, when I read them to her.
If you're looking for "easy" chapter books (like Frog and Toad) that your six year old can read on his/her own, there's a series called Detective Dinosaur, Amelia Bedelia, and things like that. There's also an awesome set of "Mr. (something-or-other, I am so sorry I can't remember) who has a cat or a dog or something, and they are really funny. A good children's librarian ought to know what they are.
Anne of Green Gables, thematically, is a bit old for a six year old to truly appreciate. I read it on my own when I was 8, and was just beginning to grasp some of the ideas, really. Narnia would be a great series to read to them.
My kids loved Magic Tree House books.
You've already gotten some fabulous suggestions. I'd like to add one more, which at this point, because of its rather sophisticated vocabulary, would be best done as a read-aloud or book on CD. Have your kids journeyed to Narnia yet? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is lovely.
Also, Peter Pan - the original, not the bowdlerized Disney version.
For your child who is beginning to read chapter books, I'd recommend the Boxcar Children series.
My older son loved the Magic Treehouse series, and my younger son loved the My Weird School series.
The Ramona series, by Beverly Cleary
All of a Kind Family series, by Sydney Taylor
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, also by Beverly Cleary
Homer Price, by Robert McCloskey
