Looking for Early Chapter Book Ideas

Here's my advice as a former teacher. Ask your daughter's teacher what her reading level is-it may be much higher (or lower) than her grade level. There are a couple of leveling systems...one is based on letters-an M is like a high second grade/low third grade level and then check out Leveling Books for readers-at the back there's a list of tons of books at each level...that could give you ideas. If they give you a number, the librarian can help, or you can check with scholastic-a lot of their books have the level on the back by the barcode. Many computer programs like AR and Reading Counts figure out the levels for the teachers...but either way, this should guide you to some totally appropriate books for her! : ) Good luck, and yeah for you for being such a supportive mom!

My 7 year old neighbor has been borrowing all my copies of The box car children-it is a series about 4 siblings who set up housekeeping in an abandoned boxcar. I loved them as a child-I think I read them from 2nd grade on. It is a great set of books-I know their are at least 20-30 in the series and I know you can still buy them at Barnes and Noble. It is a very wholesome series-maybe a little harder than some others, but the chapters are short.

Go to local Library, they have a bunch of different chapter books!! It will at least give you some ideas for future purchasing!!

My daughter absolutely LOVED Magic Treehouse, they are books where they travel back in history and visit different times. In addition to the books, they have a research guide for each one that is basically more fo the facts of that specific time period. So when my daughter was really interested in a particular time period, we would get the research guide so that she could learn more.

Junie B Jones, was not my first choice either, however, my daughter loved them and did not develop any bad grammar or speak from reading them. n I really think that they helped her to develop her love of books. She is in 4th grade and has read 50 chapter books in about 2 1/2 months.

Hope that helps,
H.

Hi A.

I just saw your post and mercy me, do I have some titles for you : ) My husband and I have 9 published titles - 3 are children's chapter book series we call the River Bottom Ranch Stories. The first two of those are titled THE ADVENTURES OF SERGEANT SOCKS, book one THE JOURNEY HOME and book two THE BRAVEST HEART. Sarge is a real horse who was orphaned at 2 days old. He and Graci both live at our Grand Prairie Ranch and can be visited. The third book just got here and will be available in all major books stores in March - AMAZING GRACI, GUARDIAN OF THE RIVER BOTTOM GOATS about our Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian.

Our other 6 titles (non-fiction and fiction) are for grown-ups : )

We are Christian grandparents, so all of the stories will be wholesome. They are $9.95 each. You can learn more about them at two websites www.SergeantSocks.com and www.RiverBottomRanch.com You can order them at the website or get at most any bookstore or if you'd like to have them personalized and autographed, you may order them straight from me - you could even come to the ranch to pick them up : )

Blessings
C. / aka Grami
my husband and I wrote them together as we do all our books. We used Grami and O'Pa M. for the children's books' pseudonym - real names Ron and C. : )

I've heard good things about the American Girl series.

hi A.,

our daughter is 6 also, and she has really liked 3 series so far:

"fox and friends" (one of several in the series)

"frog and toad"

"the magic treehouse"

isn't bedtime storytime just so sweet, when your daughter is the one reading to you! :-)

My son is also 6-1/2, and he loves the Magic Treehouse chapter books. A friend bought him a 4-book set for his birthday last April, and we've purchased more. The main characters are Jackie and Annie, who are brother and sister, so the books appeal to both boys and girls.

B.