Young Chapter Books

This is kind of a random post for this blog, but I wanted to write this down to share with others. Starting when Emmeline was 3 and 4, she became interested in longer picture books. I started coming across some simple chapter books that included pictures on every page, and our lives changed. :) We now read lots of books like that, and it's just a great hit for this age range. I feel like a lot of people don't know about these type of books, but it's perfect for kids ages 4-5 and beyond. Here are some of our favorite books and series that fit into this category. Read and enjoy!

• Penny books by Kevin Henkes
• Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo
• Princess in Black books by Shannon Hale
• Mr. and Mrs. Green books by Keith Baker
• Mr. Putter and Tabby books by Cynthia Rylant
• Boris books by Andrew Joyner
• Annie and Snowball books by Cynthia Rylant
• Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant
• Fly Guy books by Tedd Arnold
• Katie Woo books by Fran Manushkin
• Bink and Gollie books by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
• Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa books by Erica Silverman
• Cornelia and the Great Snake Escape by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Ling and Ting books by Grace Lin
• Monkey and Elephant books by Carole Lexa Shaefer

A lot of these are also great early readers. Now that Emmeline is learning to read, she likes to read some of these series independently. Scholastic has also started a group of books they call "Branches" that are transitional chapter books for new readers. The Boris books we've read for years is part of this. We've also read some of the Owl Diaries books, and Emmeline really likes them. I plan to try out more of these book series as well. http://www.scholastic.com/branches/about.htm