I was wondering if anyone can recommend any content appropriate chapter books for my DS4? I can't seem to find many that don't involve elementary school social dynamics or scary topics. Thanks.

Mr. Putter and Tabby
Henry and Mudge
Encyclopedia Brown

The Mouse and the Motorcycle
The Boxcar Children (?)

Might need to preview to check content-- some scary sections in both for a 4yo, probably.

ABC mysteries, Calendar mysteries by Ron Roy. DS loved them at 4-5 and we loved them because there was no friend drama whatsoever!!! They liked each other, their parents were nice. No orphans! But they had a neat little mystery to it.

Frog and Toad
Commander toad series by Jane yolen - hilarious rip off of Star Trek
Magic school bus chapter books - the science and language are actually easier than the original picture books - which I highly recommend too
Mammoth academy series by Neil Layton

George and Martha series

I would also not necessarily jump to chapter books at 4. For read-aloud, great-- but know that picture books have gotten much more complex and interesting in recent years. Befriend a children's librarian and let them help you choose.

DeeDee

I would second all of the choices on here (although I have bypassed the Boxcar Children for my newly 4-year-old). We've also had success with:

Series:
Cam Jansen
Nate the Great
Bones

Authors we love:
Arnold Lobel
Cynthia Rylant
Doug Cushman (Aunt Eater Loves a Mystery and others)
Kevin Henkes (not chapter books but nice stories and pictures)

As a space fanatic, he loves the Commander Toad series.

We've just started getting into Magic Treehouse, which I was concerned would be too scary. However, he's loved the three that we've read. Likewise, we've also just started reading the A-Z mysteries, which again have received a good reception (and are not too scary, but usually involve robberies - so I've had to explain the legal system to him, which we now reenact with Legos).

I like the suggestion of picture books. I haven't had much luck with our librarians. Can anyone suggest good picture books for 4-year-old readers, too?

Oh, SO glad that someone mentioned Magic Tree House. DD devoured those when she was about five. She also really liked the DK Eyewitness books and Magic Schoolbus.

Another set of books that my DD was very fond of--

the Frances books,

the Little Bear books.

She also REALLY loved all of Jan Brett's books at about this age-- the illustrations are lovely and intricate, and there is a considerable amount of text on each page in some of them.

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs - endlessly funny.

One thing that we found helpful in finding books that were generally good quality (as opposed to looking for a particular lexile level or something) was to run down the Caldecott medalist lists (and later, the Newbery winner and honor books).

Since we were checking things out at the library, I didn't worry too much if something were a real hit with DD or not. If not, back it went, and if so, well, then if she LOVED it so much that I had to renew it several times... that was a book that we put on our wishlist.

Some of the wonderful picture books that we bought because we loved them so much:

Sun Bread
Imogen's Antlers
The Rainbow Goblins
Doctor Dog (this one may appeal to the same crowd that will later fall head over heels for Captain Underpants, by the way, but we LOVE this book and still recite it sing-song occasionally.)


I also bought some beautifully illustrated books of poetry for children, a complete set of Shel Silverstein, and several nicely illustrated editions of Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, The Velveteen Rabbit, and fairy tale anthologies. Kate diCamillo is probably just a touch old as of yet-- but Edward Tulane is a lovely story which is probably great even now as a read-aloud, and the illustrations are wonderful.

Mary Poppins.

Generally, as you go OLDER (in terms of publication dates), you get higher lexiles with lower "interest" scores. That is, the younger content comes with higher level literacy. It also, unfortunately, comes with some interesting cultural baggage at times, so do be cautious about that and read carefully.

For you to read aloud or to read solo?