We have been doing a lot of leveled readers (guided level M-0 plus or minus) with DS4. He likes them a lot - we just put them in a pile and he picks the ones he likes. (we have been focused on animals and vehicles)
What comes next? More leveled readers at a slightly higher level? Short chapter books? I want to keep the fun going and avoid stagnation and frustration.
Short chapter books can be good. Little Apple is a line of Scholastic books targeted at young readers. There are numerous books in numerous series. Here's a sampling:
http://shop.scholastic.com/shop/en/teacherstore/Best-of-Little-Apple-I-Grades-2-3If he finds a series/topic he likes, there are usually a dozen or so titles in that series to keep you going for a little while.
Thanks! We are starting to run low on the current genres. We will try some of these!
There are lots of choices over in the Recommended Resources section, where we have threads for different age levels. I'll put in a good word for one of my favorite series, Mr. Putter and Tabby, which I love for its gentle humor and its matter-of-fact treatment of its elderly characters.
Daniel Pinkwater has written some awesome short chapter books! DS loved the Werewolf Club books, for instance.
Nate the great kept my son busy. And I loved mercy Watson. Young cam Jansen then the regular cam Jansen.
Magic Treehouse is a good early chapter book series (time travel to various points in history)
Cynthia Rylant was our primary author for about a year. Mr. Putter and Tabby, Henry and Mudge, and another series (something about a pig, maybe?) were huge hits at our house.
Our library has an aisle in the children's section called "Moving Up." Lots of short chapter books here, larger print, pictures on most or all pages, and so on.
Geronimo Stilton.
I'll second the Magic Treehouse, too.
Our issue at that age wasn't so much the reading level as how the print looked on the page. My son did not want to read anything that looked like a chapter book, so Magic Tree House and books of that type were out even though they were well within his ability.
What worked for us was for me to get picture books from the library, the kind that are meant for adults to read to children (so not leveled) for him to read. He found them visually (and psychologically) easier to deal with and the reading level was typically anywhere between 3rd and 6th grade (usually around 5th grade).
Agree with Kai - should chapter books feel too overwhelming, there are surprisingly large mountains of picture books at higher reading levels which are faster but still more substantial reads. Most of the ones we liked were one-offs, but in terms of series here's some starters you could find at the library (or in bulk a school book sale/ consignment store):
Magic School Bus picture books pack in an amazing amount of stuff. Note that the same topics come in multiple versions of varying depth and complexity. The chapter books are great too.
Many loathe the Berenstein Bears, but my kids couldn't get enough of them for several years (we must have at least 40 of them picked up for pennies at various book sales).
The Sir Cumference series is loved by both my mathy and non-mathy kid (artsy DD-almost-9 loved them at 4 and still occasionally still asks me to read them to her, and even took them into math class last year to demonstrate some geometry)
Dr. Seuss has lots of wonderful, much longer stories, like The Lorax and Thidwick.
Disney - another easy to loathe but the kids loved - easily has a dozen picture book versions of every movie, ranging from very short and simple to 100 pages of harder - but still small-kid friendly text.
For young chapter books, mine were also big fans of A to Z mysteries and Jigsaw Jones mysteries.
The original Martha Speaks books (Susan Meddaugh), which are picture books, and written at an adult read-aloud reading level. Though the early reader TV spin offs are a fun read, too, if a bit on the easy side.