Ds is 5 and in kinder. All of a sudden his reading has taken off. He went from Bob books in February to Biscuit books in June to Fly Guy short chapter books now. He went through that series in a week.

I am looking for early chapter books for boys. I looked at Young Cam Jansen at the library and they are way too advanced at this point (maybe by Christmas at this rate). Ds seems to enjoy the series aspect. The funnier the better at his time.


Thanks for your help
Sheila

Marvin Redpost was one of DD's favorites at that age, but IIRC she needed help to read them through. She didn't have a lot of stamina, more than anything, so they might work for your DS.

Have you tried the Henry and Mudge series? There are lots of books in the series, and they have a universal appeal. I think they're a little easier than Young Cam Jansen.

I liked 'My Father's Dragon' series by Ruth Stiles Gannet
Captain Underpants and Ricky Ricotta books by Dav Pilkey are a traditional favorite for making the transition.

He also read books the tied in with his favorite characters from TV and Games, such as Pokemon.

Sideways school books are funny and easy chapter books. Mrs. Pigglewiggle is more like a series of short stories.

I'd also try reading Harry Potter 1 aloud and see if he picks it up while you are busy without prompting. Try to act heart broken that he went ahead without you, ok? ((wink)) Then you can ask a lot of questions about what you missed.

It's a great idea to visit the school when they have their Scholastic book fair or browse them online. Developing a good relationship with the local Children's Librarian is recommended. Even Amazon's 'Other shoppers you looked at this book, enjoyed this book' can be a useful feature.

Smiles,
Grinity

I know they are not on a very high intellect level but they are a LOT of fun to read - my son really enjoyed the Geronimo Stilton books because they were so fun to read...they have a great series out called the Kingdom of Fantasy :-)

All these suggestions are awesome! That being said, I don't think he is ready for most of them. Maybe I just need to try some and find out lol. He has been surprising me at every level. I will try Henry and Mudge or Mr. Putter might be fun. DD LOVED these series last year.

Grinity, I think you told me back in the spring that his reading would just explode one day. He still needs to build confidence. It has been fun to listen as he reads. We have been explaining punctuation to him to help with fluency.

Dinosaur Cove series?

DeeDee

Magic Tree House might be a bit beyond him right now but wait 6 months or so. My older LOVED MTH- he has insisted on reading all 45 or so books sequentially. They are historical and he's picked up quite a few facts from them.

We tried some of the younger kid Choose Your Own Adventure books when dd10 was younger and had stamina issues with longer books. I don't know if they, too, might be a bit of a stretch, but they can be quite short. (These are not the thicker ones that are written more at a 4th-5th grade level.)

http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-House...mp;ie=UTF8&qid=1316107095&sr=1-4

Dd13 made a huge leap when she was at the spot your ds is in reading. She went from Henry and Mudge to Harry Potter in a matter of weeks.

Have you tried harder picture books, the books in the numbered sections of the library rather than the J books are usually harder but not so daunting as chapter books. Also there are the Magic School Bus chapter books, which are oddly easier than the picture books. Also the A to Z mysteries are very nice first chapter books, pictures, and friendly stories where you don't have to worry about the content being appropriate.

DeHe

DS6 has always adored Carl Barks duck comics (and so have I). Here are a few good'uns. If you decide to explore these, shop around; you can often get them for $5-10 US.

The Otto and Uncle Tooth adventure series is very fun, and probably within your son's grasp to read at a sitting; it's hard to tell from across the web, of course.

You might consider some sort of compendium or treasury with short stories that would be about the length of a long chapter in an early chapter book, like these "scary" stories, many of which are actually quite silly.

The series was never continued past two books, unfortunately, but your son might like the British books "Trouble for Trumpets" and "Trumpets in Grumpetland". They can be quite expensive used, so they're a lurk-and-buy sort of item.

I went to Half Price books and picked up a few Henry and Mudge books. I also emailed his teacher to see what she suggests. I will let you know how he does.

Thank you for the suggestions!

Sheila

Frog and Toad.

I've found that both my kids are/were pretty sensitive to the reading level until they hit about the mid-third grade level. I have used the scholastic book wizard (http://bookwizard.scholastic.com) to find books at the same level as ones that are successes. Henry and Mudge are about the same level as Frog and Toad at DRA 18-20 (early second grade-ish). Cam Jansen is a wee bit higher (20-24), and Dinosaur Cove & My Father's Dragon are higher still (DRA ~ 30).

My kindergarten DS is at about the same level, and progressing at a nearly identical rate and time line. He's mid way through the Frog and Toad series. We also like the set of Rookie Read-About books by Allan Fowler right now. I found them with the Book Wizard as well.