Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Kindergarten first chapter book...

I second the Geronimo Stilton books. Big hit in my house, lots of words yet still lots of pictures. Captain Underpants was a huge hit with my DS.

My son also enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs Piggle Wiggle and other "chapter books" where each chapter is it's own short story.

I also recommend advanced picture books. I'm a huge fan of Bill Peete, his books are still picture books yet have a lot of words on one page. And the language is more complex than a first chapter book. First chapter books the language (lexile level) is often very easy and the stories a bit boring. In K my son mostly liked non-fiction, and he was reading books like Magic School Bus books (some of them have a lot of text) and non-fiction books about science & animals.

Last suggestion, if you are not already start READING chapter books with your child. Choose ones that are 2-3 years above their reading level. One chapter a night there are many great books to choose from.

"One chapter a night there are many great books to choose from."

Totally agree with read-alouds that are ahead of reading level. But "one chapter a night" makes me smile.

We've never managed to do only one chapter! We are in the Heroes in Training series right now (which he could actually read to himself but enjoys as reading time). Last night, DS7 wanted to get into his pjs an hour early so we wouldn't have to argue about not having time to read the WHOLE book.

I love reading time. I hope it never ends.

Just so you know Diary of a Wimpy kid is about a 5th grade reading level.

What about Nate the Great?

Mercy Watson would have been one of my suggestions.

I also love picture books....but look over in the 398.2 section of children's non-fiction for great books that are fairy tales, folk tales, legends, etc. Some of the best picture books are over there.

My DD loved Mr. Putter and Tabby series. I still have the picture issue and DD is 5.5

There are a lot of great ideas above - the one thing I'd add is to not worry too much about finding her the "right" book for moving up. Go to the library, let her pick and choose what she's interested in. If she still wants to read picture books, let her. In the meantime, keep reading to her - at whatever level you'd like to and she enjoys! The idea is to keep kids enjoying reading - they will jump ahead when they are ready

polarbear

DD4.5 is still on her comic book phase. I'm pretty sure we've borrowed all the sanitized DC Comic books from the library. I've bought her a few My Little Pony ones but they are so expensive. I am tolerating this since I believe in child-led learning but I am hoping she'd get tired of them very soon. I'm going to borrow the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind series next to see if it's age appropriate for her.

DD is re-reading Charlotte's Web because I won't let her watch the movie unless she finishes the book first. The edition we have with color illustrations is easier to read than most chapter books. I think paper quality and text size make a difference.

At her school, DD and two other girls have bonded together but I am a bit concerned about exclusive they have become so I'm thinking about reading The Hundred Dresses with her next. I'm not sure if you'd feel comfortable with the subject matter and it is a rather depressing story but I think it's another example of chapter books that are physically easy to read because of font size and spacing.

DD still is very much into picture books. When she finds the ones she loves, she wants to read them over and over. The latest hits were Uni the Unicorn and Gaston.

Overall, I'd say DD spends less than 1/4 of her reading time on "real" literature books and with those books, we take turns reading and I do check her comprehension and go over key vocabulary words. I don't think she'd be able to read complex chapter books independently for a few more years.

If you have an e-reader, then you can use any size fonts you want. For books with pictures, the Kindle Fire would be a better device than a dedicated Kindle e-reader.

For pseudo-chapter books, I loved the Maurice Sendak chapter books (Little Bear, Pierre, etc.) when my kids were little. I think those would fall under the category of K first chapter books.

There are lots of really good picture books for that age. The Day the Crayons quit is a fun, slightly advanced picture book.. David Adler's biographies and math books are excellent as well. I second the Geronimo Stilton suggestion. Nate the Great is also good. At this age, let her pick out what she likes to read.

Geronimo Stilton has a girlie series called Thea Stilton...

Here is a good thing about Geronimo Stilton (the regular books not the graphic novels I mentioned): The story progresses with text in a regular font. But about 3 or 4 times per page, the "font" is something silly that matches the word ("blue" is written in blue font or with a blue background, "scary" is written in shivery letters). This is great for read aloud, with the occasional chance for early readers to figure out a word.