Chapter Books For Newly Independent Readers

To be able to read independently and enjoy the experience, goes a long way in boosting each child’s confidence. And with that confidence comes the willingness to take on more complex reading challenges. For example, wanting to move on to chapter books after having conquered the world of picture books.

 

If you are looking to make this important early transition smooth for your young reader, then this post is sure to help. Remember, chapter books require the reader to have a longer attention span and better comprehension. For this reason it is important to pick books that closely match with the reading abilities of your young reader.

 

Children usually progress to first chapter books between the ages of 6 to 8 years. Our list of recommendations are accordingly classified by grade to make it easier for you to pick the right books for your child. Also, most of these first chapter books have illustrations throughout. The mix of chapter wise text and illustrations are perfect for introducing the idea of a chapter book while keeping the pictures for support.

 

Grade 1

• Pedro’s Big Goal (Book 1 of the Pedro series) by Fran Manushkin
• Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznik and David Serlin
• Ling And Ting: Not Exactly The Same! (Book 1 of the Ling & Ting series) by Grace Lin
• Snail & Worm: Three Stories About Two Friends (Book 1 of the Snail & Worm series) by Tina Kugler
• Meet Mo and Jo: The Boulder Brothers by Sarah Lynn

Grade 2

• Dinosaurs Before Dark (Book 1 of the Magic Tree House series) by Mary Pope Osborne
• Mercy Watson to the Rescue  (Book 1 of the Mercy Watson series) by Kate DiCamillo
• Nate the Great (Book 1 of the Nate the Great series) by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
• Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Tea (Book 1 of the Mr. Putter & Tabby series) by Cynthia Rylant
• Frog And Friends (Book 1 of the Frog and Friends series) by Eve Bunting
• Bedtime for Frances (Book 1 of the Frances the Badger series) by Russell Hoban
• Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea (Book 1 of the Narwhal and Jelly series) by Ben Clanton
• The Adventures of Caveboy (Book 1 of the The Adventures of Caveboy series) by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
• Barkus (Book 1 of the Barkus series) by Patricia MacLachlan
• The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster (Book 1 of the Jigsaw Jones Mystery series) by James Preller

Grade 3

• Eva’s Treetop Festival (Book 1 of the Owl Diaries series) by Rebecca Elliott
• Dragons and Marshmallows (Book 1 of the Zoey and Sassafras series) by Asia Citro
• Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid (Book 1 of the Stink series) by Megan McDonald
• Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen (Book 1 of the Jasmine Toguchi series) by Debbie Michiko
• Ivy and Bean (Book 1 of the Ivy and Bean series) by Annie Barrows
• The Princess in Black (Book 1 of the The Princess in Black series) by Shannon Hale
• Nikki and Deja (Book 1 of the Nikki and Deja series) by Karen English
• Bookmarks Are People Too! (Book 1 of the Here’s Hank series) by Henry Winkler
• Super Burp! (Book 1 of the George Brown, Class Clown series) by Nancy E. Krulik
• Dory Fantasmagory (Book 1 of the Dory Fantasmagory series) by By Abby Hanlon

 

While on this topic, we would like to remind you that even after kids transition to chapter books, they will return to picture books from time to time. We live in an age of visuals and picture books are a great tool for visual literacy. It is okay to let them pick a picture book when they wish to read one.

 

We hope you enjoyed going through our book list and found some ‘Just Right’ ones for your little one. You can pick from these and other fantastic books from the BookGuru Library. We are always happy to assist.