My oldest son recently started reading chapter books. Chapter books! So big! He’ll nestle himself into a chair and quietly read a book to himself. I love watching him get lost in a book — to see the joy on his face or to hear him giggle as he reads something funny. It’s amazing how confident and independent he has become!
Now that he’s reading chapter books, it feels like a whole new book world has opened up. I keep thinking of all the books I read as a young child and all the books I hope he’ll also read. Books like Where the Red Fern Grows (do you remember it?! did you cry too?!!) and The Boxcar Children mysteries and The BFG! Ooooh to be a kid again!!
So far he’s read a couple of the Mr. Gum books and he’s currently reading James and the Giant Peach (and loving it, of course). Next on his list is The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon , which I haven’t read, but it looks so cute!
So… I would love to know if any of you have suggestions for easy-to-read chapter books? I would even love to hear suggestions for girls, as I am always wondering what books to buy for all of his girl friends. Please share!
x Courtney
Comments (24)
I loved and of course cried reading Where The Red Fern Grows (as a child and an adult!). We lived in NY for 7 years when I was a child, so myself and my sisters were lucky to have read the book there. Any time I’ve mentioned the book this side of the Atlantic people look at me with blank faces! They’ve totally missed out on a great book!!! Hope my little guy (now 3 months!) will love it too!
Hi Courtney, I think the Enid Blyton classics are a must for children. My eldest boy and girl, 8 and 6, adore in particular “Hello Mr Twiddle”, his silly antics make them giggle, the print seems fairly large and each chapter brings a new adventure. However like all French kids, my 8 year old absolutely loves “BDs” (cartoon books) such as Tintin and Asterix. I suppose they are French classics for kids.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks so much for your suggestion. I wasn’t familiar with the Enid Blyton books… but I have just ordered ‘Hello Mr. Twiddle’. I’m excited for it to arrive.
And of course my boys also love the Tintin books too!! xx
ALL of his girl friends? ALL of them?? I must not tell this to Sara, she’ll be devastated!!! 😉
PS As a child, my all time FAVOURITE book was Ronia the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren. Also by her, The Children of Noisy Village and the Brothers Lionheart I loved.
Another one of my favourite books was The Secret Garden but it’s better for slightly older girls I think. xxx
Haha! Not girlfriends…. just friends that are girls!!! 🙂
Yes, The Secret Garden! I remember reading that book too! x
My little one aged 5 is not a reader yet but we have been reading chapter book to him for the last year. We started with trashi and then almost every Ronald Dahl book followed by the famous file by Enid blyton. We are now reading aloud harrypotter. We also loved the Libby Gleason Hannah and the tomorrow room series. I often share my love of books on my blog as well!
My favourite subject, books. My girls are 6 and love to read much to my delight and pure amazement. My issue is finding books that are appealing to them and not to far ahead of their level of comprehension and emotion. The girls favourites at the moment
Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lindgren
The Ottoline series – Chris Riddel
The Famous Five – Enid Blyton
The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton
All Roald Dahl especially Esio Trot, The Twits and Matilda
The Worst Witch – Jill Murphy
Magic Puppy – Sue Bentley
Animal books in the Stripes series,e.g. Buttons the Runaway Puppy
Books by Michael Morpurgo some are for an older audience, my favourite is The Butterfly Lion (stunning even as an adult read)
We have received gifts of the David Walliams books but I think they may be more suited to 8-9 year olds. Cant wait to see other peoples suggestions as we are always on the lookout.
i loved the books by beverly cleary growing up, especially ‘the mouse and the motorcycle’. for girls her ramona books are great too. anne of green gables and laura ingalls wilder books are good girls books, and the secret of nimh by Robert C. O’Brien is great! i could go on all day!
So happy to see this post – I always felt I did a great job with having books for the younger ages but now that my 7 year old daughter has moved on to chapter books, I am lacking a bit in what is out there….- lately she has been reading The Famous Five by Enid Blyton or any Ronald Dahl books. As a family we are reading out loud the Harry Potter books – I forgot how much I enjoyed them. I hope to pass down one of my favorites Little House On The Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and my mothers collection of The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope. Looking forward to ordering some of the others listed in the comments section!
My daughter loves the enchanted wood and folk of the far away tree books, gorgeous
What about the chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis? My 7 year old and I read the first few together, and then she read several on her own. More for girls are the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The kids at school seem to all like the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne and my husband and I are big fans of the accompanying nonfiction books that go with them. The d’ aulaires have written biographies that are well researched and have lovely illustrations….my daughter is a huge reader but she even loved their Greek myth collection. Encyclopedia brown ( Donald Sobol) is also a good series that I remember enjoying as a child. Good luck! It is so fun to watch your child enjoying books.
My son loves the Famous Five books as well! Also Cornelia Funke has written some beautiful childrens books for various ages that have been translated I think.
I was a big fan of Ronja the robbers daughter as a kid as well!
At the moment my son reads a book about a dragon by Wolfgang Holbein. I kept many of my childrens books and am so excited every time my son reads on of them 🙂
My 8 year old loves all the books above but I also have to tell you Gobbolino is one of the best children’s books out there and works for boys and girls. Also the Adventures of Edward Tulane, Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, Moomins; all great books for girls and boys.
Have a look at the Mrs Pepperpot stories, My Naughty Little Sister, The Stowaways, Flat Stanley, The Worst Witch, and books by Anne Fine and Jeremy Strong. Does your eldest like poems? Try him with The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse or Charles Causley and Michael Rosen books. My list could go on……… I adore this post and I’ve never heard of Where the Red Fern Grows – sounds like a must!
Pippi Longstocking was my childhood-hero and I can’t wait to introduce her to my sons. I also liked the adventures of “the children of Bullerbü” by Astrid Lindgren.
From my mom I inherited a love for the books of Erich Kästner ( a truly german classic): “Emil and the detectives”, “Pünktchen and Anton” or “the flying classroom” are really great. xxx
Love this post. Hilariously Coco and I have very different ideas of what makes up a good book. I have gotten her Astrid Lindgren, Ronald Dahl etc.
Her favourite books is a series entitled something like “Mistral, the untamable stallion” and seems to be a kid/ horse version of Miles and Boons. I think there must be about 20 volumes of it. She borrows the books from the library and, she loves them so much, I find her at night under the cover with a flash light reading them. I have decided that, as long as she is developing a love for books, I am not going to impose my choice of books on her.
This is wonderful!! My son and I have adored Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World–perfect for a father and son to read! Also cant get enough of all the Kate DeCamillo books–and recently we were totally hooked on Hatchet! Thanks so much for the great suggestions! Love to find new great chapter books!!
Haha, I know exactly what you mean Emilie, even though I’m trying to relive my love of the classics via my eldest, he still insists on choosing the Beyblade mangas, Ben10 stories, Tom-Tom & Nanas or the (worse still) Titeuf BDs….you’re right, as long as they enjoy reading…..!
My daughter is bookworm….here are some of her favorites:
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series, The Magic Tree House series, Half-Magic series, Dr. Doolittle, The World According to Humphrey series, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Nate the Great series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and Pippi Longstocking – happy reading!
We are still reading TO Magali but we are about to start on some Little House on the Prairie books and maybe Anne of Green Gables, I remember loving those when I was a kid! A bit more girly…
Two series that my soon to be 7 year old loves to read are The Magic Treehouse and Geronimo Stilton series. He and his father are almost done reading The Chronicals of Prydain series.
I just sent a list of books for my oldest daughter who is studying in the States to bring home with her for summer break. I am just going to copy paste it. There are so many others but we have a quite extensive library already , so I just really quickly brainstormed and these are what I came up with:Mrs Piggle Wiggle (all of them!)
Stuart Little,
Cricket in times square,
Charlottes Web
Little house on the Prairie series,
The Littles series,
The Borrowers series,
anything by bev Cleary: henry and ribsy, emily’s runaway imagination, Mouse and the motorcycle, Ralph the mouse, ellen tibbitts, socks,
Pippi longstocking!!
Betsy Tacy
any of the thorton burgess books ( all those animal books, catter squirrel, peter cottontail, jimmy skunk , danny? meadow mouse, etc etc
Boxcar children
Milly Molly Mandy ( is that right?)
Caddie Woodlawn
maybe the famous five by enid blyton ! You actually ended up reading much more enid blyton on French, but all of her series are so much better in English and SO CUTE!
Mr Poppers penguins
ella enchanted?
All the classic Roald Dahl:James and the giant peach, DANNy champion of the world, Matilda ? Fabulous Mr Fox? BFG Charlie and the chocolate Factory
Trumpet of the swan
dont forget the secret garden , little princess the wind in the willows; house at pooh corner etc…
The phantom of the toll booth is great too (a little older perhaps)
Hands Down The Cricket in Times Square and The Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I personally loved Caddy Woodlawn, too. For boys? Tale of Desperaux and The BFG’s.