My daughter is 7 and just about ready to try her first chapter book. But anything above about 50 pages intimidates her. What's a good short, introductory chapter book for a beginning reader?
She really wants something funny. The longest book she's read so far was a collection of knock-knock jokes, and she read it three times before it was due back at the library. She also loved being read Captain Underpants, Wayside School, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda, although they are too long for her to read by herself.
Sci-fi and fantasy have not been hits. We only got about three chapters into The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe. She took one look at Dealing With Dragons and said it didn't look interesting at all.
by hananobira
28 Comments
The magic treehouse series
*My Father’s Dragon* by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Princess in Black is a great starter, then magic treehouse is my recco
Maybe the Junie B. Jones books? According to Amazon, they’re around 80 pages
The first chapter book I read myself (around that age) was The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Since she liked other books by Roald Dahl, maybe she’d like it?
Charlotte’s Web, Junie B. Jones, and AnimalArk were all my faves at that age
The Hamster Princess by Ursula Vernon series might work. The humor is similar to Captain Underpants.
The Dear America series might work for her too.
Romona
Amelia Bedlia series should be the right length and tone. I remember thinking it was funny when I was 8yo.
The Worst Witch – Jill Murphy
Some Jaqueline Wilson, not all are suitable for
Mercy Watson series
Highly recommend the Princess in Black series.
Diary of a Pug series is another good one.
My daughter’s teacher recommended Branches books as a bridge between younger books and chapter books. They’re illustrated but they have more content in them and slowly build chapter book confidence. There’s tons of different themes to choose from.
The Horrible Harry Series by Suzy Kline. The books are short and easy to read.
I was a big fan of The Bailey School Kids books growing up! A little silly, a little spooky, and overall fun and easy reads for beginner readers.
Possibly *The Zebra’s Great Escape* by Katherine Rundell? My only hesitation is I’m not sure if it exactly counts as a chapter book – it’s more like an extra-long picture book and I can’t remember if it has formal chapters. It’s 60-70 pages long but each page is heavily illustrated, so it would probably be more like 20-30 pages if it was just text.
The basic plot is that an adventurous young girl teams up with a baby zebra to recuse the zebra’s parents (and a bunch of other animals) from a villainous taxidermist. It felt a lot like Roald Dahl to me, that same “heroic child defeats comically evil adult” with a lot of zany happenings along the way.
The Princess in Black
Magic treehouse books for sure! There are so many to choose from. Chapters are short and the whole books are short. Plus the plot lines are fun!
My kids loves the Calvin and Hobbes books at that age
The Zoey and Sassafras series is great—illustrations on every page so there aren’t a ton of words on each page.
Ditto Big Foot and Little Foot, if I’m remembering correctly.
Geronimo Stilton has tons of books and the easiest/shortest ones have very few words per page.
Agree with Amelia Bedelia and Mercy Watson (and other books in the Deckawoo Drive universe)!
Franny K Stein! Funny, charming, a little sci-fi y but in a zany way. Bunnicula is great too. Hot Sog and Julius Zebra are great as well. Dory Fantasmagory and Hank the Dog are so fun. What a fun set of books to launch into!!
Junie B Jones
Sparkle Pigs by Kit Holliday
The Inflatables by Beth Garrod
Dave Pigeon by Swapna Haddow
Bad Panda by Swapna Haddow
The Mercy Watson series. They have lots of pictures and short chapters.
Ivy and Bean
Roald Dahl wrote some shorter books. She might enjoy The Enormous Crocodile or The Giraffe, The Pelly And Me
Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel. Very easy and short, about friends.
Hank the Cowdog series by John Erickson. My nephew thought these were funny.
Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole. A small class takes science field trips, probably best read-aloud at her age.
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren – Full of silly adventures.
Amelia Bedelia series – Silly tales of a maid who takes everything literally.
Go hang out at the library and let her test- drive a bunch of different books. Let her determine what “intimidates” her, some of the best animal and bird books are on the larger side. Let her bring home the ones she wants.
These series are all great beginner chapter books:
Mia Mayhem is a girl who finds out she’s a superhero and is learning to use her powers.
Isadora Moon is half fairy, half vampire trying to navigate both worlds.
For slice of life books, try these series: Mindy Kim, Jada Jones, Miles Lewis, and Jasmine Toguchi.