Teach Beside Me

Educate Creatively- Hands-on teaching ideas

Books Reading

Books for Young Readers

This post may contain affiliate links.

I have a son who is an AVID reader.  I basically have to tell him to stop reading to eat.  He would read ALL day long.  I am not complaining…not by any means.  I am really glad he enjoys it so much.  The only problem I run into is keeping up with his reading appetite.  We utilize the library, a lot.  I thought that I would compile a list of some of the books he has read and enjoyed.  I know it can be challenging to find books for kids to read.  These books make great read-alouds as well.  Lots of these I have read TO my kids.
chapter books for early readers

Magic Tree House– series by Mary Pope Osborne
The Spiderwick Chronicles-series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
How to Train Your Dragon– series by Cressida Cowell
A to Z Mysteries– series by Rony Roy
Secrets of Droon– series by Tony Abbott and Tim Jessell

The Littles– series by John Peterson
The Hardy Boys– series by Franklin W. Dixon
Time Warp Trio– series by Jon Scieszka
Encyclopedia Brown– series by Donald J. Sobol
Beverly Cleary– author with lots of great books for young kids- Ramona & Beezus, Henry Huggins, Mouse and the Motorcycle, etc.
The Boxcar Children– series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Key to the Treasure– Peggy Parish, there are a few books in this series, too. 
Magic School Bus– by Joanna Cole- there are books for young readers and chapter books, these are SO educational, but fun, too.
Berenstain Bearsbooks- there are younger story books and chapter books, by Stan & Jan Berenstain
Childhood of Famous Americans-series by various authors- these are fun non-fiction stories
Roald Dahl– author with lots of fun children’s books including Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach
Flat Stanley– series by Jeff Brown

Beast Quest– series by Adam Blade -about a boy who saves his country from and evil wizard
Dragon Slayers Academy– series by Kate McMullin
Lighthouse Family– series by Cynthia Rylant
Henry & Mudge stories- also by Cynthia Rylant
Believe and You’re There– series by Alice W. Johnson and Allison H Warner- about children going back in time to scripture times
My Father’s Dragon– series of three books by Ruth Stiles Gannett, darling story
Little House on the Prarie– series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Fablehaven– series by Brandon Mull, also Candy Shop War by the same author is a fun book.
Little Britches– series by Ralph Moody
Chronicles of Narnia– series by C.S. Lewis
Animal Adventure Books by Thornton Burgess- a HUGE favorite in our family!!
Pippi Longstocking books- by Astrid Lindgren
Stuart Little– by E.B. White
Adventures of Captain Underpants- by Dav Pilkey- not my favorite, but my son really liked them.  Full of bathroom humor, if you are alright with that.

Arthur Chapter Books– by Marc Brown

Mr. Popper’s Penguins– by Richard and Florence Atwater
Swiss Family Robinson– by Jean Rudolph Wyss (free on Kindle)
Alice in Wonderland– by Lewis Carroll
Wind in the Willows– by Kenneth Grahame
Peter Pan– by J.M Barrie
Pinnochio– by Carlo Collodi (free on Kindle)
Frog and Toad stories– by Arnold Lobel
Charlotte’s Web– by E.B. White
Little Bear Books– by Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak
39 Clues series (various authors)
Mysterious Benedict Society – by Trenton Lee Stewart
13th Reality series – by James Dashner
Amelia Bedelia books by Peggy Parrish
In Grandma’s Attic series by Arleta Richardson
Ivy & Bean series by Annie Barrows
Uncle Wiggly’s Story Book by Howard R. Garis
Among the Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson (Free on Kindle -there are other books in this series, too)
Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins (Free on Kindle, more in this series as well)
Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace

The Adventures of Munford by Jamie Aramini

Dinosaur Cove by Rex Stone

I am updating this list periodically as we read more…
What are your children’s favorites?

What Equals What? With Math Fables
Sight Word & Spelling Fun

Comments

  1. Deceptively Educational says

    Great list, Karyn! My 6-year-old is just getting ready for “REAL” chapter books. I’ve been reading the Magic Tree House books to him at night but his favorite by far is Rex Stone’s Dinosaur Cove series. If your son is in to dinosaurs, check it out!

  2. Rebecca says

    This is a great list! Many of my students’ favs (and mine!) are here. I love Cynthia Rylant, but haven’t seen the Eagle- thanks for the tip! I think I’ll pin this list for future reference.

  3. The Osborne's says

    My son is the same way, he will devour an entire chapter book in two hours. He read all the magic treehouse and all a to z mysteries, now working on capital mysteries and dinosaur cove. Thanks for ideas of where to steer him next!

  4. Raising a Happy Child says

    Thank you for joining WMCIR with this great list. My daughter who is 5 is a fluent reader, and she read many of those books on her own or with me. She is now going like wildflower through Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows. One good book that we discovered recently is Where The Mountain Meets the Moon. It’s not exactly an early reader book, but the story is very engaging.

  6. April's Homemaking says

    What a great list, my kids are teens now, but this list brings back good memories, both of my children love to read, and read many of the books you have listed when they were in grade school. I will have to keep this list in mind when picking out books for my younger niece and nephew who are beginning to read.

  12. Angel Read says

    Beverly Cleary’s books, The Boxcar Children, and Pippi Longstocking were some of my favorites when I was a kid! I also loved the Happy Hollisters and the Bobbsey Twins series, but they are difficult to find these days!

  14. Jackie H. says

    Fantastic list! Some of these were definitely favorites of my classes when I was teaching and some are new to me. I can’t wait to pass this along to my first/second grade nephews. I think they’ve finished almost all of the Magic tree house books so time to move on to some other stuff!

  16. MomLaur says

    This is a great list! Thanks for posting it! I remember LOVING Hardy Boys (and Nancy Drew!) growing up! The Lighthouse Family series looks really interesting!

  17. Debra says

    I LOVED most of these titles when I was little(er). Another one I really loved that I think you might want to check out is Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda. It’s a wonderful series, with a few shoot-off series. Rodda’s other series seem like they would be good too, but I’ve only read a couple of her other books.

  18. Kristi says

    Great list–thanks for sharing! My eight-year old daughter is also a voracious reader, so I am always on the lookout for some great books to check out for her. I’ll be adding some of these to our list!

  20. Andrea says

    I just started listening to your podcasts and LOVE THEM! Also love all the your website posts…..I could look for hours! Always looking for new book ideas. I’ll definitely be checking out some of these. Thanks! One of our top favorite books are the Heartwood Hotel series. There just 4 books but super sweet!

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply