Chapter Books for the Kiddo

In our household we read a lot, we are generally at our library once a week, my husband prefers sports and biographies and I like non-fiction mystery and crime. My parents kept a lot of books from when I was a child so my son automatically inherited a small library and he's also received books as gifts. But as much as we read, he knows more than half of his books by heart and can correct me if I miss a page and knows parts of the stories word for word. The Berenstain Bears are quite popular with him as well as with me but after you read over and over and over again, they can become a little monotonous. His dad had told him months ago that when he gets older he'll start to read books with chapters and not as many pictures. Lately he has been focused on purchasing chapter books and I had honestly tried to steer him away from this because I didn't think he'd enjoy it. Without pictures would he be able to visualize and imagine enough of what I was reading to capture and hold his attention.

After repetitive days of him asking about reading chapters I began to search online for age appropriate books for his preschooler age. I saw that Charlotte's Web was recommended but it's a longer book and didn't want to start with that. Then I saw the Mary Pope Osbourne's Magic Tree House Series and thought that it may be a great place to begin.


The next day we went to the library to ask the librarian to point us in the direction of the chapter books. She asked what age we were looking for and when I told her 5 years old, her mouth dropped and she stumbled to answer. I just smiled and said, "yes I know he's young but he's asking to read these, well for me to read these." The librarian very kindly showed us the Magic Tree House Series and we brought two home, Dinosaurs Before Dark and Lions at Lunchtime.

He have finished the dinosaur book and are halfway through the lions. I have to say, they have held his attention and they do include a few illustrations.

I'm thinking the next time we go to the library, we'll have to borrow more than two at a time.