Early Chapter Books

The Daisy Books by Sandra Feder

Published on August 27, 2013 | Leave a response

Raisin enjoyed reading the early chapter books about a word-loving girl named Daisy. In Daisy’s Defining Day by Sandra Feder, Daisy discovers the joy of alliteration and finds herself as she seeks out the perfect alliterative title for herself. As she searches for some fun phrases to enjoy, she also learns a few lessons about friendship and how to deal with people who think differently from herself. It’s a fun excursion into language, and it is also a nice story for a child who, like my son, does not always think about what other’s think since the world seems to revolve around themselves!

Similarly, in Daisy’s Perfect Word, another book in the series, Daisy learns that her teacher is getting married so she wants to find the perfect word to share with her as a wedding gift. As she goes through her days, she writes her favorite words in a notebook so she will remember them. It’s a fun search for a favorite word and I loved her ultimate discovery!

Raisin enjoyed reading these books. I believe he would like to make his own search for alliterative phrases and “perfect words.” After he read them both, he asked me if there are any more Daisy books! He wants to visit her world again. I’d like to as well!

Note: I received a digital review copy of Daisy’s Defining Day.

A Few Early Chapter Books Series

Published on August 31, 2012 | 2 Responses

Raisin is well in to early chapter books now. With Strawberry’s arrival and my subsequent absence from the blogosphere (as compared to my posting habits before her birth), I haven’t posted on his reading as frequently as it deserves. I feel like his reading skills improve from week to week!

Back in March, I posted about the early readers he was enjoying, including Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold and P.J. Funnybunny books by Marilyn Sadler. Now, just six months later, I feel we’ve skipped into an entirely new category. Here are some of the early chapter books he currently enjoys. (more…)

Kids Corner: First Quarter 2012

Published on March 31, 2012 | 2 Responses

First quarter 2012 has been spare on the blogging front, but it’s been busy and delightful on the home front from my perspective! Strawberry is now five weeks old, and Raisin and I are starting to settle in to a routine again of reading picture books. I’m reading Strawberry The Secret Garden aloud, and occasionally Raisin and I read a chapter in a Boxcar Children novel.

In general, the past few months have found Raisin steering himself toward the early reader books, partly because he love the sense of accomplishment when he can read to me and partly because I haven’t had as much time to read picture books to him! We have found some memorable picture books in the past weeks, but we haven’t been plowing through them at the rate (30+ a week) that we read them last year. We both are eagerly awaiting the time when Strawberry will show an interest in the board books Raisin tries to show her.

In addition, since January, we’ve done a fair amount of “school at home,” which Raisin regulary asks for because he simply loves to learn. I hope that his interest continues because I’ve enjoyed learning with him.

This post is huge because I don’t want to split it up: it’s much easier to keep it all together. So I apologize that it is so long, but I don’t know when the next time I’ll have to blog will be so here we go… (more…)

(Kids Corner) Some Cybils 2011 Books about … Babies and Birthdays

Published on October 14, 2011 | 3 Responses

Today is the last day to nominate your favorite picture books, middle grade fiction and nonfiction, and Young Adult books for the 2011 Cybils awards! Make sure you get your votes in.

Because I have the wonderful honor of being a Round 1 Judge for the Fiction Picture Books, I get to read about 200 books (so far, at least) published in the last year that have been nominated. To help me keep track of my thoughts on the books I’ve read and in order to share the love of books with each of you, I’m going to try to post on a few of the fun books each week.

This week, since my own baby girl, Monkey (to be born sometime near the end of February), is on my mind and my son, Raisin, just had his fourth birthday, I thought it might be fun to look at some books somehow related to babies and birthdays. (more…)

Kid’s Corner: Suggestions Needed for Early Chapter Books for Older Beginning Readers

Published on November 5, 2010 | 20 Responses

photo credit

My mother teaches English as a Second Language to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at a public middle school. Although for the most part these kids are intelligent and have been successful in school in the past, most are learning English for the first time after moving to the USA from every continent. She has had students from China, Korea, Europe, Russia, Mexico, and even rural Africa. A few are a bit more advanced, having taken English classes in their native country. But they are all in her class because they cannot read English at a middle school level.

Since reading more helps one become a better reader, it’s important that they have reading material available to them, not just for academic subjects but for fun. However, being in the public school system, my mom is limited by the school library, which is, in her words, “pathetic.” Beyond other issues, it only has books at a middle school reading level. She’s been given the chance to spend some money (certainly not enough) on lower reading level books to support her students, but she needs some help finding the perfect books to spend the money on.

She’s hoping to find some books that will help her students feel confident about their reading, even though it’s below their peers’ level. The books will give them the experience they need to gain vocabulary and reading competence. The books need to be no higher than a third-grade reading level, but the subject matter must be appropriate for a middle school student: interesting, entertaining, and certainly not something with a babyish-cover that would embarrass them in the middle of an ever-judgmental middle school crowd.

I have not read most of these books, since my son is below the early reader age and early chapter book age. In addition to those below (which are mostly early chapter books), early readers that do not say “I can read!” and First steps to reading!” on them might be useful for the lowest level kids. Any suggestions that you may have, or comments on these books that you have read, would be appreciated!

I found the interest levels and reading levels (which refer to grade levels) from the Scholastic Teacher Book Wizard tool, a nice resource for discovering books before you buy them. Many of the books I’ve listed say “interest level grades 3 to 5;” I’d be interested to know whether they might also appeal to grades 6 to 8. Please comment if you know!