Home | All Early Readers & Early Chapter Books
A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla (published 1981) is a short early chapter book ideal for introducing the concept of colonizing America through exciting historical fiction. It highlights one family of three children as they navigate 16th century London, cross the Atlantic Ocean, and seek out their father in the struggling colony …
How Tectonic Plates Shaped Earth by Jane P. Gardner (Jump, 2020; Earth Shapers series) an on-level early reader nonfiction book that fantastically covers the basics of tectonic plates using early reader vocabulary. It includes captions and labels for photos, a glossary of unfamiliar words, “Did you Know?” sidebars, and a sample project at the end. …
It’s the first day of school at the new private school Curiosity Academy in Emma McKenna, Full Out by Kate Messner (Algonquin Young Readers, 2024), an early chapter book. Emma is an outgoing cheerleader wanting to be friends with everyone. This directly relates to her favorite animal, the capybara, who gets along with most other …
Greg’s Microscope by Millicent Selsam (illustrated by Arnold Lobel and published 1963) is an early reader that explores the variety of small things that may be seen through a microscope. It is easily accessible, even to an early reader, because of the friendly, story-like tone to the book. It has a dialogue-based story of Greg …
Our Friend Hedgehog: The Story of Us by Lauren Castillo (Knopf, 2020) is a delightful early chapter book telling the story of a few friends (stuffed animals? real animals?) and their human told through words and pictures. With larger print and whole-page and half-page illustrations, the story is very accessible to young early readers. The …
Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon (Dial Books, 2014) perfectly captures the thought process and imagination exaggeration of a super creative first grader. With a mix of text and comical illustrations, Hanlon puts together a fantasmagory (“a shifting melody of real or imagined characters”) of any imaginary play time. My very imaginative eight-year-old loved the mix …
The Mindy Kim series by Lyla Lee (illustrated by Dung Ho; Aladdin 2020) highlights a Korean-American girl in a new home with her recently widowed father. I never read books about different cultures when I was young, and so I’m delighted that this early chapter book series introduces such an enjoyable character with a unique …
Gooney Bird Greene series by Lois Lowry introduces early chapter book readers to a spunky second-grader that is anything but average. Just like her unique name, Gooney Bird has a unique personalities that helps the kids in her class learn more from their teacher than they otherwise would. Some of the books we read from …
A girl raised by squirrels: Why not? The new early chapter book The Girl in the Tree by by Ellen Potter (illustrated by Sara Cristofori; Margaret McElderry Books, June 2023) takes this ridiculous concept and makes a creative story about a girl in Central Park who has only known her adoptive squirrel father since she …
The early reader Hill of Fire by Thomas P. Lewis and illustrated by Joan Sandin (HarperCollins, 1983) is an “I Can Read” level 4 reading level. It tells the fictionalized but true story of a farmer in Mexico who discovered a volcano in his field in 1943. In this fictionalized story, the farmer is given …
Who didn’t like Aven Green, the armless main character from The Insignificant Life of a Cactus? Author Dusti Bowling has created an Aven Green early chapter book series (Union Square Kids) featuring the loveable spunky girl in third grade. Just as the teenaged Aven, her eight-year-old counterpart is self-confident, determined, and out-spoken. Even though she …
Happy Pi Day to You! All About Measuring Circles (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library) by Bonnie Worth, illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Joe Mathieu. Happy Pi Day to You features The Cat and the Hat who helps introduce circles and pi to a few children using rhymes (which follow the ABAB pattern). A few of the rhymes are forced, …
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