One of the most important audiences for children’s books are the kids who are ready to branch out from picture books and early readers/beginning readers. These kids are ready for CHAPTER BOOKS! And they are SO excited when they get to that stage. I know when my teenager was little, we started with Magic Tree House, which are sort of a staple for this age group. But I got tired of reading them very quickly. So we started branching out to a few other series. Then, when I was teaching, I discovered even more. Here are some books and series to get you started if you are looking for reading material for this age group:
Old School
Some of these are the early chapter books we read when my son was little. These are still available and still a lot of fun to read.
Bad Kitty is still going strong, with new books releasing about once a year. Dragonling has been around for awhile, but they are re-releasing them with new covers. The story is great! I wish they had redone the interior illustrations, too. Some of the Jigsaw Jones mysteries have recently been re-released. Judy Moody has gotten a makeover this year, too. The whole series has new covers, and new books are still coming. My teen didn’t read them, but I loved them. We loved the Melvin Beederman Superhero stories. Jack Stalwart books were fantastic because they were fairy simple, but the vocabulary was strong (great for strong readers who aren’t ready for the more intricate plots of middle grade), and the spy and travel aspects were fun. Stink Moody was probably our favorite back in those days. Book 2 is my favorite of the series, and that series continues to grow.
Branches
These are my go-to books for this age group. There are MANY series, but these are some of my favorites.
Boris, Haggis and Tank, and Kung Pow Chicken seem to be finished as series. I believe they have 2-4 books each. Dragon Masters, Owl Diaries and Hilde Cracks the Case are series that continue to put out new books. You will find these on a lot of my Book News posts.
Favorites
Some of my other favorite recommendations for these readers
I recently read my first Bad Guys story and I loved it! It’s almost more of a graphic novel than a traditional chapter book. But whatever format you want to call it, it was all sorts of funny! The Chicken Squad series is a spin off of a book called The Trouble with Chickens. I love the books because they are funny which is a great selling point for this age group. The Deckawoo Drive series (Baby Lincoln) is a spin off of the Mercy Watson books. Dog Man is a graphic novel series from the author of Captain Underpants. So far I have only read the first one, but it was a lot of fun. Zoey and Sassafras books are a great combination of fantasy and science. The Dragonsitter books are told in emails. I love them. They’ve been around for awhile. Galaxy Zack is basically a new-kid-at-school series about moving and making friends, but it takes place in space. My students enjoyed this sci-fi series. King and Kayla and Magic Bone are great dog stories, which is always a crowdpleaser. I thought the Magic Bone books were hilarious. Marvel Superhero Adventures are fun stories with familiar heroes. Princess in Black is a fantastic series about a princess who has a secret identity for fighting monsters. So fun! Ranger in Time is another dog series. I describe it to kids as Magic Tree House with a dog. I love them. Finally there’s Ricky Ricotta’s Might Robot. My teen read these as a kid, so they could go in the “Old School” category, but they’ve recently received an upgrade with all new full-color art by Dan Santat. These are NOT to be missed!
Coming Soon
These are some series that are just getting started or coming out later this year.
Beatrice Zinker, History Pals (Ben Franklin), and Strange Scout Tales all have books out now with new ones coming later this year. The rest are series starting this fall. I have several of these on my wish list, including the Time Jumpers book which is the latest from Branches.
