what age and what book to introduce chapter reading to DS?

[lmh2402]

i'm dreaming of the day when i'll be able to start reading longer, chapter based books to DS.

i have such fantastic memories of doing this with my mom and dad when i was a child.

what age is best to start this? and what would be a good first book?

thx!

[hillview]

At that age DS1 loved the jack and annie books. DS2 is not so interested.

[brittone2]

DS1 was into listening by 3.5. Some people feel that is age inappropriate, but he is highly verbal, etc. and enjoyed it. Of course we still read all of the wonderful picture books out there, because those are still so valuable too. I think we started with chapter books using My Father's Dragon. I remember reading it out on our front porch swing in a previous house.

DD was somewhere between 3.5 and 4 I think.

We do a lot of read alouds as part of HS, and then additional bedtime reading. DS2 is just turning 3 and is starting to listen in a bit.

I remember him liking the Mouse and the Motorcycle series pretty early on. He also liked Henry Huggins.

[wellyes]

Try Mercy Watson books, they are a great bridge between picture books and chapter books. That is the name of the series, not the author -- Mercy is a pig who a couple adopted like a child, wild antics ensue.

[brittone2]

Try Mercy Watson books, they are a great bridge between picture books and chapter books. That is the name of the series, not the author -- Mercy is a pig who a couple adopted like a child, wild antics ensue.
Those are very cute. DD also really liked the Lighthouse Family series by Cynthia Rylant.

[Simon]

We started "chapter' books like Frog and Toad or Little Bear as early as age 2.5/3 with Ds1 who was extremely verbal and loved being read to.

Other favorites included Dodsworth, Popleton, and Henry and Mudge (author Cynthia Rylant is great!). After that we graduated to Magic Treehouse. IME, many of the books we found had themes or behaviors we didn't want to introduce (teasing, back talking, etc). They are funny to him now, but weren't age appropriate so that was a struggle. I also reserve the right to refuse reading some series of books aloud (ex Junie B Jones).

We didn't start chapter books like Charlotte's Web, Mouse and the Motorcycle, Little House in the Big Woods, Ramona Quimby until ages 5-6. Again, it was more about the content and themes than his ability to understand the language or story lines.

[lmh2402]

We started "chapter' books like Frog and Toad or Little Bear as early as age 2.5/3 with Ds1 who was extremely verbal and loved being read to.

Other favorites included Dodsworth, Popleton, and Henry and Mudge (author Cynthia Rylant is great!). After that we graduated to Magic Treehouse. IME, many of the books we found had themes or behaviors we didn't want to introduce (teasing, back talking, etc). They are funny to him now, but weren't age appropriate so that was a struggle. I also reserve the right to refuse reading some series of books aloud (ex Junie B Jones).

We didn't start chapter books like Charlotte's Web, Mouse and the Motorcycle, Little House in the Big Woods, Ramona Quimby until ages 5-6. Again, it was more about the content and themes than his ability to understand the language or story lines.

thanks for the feedback so far

the bolded is a definite concern for me - DS is extremely sensitive...and obsessive. i'm hesitant to introduce anything that contains things that could be "scary" - even the presence of a dragon is "scary" for him, etc.

i'll look through the ones reco'd so far. and if you have any specific thoughts for 100% "benign" books, please pass them along

[SnuggleBuggles]

It worked out for us when ds1 was around 6yo.

[maestramommy]

I think it really depends on your kid. But the very first chapter books the kids listened to were the Henry and Mudge, and Annie and Snowball books. Also Mouse and Mole by Wong Herbert Yee. Our library has many of them on CD and I got them for road trips last year.

DD1 got the first Junie B book when she turned 6 (just after starting K) but she didn't read it until the following summer, when she could read it herself.

[chottumommy]

I started chapter book with DS1 at about 3.5. His favourite is the Magic Treehouse series. I also read juvenile fantasy fiction (which I'm reading) to him ( I mark certain chapters for him) and he loves those too.

But my DS is not really sensitive or on the scared side. He doesn't usually have nightmares and loves anything to do with dragons, dinosaurs, fairies and pretty much anything from fantasy.

[Momit]

We've been doing Frog and Toad (which is actually short stories rather than chapters) and Magic Tree House (both the fiction and non-fiction ones). I bought a bunch of the Mouse and the Motorcycle and Henry Huggins stories used a while ago and we'll probably get those out soon.

[Momit]

Try Mercy Watson books, they are a great bridge between picture books and chapter books. That is the name of the series, not the author -- Mercy is a pig who a couple adopted like a child, wild antics ensue.

This is the Circus Ship guy, right? Chris van Dusen? Will have to check these out.

[ett]

Try Mercy Watson books, they are a great bridge between picture books and chapter books. That is the name of the series, not the author -- Mercy is a pig who a couple adopted like a child, wild antics ensue.

I second Mercy Watson. Short chapters, lots of pictures, and they're really funny.

[ett]

This is the Circus Ship guy, right? Chris van Dusen? Will have to check these out.

He's the illustrator. The author is Kate DiCamillo who wrote The Tales of Despereaux and Becuase of Winn-Dixie.

[squimp]

I'd say start now. See if he can sit through a short chapter book like Ralph S. Mouse or something else that is fun to read.