i need chapter book recos for DS

[rin]

b/c, IMO, this book for him is just a perseverative experience. listing the letters. tracing the letters. i don't know. maybe i'm wrong. i just feel like there's not a story - it's really just the alphabet. he also likes to still look at alphabet books - like literally "a is for...apple!"

it feels not functional or progressive, KWIM?

My DD1 will be turning 4 in May, and she's starting to do some basic pre-reading. She can pick out common words that we read a lot, she can sound out short words, and she loves reading a lot of longer books like Magic Schoolbus, etc. All that said, she ADORES her toddler sister's board books, and at least half the time when I ask her if she'd like to read a story she'll pull out a board book like Big/Little or Sandra Boynton books. I am not familiar with Chika Chika Boom Boom, but I bet she'd adore a book about "a is for apple". Heck, I have a PhD and teach college English and I adore reading YA fiction for fun.

Your DS is not yet five, right? AFAIK there is no connection between reading abilities at this age and later reading skills. At his age, I really would just encourage the love of reading, and building that ingrained sense that reading/books=pleasure.

[musicalgrl]

DD turns five this month. She's not a huge fan of doing any one thing consistently, so we mix it up with chapter books (have only tried Magic Treehouse so far, but she likes them) and easy readers that she can do herself. The other thing she loves is Brain Quest. We bought a bunch of them (Five Below used to carry them - I want to say they were about $3?) for different ages and will sit and go through those together at night. She especially likes that.

[ray7694]

What has he liked in the past? My Kindergarten boys love the Who Would Win series and anything Lego.

My favorite as an elementary librarian are: If I Built a Car, I wanna new room, Bad Kitty, Pet the Cat. What about graphic novels like Big Nate and Bad Kitty?

I agree that he doesn't seem ready to sit for a long chapter book but you can certainly find good literature to read.

[westwoodmom04]

I agree that he may just not have the attention span for chapter books right now. My kids really liked all the dr. seuss books (including the more obscure ones written under an alias) and PD Eastman books at that age. The rhyming is really good for early stage reading.

Both my kids enjoyed having The Hobbit read to them in kindergarten (dh's choice). Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other Roald Dahl books were also big hits.

[rlu]

If you are looking for shorter books with meat to them, what about Owl Moon (my all-time favorite) or her dinosaur books? I don't remember your previous post so maybe you've already done those.

http://www.amazon.com/Owl-Moon-Jane-...words=owl+moon

[Smillow]

My DS is about the same age & we have been reading the Henry Huggins books & Ramona the Pest. He loves them. I adore Beverly Cleary .

[annex]

The Toys Go Out series by Emily Jenkins is nice because each chapter is a little mini-story.

The Stink series by Megan McDonald are good read-alouds, too.

[curiousgeorge]

I definitely do not think he's too young for chapter books. He just needs to find something that will hold his interest. My son turned five last month.

Last summer at when he was 4.25 he was getting very bored with the standard fare (Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, etc) so we started reading The Magic Treehouse series. From June through December we read the first 46 books! Every night before bed we read and he was completely hooked.

We are taking a break from that now and are reading the Jack Stalwart series based on a recommendation from this board (Kindra maybe?) and he is totally into it. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Agent-J...=jack+stalwart. We got the first three as a Christmas gift and have been checking out the others electronically from our library (LOVE THAT) which makes it so easy to just get the next book when it's time.

However, tonight was the first night the one we need is checked out, so they are starting on The Indian in the Cupboard.

He also really likes reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (has seen the movie) and we pick up where we left off in that from time to time when we don't have anything readily available to read.

He also loves reading books about "things"...meaning things he likes to learn about. So, he enjoys some of the National Geographic kids books about volcanoes, weather things, animals, rocks, dinosaurs, etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Volcanoes-Nati...hic+kids+rocks

Another one that has been a HUGE hit here lately is Mr. Wuffles:
http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Wuffles-Dav...rds=mr+wuffles
It is a 2014 Caldecott Honor book and it is a picture book, so you get to make up the story as you go along in conjunction with the pictures (which are very well drawn and the story is somewhat complex). This might be more fun, kind of like a game to him, so he might really enjoy it.

Other favorites that he still loves are all of the Frog and Toad books: http://www.amazon.com/Frog-Toad-Frie...=frog+and+toad
They are not too long, each book has 4-5 stories in that are short.

Oh, and when I say reading, this is all being read to (mainly by my DH as part of bedtime).

We have the first one in this series ready to go, mainly because I remember loving it as a kid (The Littles):
http://www.amazon.com/The-Littles-Jo...rds=the+little

The Borrowers could also be good:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Adven...=the+borrowers

Good luck! I hope you find something that holds his interest!!

[nfceagles]

I would not rush him out of the picture books. They are great for early readers and many of them are plenty deep for advanced readers too.

I second Dr Seuss and PD Eastman. Hop on Pop, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, etc... We have a few books called The Big Blue Book of Beginner Books, The Big Green Book of Beginner Books, and The Big Purple Book of Beginner Books. They are compilations of books, many by PD Eastman and Seuss, and my DD loved them when she was starting to read. Light, funny stories with colorful pictures.