Best First Chapter Books

Students in first and second grade are eager to start reading chapter books. They had years of picture book readings, and while they still love picture books and benefit greatly from it, children want to make the next step into more “grown up” reading. In every class, there is a couple of children who are for whatever reason at the higher level in reading than the rest of the class and they are the ones reading chapter books without any help. Some children just “break the code” of reading earlier. They learn how to read the words, which does not mean that they know what words mean.

Anyhow, I found that the transition into chapter books is often stressful to children. They have the will to read it, but once they encounter too many unknown and hard to pronounce words, they often give up.

At the same time, a page full of words can be an overwhelming site, which is why “transitional” chapter books make an ideal next reading step. They offer more text than picture books while pictures are still present to compliment the text. Stories are easy to understand and children feel more comfortable to reread them and build reading fluency and reading comprehension.

Here are some great First Chapter Books …

“Cowgirl kate and Cocoa” by Erica Silverman and Betsy Lewin

“Danny and the Dinosaur” by Syd Hoff

“Frog and Toad are Friends” by Arnold Lobel

“Houndsley and Catina” by James Howe

“Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House” by Cynthia Rylant

“Nate the Great” by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

“Good Dog, Aggie” by Lori Ries and Frank W. Dormer