If your preschooler or early elementary aged child is interested in hearing longer books and you're looking for chapter books to read aloud, here are some suggestions. These are chapter books to consider for reading aloud to your young child (4 - 8 years old) and are great for older children to listen to or read alone as well. Some families enjoy reading a chapter or two together each day and talking about the story together.
Our library owns the books on the list below. You can check
our catalog to see if they are currently available, read summaries of each book, and reserve them.
Have you read any of these books with your children? Do you have any other suggestions? Leave a comment to let us know what you're reading and what you think of it.
Chapter Books
to Read Aloud
Beginning chapter books
located by the author's last name in
the Early Reader section
Young
Cam Jansen series by David Adler
Jennifer Jansen is nicknamed Cam (short
for camera) for her photographic memory which helps her solve
mysteries with her friends.
Mercy
Watson series by Kate DiCamillo
This series features the adventures of
a pig named Mercy and her human family.
Frog
and Toad series by
Arnold Lobel
This series features the adventures of
two friends, Frog and Toad.
Henry and Mudge series by
Cynthia Rylant
This series features the adventures of
Henry and his large dog Mudge.
Not exactly a chapter book, but a
longer book in which each “chapter” is a different story:
You Read to Me and I'll Read to
You: 20th Century Stories to Share
located in the E Nonfiction section: E
808.8 Schulman
Each chapter features a different story
– sometimes a picture book, sometimes a selection from a chapter
book.
Chapter books
located by the author's last name in
the Juvenile Fiction section
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard
Atwater
A delivery of an Antarctic penguin
leads to a house full of penguins and changes the lives of Mr. Popper
and his family.
Berenstain Bears series by Stan
and Jan Berenstain
This series features the adventures of
the Berenstain bear family.
Freckle Juice by Judy Blume
Andrew wants freckles so badly that he
buys Sharon's freckle recipe for fifty cents.
A Bear Called Paddington by
Michael Bond
A very small bear found by Mr. and Mrs.
Brown at Paddington station becomes one of the family.
Flat Stanley series by Jeff
Brown
After a bulletin board falls on Stanley
while he's sleeping, he finds that being flat has its advantages.
Arthur chapter books by Marc
Brown
This series features the adventures of
Arthur the aardvark and his friends.
The Chocolate Touch by Patrick
Skene Catling
A boy acquires a magical gift that
turns everything his lips touch into chocolate.
Ralph series by Beverly Cleary
(Runaway Ralph, The Mouse and the
Motorcycle, and Ralph S. Mouse)
The adventures of Ralph, the motorcycle
riding mouse.
Ramona series by Beverly Cleary
The adventures of Ramona and her
family.
My Father's Dragon by
Ruth Stiles Gannett
trilogy included in Three Tales of my
Father's Dragon
A young boy determines to rescue a poor baby dragon who is being
used by a group of lazy wild animals to ferry them across the river
on Wild Island.
Andrew Lost series by J. C.
Greenburg
Andrew's inventions lead to interesting
adventures. Each adventure last four books. In book one, Andrew and
his friends are shrunk by one of his inventions, books one through
four follow his escapades while small, and he returns to his normal
size in book four. A new adventure begins in book five.
Pippi Longstocking by
Astrid Lindgren
The escapades of a lucky little girl who lives with a horse and a
monkey--but without any parents--at the edge of a Swedish village.
Winnie the Pooh books by A. A.
Milne
Pooh and his friends Piglet, Eeyore,
Tigger, Kanga, and others share adventures with Christopher Robin.
Magic Tree House series by Mary
Pope Osborne
Siblings Annie and Jack travel to a
different location and a different time in history via a magic tree
house in each book of this series.
Clementine series by Sara
Pennypacker
The adventures of eight year old
Clementine, her family, and friends.
The Littles series by John
Peterson
The Littles are a family of tiny
creatures who live in the walls of a house owned by the Bigg family.
Mrs. Noodlekugel by
Daniel Pinkwater
Nick and Maxine have a new babysitter--the eccentric Mrs.
Noodlekugel who lives in the funny little house behind their drab
high-rise apartment building along with her feline butler, Mr.
Fuzzface, and three myopic mice.
Jigsaw Jones series by James
Preller
Jigsaw Jones and his partner Mila solve
mysteries.
Little House on the Prairie by
Wilder
The day to day life of Laura Ingalls
and her family in the late nineteenth century.
