First chapter books

November 7, 2024

I originally published the first half of this post on November 7, 2023. I’ve edited, updated, and added to it here.

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📫 Questions from you

Here’s a question I received awhile ago from a subscriber:

I was wondering if you have some recommendations for chapter books for younger children. My son is 4.5 and is still in prime picture book age, but also is hankering for some longer read-alouds. We’ve done some early chapter books (Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel, Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant) but I have found that he just wants to finish those in one sitting, the chapters are too short (as read aloud that is, I see those as wonderful future books when he is a reader himself).

When did you make the transition to longer books with your kids and what weres ome of their favorites?

💌 Dear Hankering:

Chapter books for younger children is one of my favorite topics.

Sometimes people get confused by “early chapter books” — known as early readers — which are meant for emerging readers and thus need to be fairly simple (that’s what Henry and Mudge and Frog and Toad are), and plain old “chapter books that a more skilled reader is going to read aloud to young children, early in their lives.”

It seems like a nitpicky distinction, but it’s actually pretty crucial — little ones often aren’t ready for the content in, say, middle-grade novels, but they also need to hear language that’s much more complex than what’s in those early readers.

Think of it this way:

• Early readers are books written in a simple enough way for children who are just learning to read to tackle with some confidence, on their own or with some help — these books are decodable. The language is intentionally uncomplicated — they’re meant for readers who are beginning to read on their own.

• Chapter books for younger children are, to me, titles that a grownup will still read aloud to 4-7-year-olds — they’re too linguistically complex for that age group to read on their own, but they’re emotionally appropriate stories that will capture their attention. (Just because your child can listen to a book for older kids doesn’t mean they should.)

(At some point, children make the leap from early readers to early chapter books on their own — it’s a natural progression — but please don’t expect your emerging reader to do this for awhile. There are no prizes for reading early, and the pressure that caregivers put on children to do so can cause real damage to their desire to read.)

To be clear, we never “made the transition” in the sense that we stopped reading picture books — my kids are 8 and 10yo now, and we still read both picture books and chapter books every day. (Yes, including my 10yo — I will do this for as long as they will let me. Picture books are really important.)

I started reading aloud chapter books when my kiddos were 6yo (kindergarten) and 3.5yo. This wasn’t a huge leap for us, as I’d been reading them longer stories (anywhere from 2-5 pages, without pictures of any kind) over breakfast since both were babies. That built up their habit of attention and tolerance for listening without needing images. And I always did this when they were eating — so I wasn’t expecting them to listen while sitting on my lap staring at a page full of nothing but words, which also helped. 

The first handful of books we started with were as follows (I’ve included my reviews of many of them):

• The Gingerbread Rabbit by Randall Jarrell

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

• Two Times the Fun by Beverly Cleary

• Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon

• Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke (my all-time #1 first chapter book pick — and there’s a whole series to continue with if the first one is a hit)

• Lady Lollipop by Dick King-Smith

From left to right: Jenny and the Cat Club, The Stories Julian Tells, and The Magic Finger

I also highly recommend:

• Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo

• Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill

• The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron

• My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Gannett Stiles

• The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

• The Storm by Cynthia Rylant (the first book in The Lighthouse Family series)

My advice is to pick one, don’t overthink it too much, and start. Set your son up to succeed — i.e., let him eat or color or build Legos or do something else with his hands while you’re reading — but you will know pretty quickly if he can handle it. (For context, I only added chapter books at bedtime this past year. Lying in bed doing nothing but listening is a skill that takes longer to develop, in my experience. And things still go off the rails on the regular, so don’t beat yourself up if whatever you’re doing isn’t perfect — it doesn’t need to be.)

If your child’s attention flags, don’t worry about it — go back to reading longer picture books (Bill Peet books are great, period, but especially for building attention for longer stories while still being fully illustrated) and try again in a few months.

Sarah

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Micro review: Stella & Marigold by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (2024)

I received a copy of this book from Chronicle Books — all opinions are my own

Stella, seven, and Marigold, four, live in the top half of a “lucky” house in a city with their mother and father, a blue couch, and best of all, each other.

Together they do all sorts of ordinary things — going to school and the zoo, playing with their friends, sometimes falling ill — but when they’re together, which is basically always, there’s a secret, adventurous side to all of it. Between them, they can make magic out of anything — a blanket (that promotes dreams about stars and lions), a closet (in which one can travel all the way to Japan), a Halloween costume (that brings friends together).

There’s a lot of simplicity to the things Stella and Marigold get into in each of these short, episodic chapters, but like all the best things in childhood, that only serves to create expansive space for their imaginations to take hold.

Of course, added to all of this is Blackall’s signature Procreate illustrations, which never fail to charm, but also the realistic depiction of siblinghood, full of messages about playfulness, togetherness, and deep-down, rock-solid love.

Stella & Marigold is an excellent first chapter book and a wonderful addition to my list above.

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Read good books and take good care 😘
Sarah

P.S. Bookshop.org links in this post are affiliate ones — I get a tiny commission if you use any of them to make a purchase.