Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!
Now, this batch of recommendations might feel like it is coming out of left field since I typically read romance and true crime with a sprinkle of SFF. It might look REAL strange to someone that knows what sort of books I download from kindle unlimited… But, one of the great joys in this parenting journey has been the chance to share my love of reading with my daughter and sending book recommendations to my friends for their children. Reading was formative for me, and I do everything I can to encourage her love of books in all forms.
I’m not an educator, but I am a parent that spends a SIGNIFICANT amount of her day reading or talking about books with a 5 year old. So, here is what we have been reading this year to scratch that early chapter book itch! I hope you find something that the little readers in your life will grow to enjoy just as much as mine does! Some of these are graphic novels but I include them because they are firm favorites over here.
1
The Super Rabbit Boy, PRESS START! books were a firm favorite in the house this summer! My daughter refused to read/play anything but this series for two months. I am not joking when I say I have read all 11 books a minimum of 12 times each.
Each book is about 10 chapters that are easy and have plenty of action to keep the littles interested. There may be some minor language concerns for some parents/guardian (i.e. Super Rabbit Boy often exclaims “Oh Bloop!”) but they are quite tame.
Perfect starter read for the youngster that loves video games!
2
Our Friend Hedgehog: The Story of Us was a wonderful, cozy story about friendships new and old. I’m not sure why I loved this one so much beyond the art being lovely and always a sucker for the “found family” trope.
3
This one is my favorite because there are plenty of jokes for the adults reading along to enjoy! DJ Funkyfoot definitely falls on the side of more absurd humor and situations (like the adult novel Cryptofauna or even Alice in Wonderland).
4
Pea, Bee, & Jay is another firm favorite in the house! A graphic novel that follows Pea as he embarks on a dare to roll all the way to the Big Red Tree. While the adventure doesn’t go quite as Pea imagined, he ends the tale with two new friends and only a little grounded. There are five books in this series and they are so much fun to read out loud together!
5
I am putting Mercy at the top of this list. I originally saw it on a recommendation list (much like this one I’m trying to make!) and we checked this book out from the library to try and my daughter LOVED it. During the same week, there was a reading of the Mercy Watson books on Montana Public Radio. My Dad enjoyed listening to the stories so much that he immediately tracked down the box set and shipped them to us. Since then, we have been enjoying Mercy’s antics and hot-buttered toast.
No one asked, but I identify the most with Eugenia Lincoln! I even borrowed her standalone story to read by myself after putting the child to bed!
6
Narwhal and Jelly have been making us giggle over the past few months! Their initial distrust and Narwhal’s happy-go-lucky disposition brought me so much joy. I really enjoy how friendships are addressed and there is just enough variation in the short stories to keep us interested through multiple reads!
Definitely one of my top recommendations for families looking for a quick easy read that introduces young readers to graphic novels and longer books!
7
The Unicorn Diaries series by Rebecca Elliott has been a lot of fun! I like that Elliott puts the unicorns in situations that require some critical thinking. Along with modeling apologies, responsibilities to the community, and the importance of friendship. They are all sweet and my little one loves to re-enact the scenes.
8
Owly is a really cute graphic novel that relies on a combination of words in the speech bubbles and pictures. It’s one of the first bigger books that my five year old has read cover to cover by herself with only one question on content. And really, that was to ask how we would go about putting on hummingbird makeup so we could pretend to be the birds. The smaller picture book versions of Owly don’t have words but its a great way to ask your little reader what they think is happening in a scene!
9
Another Rebecca Elliott series that has weaseled its way into our daughter’s heart. I appreciate the lessons that Elliott tries to impart in each book, but I do think they can be more subtle than the Unicorn Diaries lessons. Still a solid favorite for my daughter though!
10
We were introduced to Nick Bruel’s Bad Kitty early in our little’s reader experience with the ABCs picture book and we just recently started trying more of the full length graphic novels! I appreciate the bits of humor for the parents woven into the nonsense that Kitty gets up to. The age range for the bigger books definitely skews more towards 7+ but we have enjoyed them.
Have you read any of these? What books do you recommend to young readers?
What a great list! I think my daughter and I read some of these authors in the past.
This is such a lovely list. I hope your kid grows up to be a reader just like you! 🙂
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-confessions/
Thank you! I hope so too! She is well on her way ☺️
These look absolutely adorable! I love the one one about Narwhal and Jelly. It sounds really sweets, and I think narwhals are really neat!
Yes! It sent us down a narwhal fact rabbit hole and it was surprising that they don’t know much about narwhals!
Fun list! I highly recommend The Froggy books by Jack London, Robert Munsch books, Junie B. Jones series, and The Boxcar Children series.
I’ll take a look at these! I recognize Junie B Jones and the Boxcar Children but not the others. Thank you for the recommendations!
I love this list! The Narwhal books are so cute. My son has an audio version that he plays on his Yoto!
I didn’t know there was a yoto version! That’s so fun!
Yes!! Love the Yoto!
I love your book choices! Narwhal and Jelly and Bad Kitty are super fun! If you haven’t read it yet, Fitz and Cleo is a super fun graphic novel/early chapter book read, too. My daughter and I took turns “playing characters” and reading their dialogue and had a bunch of fun with it.
Here’s my TTT post.
Thank you! I just put Fitz and Cleo on hold. Hopefully it will be ready soon!
Have you read Pluto Rocket by Gilligan Paul? It’s supposed to be along the same lines as Narwhal and Jelly so I’m excited to try it!
I haven’t, but I’m definitely going to check it out now! 😀
How fun that you and your daughter share a love of reading! Young readers have so many great books to choose from these days, too. I wish it had been that way when I was little. I haven’t read any of the ones on your list, but the Bad Kitty books were SUPER popular at my kids’ elementary school when I volunteered in the library there.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Thanks for the recommendations! My kid will be 4 in a few weeks. We’re still reading picture books, but I did get her a chapter book about dinosaurs for Christmas. I don’t know if she has the attention span for it yet.
We still read lots of picture books! Jory John is a firm fav of mine. I hope you both enjoy the dinosaur book when you get to it!
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