A Booklist: First Chapter Books to Experience Together

Books have always been a portal.

Open one and climb through to something bigger.  I’ve been finding those passageways since I was a kid.  I found the Narnia Books, Madeliene L’engle, Judy Blume, and-well, truthfully I didn’t find the best storytellers beyond a handful of gems. There was The Babysitter’s Club series, which encouraged my already young boy crazy brain. Then there were the Daniel Steele books that started in 6th grade.  I’ll let you fill in the places my young heart was traveling to in those books!  Thankfully, it was L’engle, Lewis, and later Bronte that I never discarded.

When we entered the Land of Homeschool, lists of great books fell into my hands and our family began entering our own portals.

There are a generation of moms at the moment that are just glad their kids are reading.  It doesn’t matter if the material is too mature, or simply poorly written and mass-produced for a quick money-making series.  “No, I haven’t read those books, I’m just glad he’s reading.”

But great writing gives our children the appetite for more of it.  It’s also the number one way I see my children’s spelling and grammar improve. I don’t claim that all of the books I’ve listed here are the best literature, some of just full of imagination and have inspired our family to laugh and dream.

If it’s at all possible, read these books out loud.  They’ll become shared memories, like family vacations to remember from childhood.  A reluctant reader might be a very attentive listener, even if it’s just because he gets the full attention of his mama or dad.  We read at the table often, it seems someone is always putting a book next to me before I even get a bite of food.

This list is to tempt the five to 7 year old (or any age that has yet to fall in love with books) into a world made bigger and more colorful through the doorway of a book.

Introducing Chapter Books

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (and the other books in the series, though maybe not all at age 4 or 5 when we start the first book)

Little House on the Prairie Series

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

*The Indian and Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Brink

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls ( the first chapter book our then five year old son finally begged for another chapter instead of groaning each time he saw our read aloud)

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Series

My Father’s Dragon by Betty MacDonald

The Adventures of Buster Bear (and all the many other animal stories by Thornton Burgess)

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (very wittily written, precludes the animated Disney Version)

Homer Price by Robert McKloskey

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Jenny and the Cat Club Esther Averill

B is For Betsy and other books by Carolyn Haywood

Betsy and Tacy series by Maud Lovelace

Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary ( she has many others, her stories are endearing, though they were not always my favorite to read aloud)

*Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (and other books by Enright)

The Cricket in Times Square by Garth Williams

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum

James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry (and other books by Henry)

In Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson

*Note: These particular books contain what our family calls “foolish speech”, so we adjust as we read out loud.

Did I leave out some of your favorites? Please share them in the comments so I can keep my bookshelves always overflowing!