School is out and summer vacation is upon us! This is a great time for kids to read for pleasure and also to keep up with the reading skills they worked hard to develop during the school year. If you have a new reader transitioning into reading chapter books, I have some early chapter book series suggestions for you. Early chapter books are written for readers that are still building up their reading stamina, and include stories with illustrations and short chapters. Click on the links below if you are interested in reading more about the individual books in these series and would like to reserve a copy from our catalog.

Owl Diaries series by Rebecca Elliott

This series is written like a diary with chapters for each daily entry. The short text and colorful illustrations will appeal to beginning readers. A young owl named Eva records her daily experiences in her diary. Readers will enjoy following Eva’s life as she learns valuable lessons in these easy-to-ready books with high-interest stories.

The Bad Guys series by Aaron Blabey

The Bad Guys want to do good things in this funny series that flips the script on these normally bad characters. With short text and fun illustrations, even reluctant readers will enjoy the hilarious situations these bad guys get into as they set out on their missions to be heroes.

The Adventures of Sophie Mouse series by Poppy Green

Adorable illustrations and easy-to-read text will appeal to readers of this series about Sophie Mouse and her woodland friends. Sophie has many adventures from making friends to getting lost (and found!) in these sweet stories.

Here’s Hank series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

This is a series about Hank, a 2nd grader who struggles with his schoolwork but still tries his best. Hank’s experiences are humorous and kids will enjoy reading how he works through various situations with school and friends. The books in this series use a special font called Dyslexie, that was designed specifically for dyslexic readers. The letters are distinct from one another and spaced wide apart. This not only helps dyslexic readers, but helps all kids to read more easily and with fewer errors.

Jada Jones series by Kelly Starling Lyons

This series has short chapters and two-color artwork on almost every page that will help to ease readers towards reading black and white chapter books. Jada is a fourth grader who loves science and deals with situations with school and friendships that require her to problem solve. I recommend this series to beginning readers who enjoy realistic fiction and relatable characters.

Stink series by Megan McDonald

Stink is a second-grade student dealing with situations at school, sibling rivalry, friendships, amusing adventures, and a bit of gross humor. Humorous illustrations and short chapters will appeal to new readers. Readers will also learn some interesting scientific facts in these stories!