My son is soon to be 4 years old, and I have recently started reading a few chapters from a chapter book with him at bedtime. We have read Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle and are now reading Charlie and the Chocolate factory. Anyone else reading anything fun with their younger children? I would love suggestions based on what your children, 4-5 years old, have enjoyed. The students I teach are a little older, and themes in their books are sometimes inappropriate for a 4 tear old, IMO.

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (or is it Gannett Stiles?)
My dd age 5 enjoyed the heck out of this and its sequels.
She also really enjoyed Little Bo by Julie Andrews and its sequel Little Bo in France.

The Junie B. Jones series is about a kindergartener, and they are pretty well done, IMO.

If you are near a bookstore, try going to it and looking around at the chapter books and see what interests your son. Then take those titles to your local library and check them out.

Good luck!

[QUOTE=Ann Marie]My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (or is it Gannett Stiles?)
My dd age 5 enjoyed the heck out of this and its sequels.
QUOTE]

We're reading this one now.

I really like to choose books with a story I enjoy. We've been reading the longer Beatrix Potter stories.

Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (or other "Fudge" books)

Wow !

YOur Four year old is super!!

Would you mind reading the Harry Potter books to him, especially if he has not seen the movies?? That way, you can finish the first four books before the next movie comes out and be ready for the sixth book when it arrives.

My girls enjoy the Sophie series - The first is Sophie's Snail and then Sopie's Tom, etc. It is about a little girl who wants to be a farmer when she grows up. We also like the Little House on the Prarie books.

My son LOVED the All of a Kind Family series by Sidney Taylor, to the point where he insisted on celebrating Purim.

Awesome suggestions. I had forgotten all about My Father's Dragon though it was part of the 2nd grade curriculum, which I taught, at my former school! I even have those books somewhere in boxes in my garage. The library might be easier. And, srain, we DO celebrate Purim, so my ds might really relate to the All of A Kind Family. I read those series when I was 8 or so myself. Keep those ideas coming. We aren't ready for a new book yet, but I will keep a list of your recommendations.

We have read Truckdogs by Graeme Base about 4 times!

Dick King Smith books are always fun. I'm reading _Martin's Mice_ with my 6 yo right now and we're really enjoying it. It's about a farm cat that prefers to keep mice as pets, rather than eat them. We've read _Babe: The Gallant Pig_ and _Ace: A Very Important Pig_ too.

Bridgett

My 4 year old has really enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables books. Our library has some that are easier versions, so a chapter (or sometimes 2) are a perfect length for a preschooler. She didn't get into Charlotte's Web at all, and I was so disappointed.

My son is only 3 - almost 4 - and has always had a very short attention span when it comes to books. He still loves board books, only started longer picture books (like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) a few months ago. Recently when we were at the library he saw these big books on dinosaurs. They're like 3rd grade text books. Each chapter is about a different type of dinosaur. He wanted to check them out - I figured they'd be returned unread. I mean, they're hundreds of pages. He loves them! He'll sit for chapter after chapter - basically as long as you can read to him.

Long time to get to my point, don't forget non-fiction! Expecially if they have an interest in something specific - trains, butterflies, whatever. Maybe now that he's sitting for these, we'll try some of the great fiction you've all recommended.

Great thread :thumb

And, srain, we DO celebrate Purim, so my ds might really relate to the All of A Kind Family.
Heh- maybe you could have helped me with my first-time batch of hamantaschen!

The Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott. My ds started listening to them at age four, and loved them. We still occasionally read the next in the series (he's six now.)

Paula

This is great! I came here to post the exact same question!

My ds (4) loves loves LOVES Little House in the Big Woods. We have read every chapter countless times. He liked Farmer Boy too.

He also enjoyed All About Sam by Lois Lowry.

He liked Ribsy (Beverly Clearly) but not Henry and Ribsy or The Mouse and the Motorcycle. (Go figure.)

Oh, and he loved Mrs. Pigglewiggle.

I love Mrs. Pigglewiggle! I will definitely do this one with him soon!!

We found Sophie's Snail at the library - ds really liked it - I did skip over some of the mean sibling interactions though (ds is 4).

We're reading Pigs Might Fly now.

We're into beginning readers right now as my older dd is 5 1/2. We just found a book both of my dd's loved (second dd is 3) called Agapanthus Hum and the Eyeglasses. It is a short BR chapter book but has a really fun story. The main character Agapanthus is really quirky and wonderful. The author (Joy Cowley) also wrote a wonderful picture book called Mrs. Wishy Washy which was also a big hit with my kids.

Anything by Roald Dahl. Short, weird, fantastic, and kiddos always triumph.

Lori

Have you tried the Magic Treehouse books? My daughter and I went through about ten of them last winter. They're about a brother and sister who travel to different places and times by way of a magic treehouse. Very educational - my daughter learned all sorts of things about Ancient Egypt, medieval times, the moon, and so on.

Just an aside about those Junie B. Jones books - I personally find them appallingly written and would recommend another wonderful series of books about a young child's trials and tribulations instead - the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary. The first one, "Beezus and Ramone," starts when she is four and each book covers one year. My daughter and I are up to the second grade one now and we love them. Ramona has a hard time behaving, but she has a good heart and a good conscience. Plus, the books are well written and so will expose your child to good language, unlike the Junie books which reinforce incorrect grammar and usage.

Also, try the Pooh stories - the real ones by A.A. Milne. They are totally charming! Disney really ruined Pooh for today's kids, and it's nice for them to see who Pooh and his friends really are.

My daughter, 5, loves Emily Rodda's "Fairy Realm" series. But it is really girly :dust

My 7 yo, at that age loved "The Hobbit". I think that is when dh started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs to him too.

Don't want to repeat books already mentioned.

I'd like to add some of our favorites:

The Light Princess and The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (I believe...too lazy to get up and look or google LOL) Heidi by Johanna Spyri
A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett (again, hope I got the spelling correct cuz I'm not looking)

also, why not try some classic fairy tales or fables? They are short, like chapters. poetry? You could start with Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses or, for humor, Jack Prelutsky's books. My nearly-6-yr-old giggles like a maniac when I read his stuff to her! :)

nak
my son loved-
the magic tree house series
little house on the praire
indian in the cupbord series
clues brothers (jr hardy boys)
star trek- many different styles and levels

Just wanted to thank you guys for all the great suggestions!!
I have been wanting to start chapter books with my oldest dd. I went to the library yesterday and got several of the "Sophie" books and she is enthralled!
I wrote down several of the others and plan to get those at a later date! THANKS! :thumb

Seconding the "Magic Tree House" series. Very simple to understand, and opens up whole other vistas of topics ...








My son LOVED the All of a Kind Family series by Sidney Taylor, to the point where he insisted on celebrating Purim.



:LOL :LOL :LOL

:thumb






(I :love Purim ... :D)

KaraBoo, we do tons of poetry and Jack Prelutsky is our favorite, too!
LunaMom, we went on vacation last week and brought Henry Huggins with us. I agree, for the most part, about Junie B. books...especially since my son, who is very good with words, instantly adopts the "poor grammar" that he hears because he thinks it sound cool. For example, he now regularly incorporates "ain't" into hisd speech because he heard it once in a kids' song! He loves to use it and wants people to laugh when he says it. So, I think Junie would be a bad influence! :LOL

the box car children