It took us awhile to move from solely reading picture books (and easy readers and board books) to reading chapter books aloud. It was always something I intended to do but I was frozen by not knowing where to start. Would they hold my kid's interest without the pictures on every page? Would they hold MY interest enough? And WHERE TO START??
We finally started the fall of his 1st grade year. We had read a lot of picture books by that point, often for 30 minutes straight, so I knew books in general would hold his interest. As with most things, the hardest part was just starting! Since then, almost 3 years later, I've probably read 40-50 chapter books aloud to him and I plan to start this fall with books just for Sam! (He's sometimes around for parts of Luke's chapter books but never intentionally for the whole story.)
One thing that really helped us find so many books is series. A good series will carry you FAR in many parts of reading and having a few more in the queue, even as we tried never to read two books from the same series in a row, really helped keep the momentum going. Here are all the series I've read aloud to him so far!
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1) Heartwood Hotel by Kallie George, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin
This is where we started with chapter books! This is a set of 4 books, each set around a season starting with fall. It's a group of forest animals who run a hotel in a tree and welcome a lost mouse, Mona into their midst. These are very cute and we read the whole series twice through, starting late 2019 and then again in fall 2020. (We own the last 2 because I was set on reading them in the right seasons and the library was closed when we needed spring and summer in 2020!). I plan to start with these for Sam soon! These do contain a good amount of black and white pictures, although not on every page, from what I remember. Shorter chapters too!
2) Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
This may have been the second series we started between Heartwood Hotel books, mainly because we've really enjoyed the Toys Meet Snow by the same duo featuring the same characters for many winters. This is along the lines of Toy Story - toys that come to life in a little girl's room when she's not around. A Stingray, a Buffalo, and Plastic who is a rubber ball. These chapters were a little longer but I remember there only being 6 or so per book.
3) Betsy by Carolyn Haywood
This is one that I was excited to read with Luke but I didn't know how they would hold his interest. They are from the 1950s and I had received two books in the series as birthday presents when I was 7 or so. I read those two many times and thought fondly of Betsy, Star, and their neighborhood crew. I think I read a few others as a kid but never all 12. They are a bit dated but nothing too outrageous. The first few follow Betsy as she starts a new school year, starting with 1st grade. By the end they aren't going a school year a book anymore but a few are based around holidays. It took us nearly 2 years to get through all 12, spaced between other books we were reading. We both enjoyed these more than I expected! There was usually a full page picture per chapter and the ones we got from the library (besides the two I still own) had large text.
4) Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary
Another one I remember fondly from my childhood, the adventures of Ralph the mouse who has a toy car that can actually drive and who lives in a hotel lobby. The third in the series, about his adventures in a school, was our favorite, the second, adventures at summer camp, took us the longest to get through. Interspersed with black and white pictures.
5) Finn Caspian by Jonathan Messinger, illustrated by Aleksei Bitskoff
For many, many years, Luke listened pretty faithfully to the Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian. He started listening when he was 4 and just recently started listening to the radio instead of this while he showers. That was over 4 years! These are short and have a picture almost every page. Finn and his friends live on an interstellar space ship and get a VERY WIDE margin to run free, even exploring planets on their own. There is not good reason for them still being alive other than it's fictional.
6) Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger
These were another from my childhood that I was looking forward to sharing, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle with her magic solutions to all of the parents' problems. There are definitely times I wished I had a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle at my disposal! These were also a bit dated and they didn't hold Luke's interest quite as much, the chapter were on the longer side of what we've read, but he did get a kick out of some of her antidotes!
7) The Herdmans by Barbara Robinson
For starters, these have NO pictures other than the covers. That disappoints Luke every time we've read them. And we've read most of them at least twice. The Herdman's are kids that run amok at the narrator's school and everyone, even the teachers, are scared of them. They cause all sorts of trouble which must be hilarious to kids, even though I can admit to one making me laugh out loud every time we read it (Halloween) and one almost bringing me to tears every time (Christmas). I remember my Dad howling in the car when my Mom was reading School Year aloud to us when I was a kid! We'll probably read the two holiday ones again this year!
8) My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
This is one I think my Mom read aloud to us, I believe during our homeschool years. It's a boy, 12ish?, who decides the city is too crowded and he just wants to go live in the wilderness. By himself. Which he does. He makes a home out of a tree and eventually even has a form of running water and a mill for grain. It's still astonishing that his parents just let him go...but also Luke is ALL ABOUT survivaling so this was right up his alley. Some pictures and diagrams even! We've finished 2 of the 3, these are on the longer side for our read alouds so they take a bit to get through.
9) Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
ANOTHER I remember having read to me as a kid (and the Glenn Close and Christopher Walken tv movie we watched many times). The late 19th Century, a widower and his two kids living on a farm somewhere like Kansas. The Dad advertises for a wife and Sarah comes from Maine. Where the sea was blue and gray and green. This was much shorter than I remembered it being but it's also helpful to throw those between longer books, just to keep momentum going! We haven't finished this one yet, just 3 of the 5. Not many pictures, if any, but I could be wrong about that?
10) Wayside School Series by Louis Sachar
Of course, another one from my childhood but these were just written in the late 70s (I really thought early 90s...I didn't know they were that old!). I know my sister owned the 2nd in the series and that I read that one many times. These are certainly WEIRDER than I remember. Like, a strange kind of magic at this school. It starts with a teacher turning students into apples? Weird. BUT, Luke finds these hilarious. We've read 2 of the 4! At least a picture for every chapter and many chapters per book, around 30, but they are shorter chapters.
And that's it! 10 series we've read at least most of, all of them except for the final 3 series listed! Even writing this list reminded me of some series we need to get back to, to spread out between what we're currently reading. (I'm pretty sure I've already told Luke we'd do the next Wayside School book next). Especially with school starting, it's much easier to read a chapter or two to him each night since Sam is usually in bed first. It's nice to get even 10 minutes in a day with just Luke since he spends so many of his waking hours at school right now! And while he'll still cuddle up with Sam & I for picture books, it's also wonderful to have something just for the two of us!
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