MommaReads

Little Princess loves to have birthdays, so much so that she would like to have two birthdays a year. Well, she IS a princess and so the Prime Minister puts two birthdays on the calendar for her. Well, if two is good then three or four must be even better. That seems like such a great idea that she talks the Prime Minister into making every day her birthday, but she soon finds out that cake isn’t quite as tasty when you have to eat it every day and dressing up isn’t quite as much fun when you have to do it every day. The presents people get you aren’t so great either because they can’t afford to get you something nice every single day. The Princess comes up with a plan to have one special day a year to celebrate and decides to have an unbirthday once a year instead.

Poor chameleon is lonely. He tries changing and fitting in with the yellow banana, the pink cockatoo, a green grasshopper and more. In the end he does find friendship with someone who is just as colorful as he is. Children are fascinated by the fact that chameleons can change colors and they should be…that’s a pretty cool trick.

This is a great book to talk about colors and and if you have older kids, you could also address the topic of not changing who you are just to be someone’s friend. Little ones will LOVE the funny and fantastic illustrations as poor chameleon keeps changing not only his color, but his shape, too.

Many early elementary students are first introduced to Flat Stanley at school with the original Flat Stanley story in which poor Stanley gets flattened by a bulletin board. It’s fun at first because he can slip under doors and he gets to go on vacations simply by being mailed in an envelope. Being flat does get old after a while though and Stanley really just wants to be a normal boy like everyone else.

Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures takes Stanley’s adventures to a whole new level and does so in easy to read chapter books complete with adventures to different countries. If you have an early elementary reader who is ready for beginning chapter books and loves to learn about new places (Stanley travels to places like Australia, Washington, D.C., Japan, Egypt, Africa and Mt. Rushmore.) then these will be a huge hit in your house.

Frog and Toad are tried and true. They have been around since I was in elementary school, which means they have been around a long, long time. 🙂 These books are perfect for children who are just ready to step into chapter books. The font is larger and there is at least one picture on every page and, most importantly, there are chapters. There are also several other Frog and Toad books, so if your child really likes the first one, then the others will keep them reading and reading to follow Frog and Toad on their next adventure.

You can imagine that T. Rex probably isn’t the most graceful Easter Bunny, but when his friend Peter Cottontail gets a cold at Easter, he does what any good friend would do and steps in to help. Luckily T.Rex has some other dinosaur friends who help him find some more eggs (when he breaks the first set) and help him dye them for the children in town who are going to be looking for their eggs when they wake up in the morning. Unfortunately, T. Rex and his friends oversleep on Easter morning…you’ll have to read the rest to find out how they make things right.

Stuart has just moved to a new town and he has no one to play with. School hasn’t started yet either and he wants something interesting to happen…NOW! He makes a cape out of neckties and things definitely get more interesting-right away. I love this book because so many children know that things only get better when you’re wearing a cape and Stuart knows that, too. Kids will really identify with Stuart and will laugh at his adventures. This beginning chapter book has chapters that are a little bit longer, but still has those ever important pictures to accompany the story.

This book is a GREAT beginning chapter book for so many reasons. One, the chapters are really, really short. This is great for children who are just beginning chapter books…you don’t want them to tucker out too quickly or feel too overwhelmed. Two, there are pictures mingled in with the story. Children who are just beginning chapter books will often look to make sure a book has pictures before deciding to read it. They are ready for more words, but not quite ready to give up the pictures. Three, this is the cutest story ever that many children could relate to. Eleanor is having a very bad day. Her babysitter, who she has known her whole life, is moving away. Many children have dealt with change and bad news and Eleanor deals with it in the best way she knows how and learns that even though change is hard and not any fun, that sometimes things can turn out okay.

The Time Warp Trio series is great because not only is it funny and silly in a way your kids will love, but there are some covert history lessons in the books too as the characters travel through time. This series is great for kids who are still not ready for “true” chapter books, but are getting closer. There are still some pictures and the chapters are shorter, but the print might be a little smaller than some of the easier chapter books.

When you have a child who is at that stage where they are ready to read chapter books, this series might be a good one to start with. It is still easy to read, it doesn’t have too many words per page, it has colored pictures, but most importantly….it has CHAPTERS!!! They always feel so accomplished when they can say they’ve read a book with chapters. It’s also a good pick because there are a lot of Henry and Mudge books and if you can get those young readers started on a series they will read and read and read until they’ve read every book in the series.

If you are wondering who Henry and Mudge are, they are a boy and his big loving dog who are also best of friends.

When Ivy moves into the neighborhood, Bean’s mother encourages her to go and meet Ivy. They are both 7 years old and could be friends. Bean says she has enough friends and isn’t interested in being Ivy’s friend because she looks boring. Well, it turns out Ivy isn’t so boring. Bean finds out how great Ivy is when Ivy rescues Bean from her angry older sister and they become quite the duo.

Not only do these books celebrate friendships between girls, but they are also a series which is great because children who are just beginning chapter books tend to latch onto a series and stick with it which gets them reading even more.