MommaReads

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.

Since it has been raining NON STOP here for days, I thought this might be the perfect book to review today. This is the story of what went on at night on Noah’s ark. Naamah, Noah’s wife, would go from animal to animal and check on them and sing them to sleep until she, too, finally succumbed to the darkness and fell asleep next to Noah.

This story is actually a lullaby and is the perfect peaceful story to read at bedtime.

This is a very adorable book about a little blue truck and all of his animal friends. Little Blue Truck gets stuck in the mud and all of his animal friends use teamwork to rescue him and another big truck that’s stuck in the mud. If your little one likes farm animals and/or trucks, then they will love this cute rhyming book.

We haven’t had enough books for the four and under set lately on MommaReads and this is a great one to start with. It has flaps! My boys loved flap books when they were little and this one would have gone over famously with them. Your little one will love this as they uncover what all of the critters in this book like to eat.