[chucklebury]

hi i think i need to start challenging my ds with understnding etc in books and he has asked for some longer books so i was thinking basic chapter books to be read over a few nights.

just wondering what other people have done/ recommend please ie titles that their kids enjoyed??

thought might be a good santa sack idea

thanks

[DS1979]

My kids (4 and almost 6) both love these Julia Donaldson books (The Gruffalo; Gruffalo's Child; Room on the Broom; Stick man) as even though they technically are picture books they are still a nice long storybook which aren't babyish. They love to read along with the rhyming bits too which is good for word recognition.

If your son is actually able to read a little bit on his own the Hey Jack series by Sally Rippin are good, they look like a novel but they have nice short chapters and lovely large font inside which is good for new readers.

We also love Roald Dahl and will usually do two chapters a night. I find I will need to go back over what's happened in the previous chapters with the kids before reading on as sometimes they can't remember who all the characters are, but apparently that helps with comprehension too so not a bad thing I suppose!

In all honestly though, both my kids still love picture books and would prefer to have 2 or 3 short books before bed than a couple of chapters as they still like looking at the illustrations.

[MyButterflyGirls]

I was also coming in to recommend the Hey Jack series. My just-turned-5yo DD loves the equivalent Billie B Brown series by the same author.

Dr Seuss are also great for this age as they can start reading along.

[Fanny McPhail]

My DS is 4 and a half.
We were gifted a huge stack of Enid Blyton and have worked our way slowly through them. Although it has affected his speech a little we saw something odd the other day and he said (v.loudly) "thats a bit queer!":omg: I think the Faraway Tree is a bit better than the Wishing Chair which seems to be littered with smacks, slaps and people calling other people stupid.

Our next book will be the muddle headed wombat followed by blinky bill.

He also has Peter Pan but only Grandad is allowed to read that to him.



This post has been edited by Fanny McPhail: 20/11/2012, 03:19 PM

[Brattacino]

I second Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss. You could also try information texts about things such as animals, dinosaurs, insects, science, astronomy and technology. My son loved these from an early age and they are still amongst his favourites.

[EBeditor]

Ds loved being read the Magic Faraway Tree series at 4.

[amabanana]

Far Away tree and some other Enid Blytons, Tales of Narnia (depending on maturity and how easily they scare), Roald Dahl, Anne of Green Gables, Pippi Longstocking, Charlottes Web (again careful with death theme), The Little House in the Big woods, Stuart Little, Frog and Toad, Milly Molly Mandy. I second the idea of reading non fiction such as books about space, dinosaurs, Ancient Egypt, trains, books about how people live in other countries etc.

[Eight.years]

The Faraway Tree was our first chapter book here. It has the added advantage that if they fall in love with it and want to hear it a million times, it's easy to get on CD.

And they've finally republished the beautiful colour illustrated hardback versions that were around in the early 80s and got ridiculously expensive on ebay for a while there.

[katrina24]

Some good suggestions in this thread but I also agree that good quality picture books are still really valuable. My DD1 is seven and can confidently read novels herself. She still loves to listen to the picture books that get read to her little sister each night (even though she has been able to read them to herself for almost 2 years).

[Velvetta]

Yes I relised last night that The Night Garden doesn't cut it anymore.