Drake is slowly moving toward chapter books as his reading advances. We still like picture books, and I would like to keep it that way for many reasons, but I think it’s good Drake gets exposed to trying longer books with bigger themes and series that longer than a few books. We’ve read a few series together and I’m looking for new ones to grow Drake’s interest and see which ones resonate with him the most. Here are ones we have tried or are looking into trying.
Dragon Masters – This was the first series we started with as my best friend gifted Drake the series for Christmas. At first, Drake wasn’t into them that much (and the main character’s name is Drake!), but after a few books that changed and he got more excited about it. It’s a nice starting book since there are a lot of illustrations on almost every page so the transition from picture books is easier. I personally love the storyline and was eager to read every night along with Drake. We are now done with the series and are impatiently waiting for book 8 to come out in September.
Magic Treehouse – When Drake wasn’t too into Dragon Masters for a while I decided to try a different series to see if it would help and stumbled upon the Magic Treehouse. I bought one book and Drake liked it so much so now we are slowly making our way through the series. The series is about a brother and sister and a magic treehouse that transports them to different worlds within books they look at. So far we have read about dinosaurs, knights, mummies, and pirates and Drake is enjoying this series a lot.
The Secret Zoo – I just stumbled upon this chapter book series and the title alone was enough to make me hit buy. Knowing Drake’s love of animals I couldn’t see how a book series about zoo animals and adventures wouldn’t appeal to him. I don’t think there are illustrations in this one, but I’m hoping the content and the cover will pull Drake in enough. It has hundreds of positive reviews and I’m actually quite excited to try this one too myself!
The Boxcar Children – I remember reading this series when I was a kid so I thought it would be fun to introduce Drake to it too. I might even still have them at my mom’s house and plan on searching one weekend. It’s such a classic series that I think Drake will enjoy it.
Eerie Elementary – This series was created by Scholastic Branches which is the same creator of the Dragon Masters series. I love the formatting of these books because there are pictures on every page, helping make the book more interesting and keep kids of this age who are used to picture books engaged.
The Kingdom of Wrenly – Drake liked the book about knights from the Magic Treehouse series and I love a good ole fashioned medieval story, so this looks like one that might please us both.
apricot / 317 posts
DS1 loves Dragonmasters. He liked magic Treehouse at first, but he’s not as into them as a few others. If you haven’t tried the Chicken Squad books by Doreen Cronin, they have been a HUGE hit at my house. She’s the same author who wrote “Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type.” There’s also Bailey School Kids, Cam Jansen, Horrible Harry, and the Wayside School books. DS went from really needing chapter books like these for independent reading at the beginning of the year to really devouring whole books in a day or two. Unfortunately, he’s now gotten into “Captain Underpants.” We’re letting him read them…but I’m not overjoyed at the sense of humor in them.