Need Some Book Ideas for Your Beginning Reader?

Finding interesting books for a new reader can be difficult. We want to find the "right" book for each child, one they want to read and one with a little help they can read. For the newest ones, you can find seasonal books with some good tips to help your emerging reader at EDventures With Kids.

For kids ready to advance to chapter books, Melissa Taylor has 30 ideas for Beginning Chapter Books with Diverse Main Characters. The great thing about these books is that many of them are part of a series.

Children's author, Doreen Cronin, wrote an article for Brightly about the joys of reading funny books with your kids. As an added bonus she gives you some suggestions and some of them like Dory Fantasmagory are part of a series.

Chapter Books for Beginning Readers

Nerdy Book Club contributor, Arika Dickens, has written an article about books she thinks are surefire hits for transitioning readers to chapter books. An added bonus is that all but The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes are the first in a trilogy or series. You can find her post here. Some of these books have been reviewed on this blog: Lulu and the Brontosaurus, Dory Fantasmagory and Bink and Gollie. Please note that two of these books are written by two time Newbery Medalist  Kate DiCamillo. It is wonderful that such a distinguished author is writing for beginning readers.

Hat tip: Growing Book by Book

Dory Fantasmagory

Dory is the youngest child in her family,. She is curious and has plenty of imagination. All she really wants is to be invited to play with her sister, Violet and brother, Luke. They think she acts like a baby and  find her annoying. All they really want is for Dory to leave them alone. Violet and Luke tell Dory about Mrs. Gobble Cracker, who is 507 years old with very sharp teeth and steals baby girls. They have heard that Mrs. Gobble Cracker is looking for Dory so she’d better stop acting like a baby.  Dory and her imaginary friend, Mary, concoct schemes to evade Mrs. Gobble Cracker which continue to annoy her siblings. After vanquishing Mrs. Gobble Cracker, she saves the day (or the doll)  which keeps Violet and Luke from getting into trouble. In gratitude she is invited to play.
Dory Fantasmagory is written and illustrated by new author Abby Hanlon.  There are several copies available at the Sonoma County Library. A sequel, Dory and the Real True Friend will be published on July 7, 2015. My six year old granddaughters love this book. It is a great read-a-loud book, too.