Puppy Place, Boxcar Children. My DD was hit or miss in second grade. Her motivation and stamina for reading really improved in 3rd grade. I wouldn’t push/worry too much about a second grader. I think reading to them also still has a lot of value at that age.

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of good options in the mystery genre. Boxcar Children, A to Z Mysteries, Cam Jansen, Patrick Picklebottom, Encylopedia Brown, etc.

You could also try something like Percy Jackson. Some of them aren't that hard to read, though they can fell daunting due to the length.

Percy Jackson can get into some heavy stuff, as well as lean a little romantic.

Cam Jensen
A-Z Mysteries

My daughter has been racing through Puppy Place - they are quite short.

I wouldn't disregard the graphic novels for building reading "stamina." Babysitter's Club Little Sister, DogMan/Cat Kid were all hits with my kids at those ages.

I suggest pairing written books with the audiobook counterparts. My kids had a much easier time reading long books if they had listened to the audiobook first.

The Lemony Snickett Unfortunate Events audio books have amazing production quality, Tim Curry is the narrator and they have a full cast playing all the roles. The audiobooks are super well done and my kids were really motivated to read the books themselves after listening to them.

Scholastic generally seems to throw a lot of money behind audiobook recordings and are pretty well done.

What about the Humphrey series?

Both my kids adored Max and the MidKnights at that age. Other books they were into: Timmy Failure, Phoebe and her Unicorn, all things Roald Dahl, Dory Fantasmagory, Hamster Princess, and Tom Gates.

Mac B. Kid Spy

There are a lot of good options in the mystery genre. Boxcar Children, A to Z Mysteries, Cam Jansen, Patrick Picklebottom, Encylopedia Brown, etc.

You could also try something like Percy Jackson. Some of them aren't that hard to read, though they can fell daunting due to the length.