Anonymous wrote:Magic Tree House

We tried these in K, but they were too hard for both of my kids and just awful to read out loud. Saved them until they could read them on their own!

Anonymous wrote:Along with Mercy Watson and My Father’s Dragon trilogy, usually read Mr. Popper’s Penguins to my k class.
At that age I also began the Ramona books with my daughter.
She also enjoyed the Princess in Black and Owl Diaries series.

I would save Ramona for later - they end in 4th grade, so it's perfect for a 2nd grader who can really relate to all of it.

Magic Tree House

Anonymous wrote:Owl diaries

My kindergartner loves the Owl Diaries.

Bad Guys series

Anonymous wrote:I'm a PP, and I can't believe I forgot:

* The Growly books (independently published, but really good)
* Tumtum and Nutmeg (don't be dissuaded by the size of the books, they are printed as 2 books that each contain 3 stand-alone chapter books)

Tumtum and Nutmeg is the best!!! Read when my daughter was about 4.5, and she's 9 and just mentioned it last week.
I was going to say anything by Dick King-Smith. Lots of them are about mice.

My kindergartener enjoys the Heidi Heckelbeck and Mermaid Tales series.

Toys Go Out & sequels by Emily Jenkins
Babe & other books by Dick King-Smith

Owl diaries

Scholastic has a group of books called “Branches” books that are chapter books for beginning readers. My kids love most of the series.

I agree with another previous poster that longer more complex picture books work well and builds comprehension skills. It’s also a great time to let them read fairy tales and myth stories.

- Merryn’s Journey
- Big Book of Fairy Tales
- Norse Myths
- Anansi
- Berenstain Bears
- Geronimo Stilton/Thea Stilton(may need help but has good vocabulary)
- Flat Stanley
- Magic School Bus(original and Rides Again)
- Magic Tree House
- Zoey and Sassafras
- BoxCar Children
- Paddington
-DK Readers (Level 3, 4, 5)
-Animal Inn
-Sadiq
-Marley Series

My 4.5 yo is obsessed with the Dragon Masters series and The Last Firehawk series. She also loved the Dory Fantasmagory and Princess in Black books.

Anonymous wrote:Not all of these have talking animals:

Winnie the Pooh
Paddington
My Father's Dragon
A Cricket in Times Square
The Wind in the Willows
Beverly Cleary
Flat Stanley
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Gail Carson Levine's Princess Tales
The Littles

Picture Book, not chapter book, but highly recommend The Quiltmaker's Gift. It's got a lot of text for a picture book and the illustrations are amazing. It has a great message too.

Cricket in Times Square contains a lot of ching chong racist talk from the old man in Chinatown. It was one of my husband's favorite books when he was a kid but we tossed it. My kindergartener also loves the Anna Hibiscus books. You could also check out the Clementine series and the Lulu books.

I’m going to second the Brambly Hedge books. They feel like both chapter and picture books and have the kind of illustrations you can get really lost in.

My daughter is probably not reading as well as yours but likes Ling and Ting books. We read the Critter Club series together, trading off paragraphs or sentences. Lots of animals and some feelings/friend conflict but at a level that feels familiar to a girl in Kindergarten-2nd grade. Zoey and Sassafras and the Kitty series (girl by day, cat by night) are also good mixes of animals and light fantasy.

The Anna Hibiscus series isn't talking animals, but my kids have all tracked along with it at 4 years old and there's only 4 chapters per each book (it's technically an early chapter book, but it's the kind that's still complex and compelling enough to be a read-aloud for younger kids, too).