• General Recommendations
  • Staff-Created List

Transitioning to Chapter Books

Selecting the right chapter book for your young reader can be challenging. Finding something that is interesting and not too difficult is important in order to encourage young readers and not overwhelm them. Some tips: - Look through the book to see if it's a good fit (and don't just rely on the publisher's age recommendation) - Make sure the topic is something that your reader is interested in - If there are more than 5 words on the page that your reader has trouble with, look for a different book Look for: - Short chapters - Some pictures - Larger print Check out this list of books especially for young readers new to chapter books! All of these titles belong to a series so if you find something you like, check myBPL to see what other titles in the series we have.

19 items

  • The Hello Hedgehog series is about Harry and his best friend Hedgehog. The two friends have fun together, learn together, and help each other out. These books have a graphic novel feel to them with full colour illustrations on every page,…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2022. — J FIC Feuti
  • The Fox Tails series is about the adventures of two fox friends and their pet dog. These books have a graphic novel feel to them with full colour illustrations on every page, containing mostly dialogue. Speech bubbles are…
    BookNew York : Acorn/Scholastic Inc., 2021. — J FIC Kugle
  • The Dragon series by popular author Dav Pilkey is a heart-warming series about Dragon as he goes about his daily life. Sometimes he makes mistakes, but he tries hard to fix them. There are full colour illustrations on every page. The text…
    BookNew York : Scholastic Inc., 2020, c1991. — J FIC Pilke
  • The books in the Crabby series are about Crabby and their friends as they try to get Crabby to play with them. These books have a graphic novel feel to them with full colour illustrations on every page, containing mostly dialogue. Speech…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2019. — J FIC Fensk
  • The Fairylight Friends series is about the adventures of a group of fairy friends. There are full colour illustrations on every page, and the text is a mix of narration and dialogue. Speech bubbles are colour-coordinated to specific…
    BookNew York : Scholastic Inc., 2021. — J FIC Young
  • The Meg and Greg books are about two 10-year-old best friends and their fun adventures! These books are designed for shared reading between a child learning to read and an experienced reader. The stories have special features to help a…
    Book[Victoria, B.C.] : Orca Book Publishers, 2023. — J FIC Rae
  • The Press Start series is great for video game fanatics. Follow the adventures of Super Rabbit Boy as he battles the meanie King Viking. There are full colour illustrations throughout, with an average of around 30 words per page. The books…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2023. — J FIC Flint
  • The Diary of a Pug series is about a pug named Bub and his misadventures with his human, Bella. There are full colour illustrations throughout, with some text-heavy pages (some pages have up to 50 words). The books in this series are…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2023. — J FIC May
  • The Owl Diaries series features friendship stories starring adorable animal characters! There are full colour illustrations on most pages. Some pages are light on text, others can have up to 50 words. The books in this series are around 80…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholastic, Inc., 2023. — J FIC Ellio
  • The Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol series is about Andres and Desmond, two friends who work together to catch ghosts, monsters, and mischief makers (even though Andres is afraid of everything). There are black and white illustrations on most…
    BookNew York : Little Simon, 2021. — J FIC Miedo
  • The Critter Club series tell the stories of different characters and their adventures with adorable critters. There are black and white illustrations on most pages. There is at most around 60 words per page. The books in this series are…
    BookNew York : Little Simon, 2022.
  • The Rabbit and Bear series is about a pair of unlikely friends as they navigate life in the forest. There are colour and black and white illustrations throughout. The length of text varies by page, with around 60 words per page being the…
    BookSan Diego, CA : Silver Dolphin, 2021. — J FIC Gough
  • The Notebook of Doom series is about Alexander, the new kid who discovers all sorts of monsters in his new town! There are black and white illustrations on most pages. Pages can have up to 70 words. The books in this series are around 95…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2018. — J FIC Cummi
  • The Heidi Heckelbeck series is about Heidi and her friends at Brewster Elementary, and the charming adventures they go on as they deal with everyday childhood challenges. There are black and white illustrations on most pages. There are…
    BookNew York : Little Simon, 2021. — J FIC Coven
  • The Super Turbo series is about a classroom hamster, Turbo, and the shenanigans he gets up to after the bell rings. There are black and white illustrations on almost every page. Some pages feature comic book style illustrations with speech…
    BookNew York : Little Simon, 2018. — J FIC Kirby
  • The Princess in Black series is a humorous adventure series about Princess Magnolia, and her alter ego, the Princess in Black. There are full colour illustrations on most pages. Some pages have sparse text, other pages can have up to 80…
    BookSomerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2023. — J FIC Hale
  • Stink

    Superhero Superfan

    McDonald, Megan
    The Stink series is about the humorous adventures of a boy named Stink. There are black and white illustrations throughout, but also some pages that are text-only. There can be around 100 words on a page. The books in this series are…
    BookSomerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2023. — J FIC McDon
  • The Galaxy Zack series is about Zack, his new friends, and his adventurous space explorations! There are black and white illustrations on most pages. Some pages have up to 100 words. The books in this series are around 115 pages in length.
    BookNew York : Little Simon, 2017. — J FIC O'Ryan
  • The Unicorn Rescue Society series is an exciting and hilarious new series about friendship, adventure, and mythical creatures from around the world. There are black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. Most pages are text…
    BookNew York : Dutton Children's Books, 2021. — J FIC Gidwi