I'm looking for recommendations for a five year old reading at a grade 2+ level. He loves Pokemon and will look through the pokemon encyclopedias for hours, he enjoyed reading the Press Start books and Unicorn diaries. He enjoyed listening to the Magic Treehouse books and Megabat, but wasn't too interested in reading them independently because there was too much text on each page.
I'm hoping to find something for him that is fun, silly, and really grabs his attention with age appropriate content (preferably not graphic-novel style).
by UnfairCartographer88
12 Comments
*Space Brat* by Bruce Coville has a lot of goofy stuff and booger jokes, and should be more or less age-appropriate. I think it also includes some illustrations.
My Father’s Dragon
My almost-five year old enjoys the Galaxy Zack series. There are illustrations, but I wouldn’t classify it as a graphic novel.
My son was an early reader and he very much enjoyed Geronimo Stilton at that age. The best part is there are lots of books if he really likes them. Lots of fun pictures and the text layout is engaging
Have you tried the Dahl books? They contain a lot of small illustrations. Try Fantastic Mr Fox and the Giraffe, Pelly and Me. These are two of the shorter books with a lot of illustrations.
The Bunnicula series by James Howe. Bunnicula is a vampire bunny that sucks the juice out of vegetables.
The great brain by John Fitzgerald
Little house on the prairie by Laura Ingles Wilder
I can’t remember how young I was, but Phantom Tollbooth was my favorite childhood book. My mom tells stories about me sitting and giggling as I read.
My kiddo was into Magic Treehouse at that age, but it was in part because there was another kid whom he was “competing with” to see who could read more. Maybe find him a reading buddy?
In the meantime, we loved funny series with illustrations at that age. These all have less text per page and may work. I don’t personally care about some toilet humor if it gets my kiddo reading, but preview Tom Angleberger if that’s likely to bother you:
There are some Pokémon “novels,” but I’m assuming you’ve seen these. They were a huge hit with my Pokémon lover.
Tom Angleberger books about Inspector Flytrap and Didi Dodo, etc.
The Rabbit and Bear series, Julian Gough
The Chicken Squad series, Doreen Cronin
Tales from Deckawoo Drive—Mercy Watson and all of her pals, Kate DiCamillo
Narwhal and Jellyfish series
Captain Underpants
My son is a bit older, but discovered Dragon Masters in first grade and loves them. They have a lot of pictures, but the text reads like a “real” book.
Captain Underpants or Diary of a Wimpy Kid?