Comments on: Best Animal-Themed Early Chapter Books for Kids

By: Laurel

Laurel — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 23:47:28 +0000

Fantastic list, thank you! My youngest is just starting to read at this level and now I have some new ideas. She particularly loves The Lighthouse Family series. It’s so lyrical that she’s able to stretch her reading skills and doesn’t get frustrated because she loves them so much and wants to read the beautiful phrases. We are also working our way through the Sophie Mouse series, which is probably her just-right level. She’s reading these books aloud to us now and is just on the cusp of reading them silently to herself. So glad to have more things to try out on her!

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 17:14:08 +0000

In reply to EmilyH. Wonderful! I'm so glad you found some books you like! Happy reading.

By: EmilyH

EmilyH — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 03:31:58 +0000

I just typed "early chapter books animals" into google and came upon your amazing website! Thank you SO much. This list is so perfectly targeted for my animal loving 7 year old. I desperately want to spend this summer helping her transition out of the early reader books and into chapter books, but even as a former teacher, I was struggling to find easy enough stuff for her. We read two Lulu books last week (one from each series) and started Down Girl and Sit tonight. They were all total hits! I just requested from the library about 15 more from this list and another on your site to get us through the first few weeks of summer. I'm so excited! Thank you so so much! Looking forward to exploring the rest of the site!

By: Erica

Erica — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 22:00:27 +0000

In reply to Lorrie. I'm so glad the list is helpful!

By: Lorrie

Lorrie — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 17:27:26 +0000

Thank you for this list. My 3rd grader needs a book report book with an animal as the main character. She's not a big reader, so the books I thought of at first, like Bunnicula or the Criket in Times Square are too advanced or may not keep her attention. The books you've listed are perfect! She will love them. They're at the right level and are entertaining enough to keep her reading. I'm so glad I found your list!

By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 12:51:45 +0000

In reply to Janina Barnes. Thank you for the recommendations!

By: Janina Barnes

Janina Barnes — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 17:46:28 +0000

Humphrey's Tiny Tales by Betty Birney are excellent early chapter books, especially if the parent has been reading the (harder) According To Humphrey series out loud. My third grader has just started to be an independent reader. After finishing one of the Princess in Black books, she just read one of the Humprey's Tiny Tales books and said it is just the right level for her. Now if I can just find more books at that level! :-)

By: Theresa Oakes

Theresa Oakes — Fri, 13 May 2016 23:53:49 +0000

Our librarian suggested the Claude books to my animal book loving son and wow did we giggle! Funny stuff with great illustrations that can be studied over and over!

By: Erica MomandKiddo

Erica MomandKiddo — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:35:09 +0000

In reply to Linn Reights. Linn, I'm not really qualified to give advice to authors, having never worked as an editor or in the publishing industry.

By: Linn Reights

Linn Reights — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:30:26 +0000

Hello Erica... My name is Linn Reights, children's book author, I recently submitting a book to a literary agent from my children's book series. The feed back that I received was "my book didn't clearly define which age group it was targeting Middle Grade or Picture Books." The agent suggested that I either add more character and scene descriptions for Picture books or turn the animals in the book (series) into humans for Middle Grade readers. But with MUCH JOY I came across your blog about early chapter books for children that are designed to introduce chapter books (novels) to beginners. In the blog you mentioned the use of animals as main characters in the early chapter books. (This has given me hope for my books) I've been researching how to write an early chapter book but most of the articles I've come across state that animals shouldn't be used in chapter book novels (not early chapter books). Could you recommend some tips on what would be good guidelines to use when writing early chapter books? Or should I just follow the chapter book guidelines and ignore the advice to not use animals? Grateful, Linn