My 7yOld Son’s Favorite Books for Beginning Readers

Best Books for Beginning Readers

I was reading a post from Delightful Children’s Book, an excellent kids’ book blog,  when she confesses to hiding the fantasy chapter books her son prefers underneath the realistic fiction that she’d rather he read. I am the same about wanting my kids to read the carefully chosen books that I have selected for each of my kids. It’s just like the cobbler’s kids not having shoes, right? The children’s book bloggers’ kids all want to pick books on their own that are not sanctioned.

And so, in this vein, I am posting the books that my son has chosen to read since school was out. Most of these books, he’s asked me to purchase from the Scholastic flyers that come home or asked for them at the library. These are not the books that I’d have necessarily picked for him but I have decided that it’s all good. Developing a love of reading does entail reading books that your child prefers. I’ve also snuck in picture books for him to review for me by strewing them about my bedroom where they are easy to find since we are lazy at night when we search for a bedtime story.

And so, his reviews are below. My notes are in italics.

Beginning Chapter Books

Hiro’s Quest by Tracey West, illustrated by Craig Phillips

It was awesome. I loved that everyone could turn into their own special animal and it’s not too scary.

He loves anything ninja, I think because he also loves karate. These books are single read-only so I suggest the library. We have the next two on reserve from neighboring libraries as ours doesn’t tend to buy Scholastic beginning chapter book series. I have to admit that this series is not half-bad and counts as multicultural since it has Asian references.

Underworlds series by Tony Abbott

An easy beginning chapter book series perfect for those newly independent readers who will grow into Percy Jackson in a few years. I like the mythology in this series. We read two of these during the last month of school.

I liked it but I stopped at the second book because it wasn’t as interesting as the other chapter books but I liked it but it wasn’t that good of a series.

The Battle Begins

When Monsters Escape

Revenge of the Scorpion King 

Miss Daisy is Crazy by Dan Gutman

I loved it. It was very funny but it was very predictable about what was going to happen next.

Mr. Klutz is Nuts by Dan Gutman

I loved it. It was extremely funny and you can never expect anything that he would do.

Mrs. Roopy is Loopy by Dan Gutman

I really liked it. It was funny that she dressed up as all these different characters from nursery rhymes for nursery rhyme week and she didn’t even know she did it.

Graphic Novels for Little Boys

Cameron and the Dinosaurs by Scott Christian Sava, illustrated by Andres Silva Blanco

I loved it. It was awesome.

Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler

I like it. It’s good but not as entertaining as the other books.

Hardy Boys The New Case Files #1: Crawling with Zombies by Gerry Conway

I liked it but I was wondering how the makeup made them turn into zombies and I think it was kind of toxic.

Ninjago, The Challenge of Samukai by Gregg Farshtey and Paulo Henrique

I liked it and how there are all these different sections and I think it would be great for kids from the middle of Kindergarten to a little bit of first grade.

Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Volume 4 by Liam O’Donnell

I liked all of the Max Finder books and some of the riddles were really tricky and I think kids ages 5 to 8 would like this series very much.

Knights of the Lunch Table: No. 1 by Frank Cammuso

I loved it but I didn’t like that Arthur lied about being a master of dodgeball and I never would have guessed that his secret weapon was a pet spider.

Bionicle #1: Rise of the Toa Nuva  by Greg Farshtey

We had trouble with this graphic novel. It was slightly too scary but the real problem is that we could not keep track of who was who. We mixed up the bad guys with the good guys and the Bionicles are hard to recognize if they are not standing upright. Overall, this was just too confusing.

I think it was a good book but I couldn’t understand it that well. And if I did, I think I would like it a little more.

We also read these picture books from Camp Mom Week 1. Some are old favorites and some were new books to review. He liked all of them but especially the Dinotrux books (dinosaurs and trucks are a good combination for him.). He thought How to Babysit a Grandpa was funny. He loved Wild About Books so the same cast of animals and author/illustrator) in Zoozical delighted him. You Will Be My Friend also made him laugh.

New Delightful and Funny Picture Books

Picture Books That He Has Loved for Years

More New Picture Books He Liked

To examine any of the items listed, please click on image of item.

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p.s. Related posts:

Best Beginning Chapter Books for 2nd and 3rd Grade

10 Perfect Read Aloud Books for 2nd Grade

Olympic Chapter Books & Non-Fiction For 4th Grade & 2nd Grade

New Books for 1st and 2nd Grade

New Chapter Books for 2nd Grade through 7th Grade

Chapter Books for 2nd Grade through 8th Grade

Best Books for 2nd Grade Girl but No Animals Talking, Fantasy or Adoption Themes

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