“Chapter books,” in my library, are what I think of as “bridge” books between early readers (think Frog & Toad, Elephant & Piggie, etc.) and longer, more complex fiction. Chapter books are the sweet spot for emerging readers whose decoding and comprehension has improved beyond early readers, but who may not yet be ready – in terms of reading ability or emotional maturity – for longer, in-depth works like Freewater, The Eyes and the Impossible, and The First State of Being (the last three Newbery medal winners). They often have black-and-white spot illustrations or even full color illustrations (like The Princess in Black and Our Friend Hedgehog), but they aren’t picture books.
Here, I want to focus on those chapter books that I find myself recommending to families over and over again at the library and out in the wild. If your favorite go-tos aren’t on this list, I’d love to hear about them too!
Series
The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham: These are surefire hits for most kids moving out of early reader territory. Magnolia may look all pretty and proper in pink, but when the monster alarm goes off, she ducks into a closet, changes into all black, and goes off to fight monsters! The fight scenes have plenty of silly sound effects. The audiobooks, read by Julia Whelan, are exceptionally good.- Dory Fantamagory by Abby Hanlon: Dory is one of my all-time favorite characters, with a clear division between her real world (mom, dad, older siblings Violet and Luke) and her imaginary one (villain Mrs. Gobblegracker, fairy godmother Mr. Nuggy, and monster Mary under the bed). Throughout the series, Dory makes a best friend (The Real True Friend), struggles with learning to read (Dory Dory Black Sheep), plays soccer with a former enemy (Center of the Universe), and more.
- Ivy & Bean
by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall: The first book in this series has a killer opening sentence: “Before Bean met Ivy, she didn’t like her.” Soon, of course, the two are thick as thieves and get into all kinds of mischief together. My favorite book in the series is What’s the Big Idea?, where Ivy and Bean work together on a science project to make grown-ups love nature so they’ll want to protect it (it’s not as didactic as it sounds). - Desmond Cole, Ghost Patrol by Andres Miedoso and Eerie Elementary by Jack Chabert: These are series I recommend for kids who want something silly/scary/creepy/gross. They’re a little less horror genre than Goosebumps (but we have Goosebumps in the chapter book section too, for kids who want those!).
- The Questioneers by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts: Kids who loved the Questioneers picture books (e.g. Rosie Revere, Engineer), or who are familiar with the TV show Ada Twist, Scientist can move right up with Rosie, Iggy, Ada, and Sofia, who use teamwork and individual skills to solve problems and mysteries.
- Jo Jo Makoons by Dawn Quigley, illustrated by Tara Audibert: Spunky seven-year-old Jo Jo lives on a fictional Ojibwe reservation (the first book in the series was an AILA middle grade honor book) and goes through all the usual kid conundrums, from making new friends to getting a snow day to facing a sleepover.
- Book Buddies by Cynthia Lord, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin: In Ivy, Lost and Found, a formerly beloved doll ends up in a library collection for children to borrow. Each doll and stuffed animal in the collection gets a book for the adventures they have when they go home with the children who check them out. If young readers like this one, they might move on to Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins or even The Borrowers by Mary Norton.
Zoey & Sassafras by Asia Citro, illustrated by Marion Lindsay: This series is a brilliant blend of science (the scientific method) and fantasy (magical creatures and plants). It’s really fun!- The Story of Gumluck the Wizard by Adam Rex: A crow named Helvetica narrates this tale of a bumbling but good-hearted little wizard. Gumluck stories are light fairytale-ish fantasy with plenty of humor and a dash of philosophy.
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker: I love, love, love third grader Clementine; she sits right next to Ramona Quimby in my heart. She lives with her family in Boston and refuses to call her brother by his given name (you never find out his real name, in all seven books) because it’s not fair she got stuck with a fruit name and he didn’t, so she always calls him different vegetable names (Cabbage, Spinach, Bok Choy, etc.). Her mom is an artist, her dad is the building handyman, and her upstairs neighbor Margaret is a perfectionist who frequently tells tales of the terrors of fourth grade. Jessica Almasy does an absolutely stellar job narrating the audiobooks, but don’t miss Marla Frazee’s interior illustrations.
The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class (Kate Messner, series editor): Five stars and two thumbs up for the concept and execution of this series, in which each of the 18 kids in Mrs. Z’s class at Curiosity Academy gets to star in their own book, each written by a different author. The series can be read in any order, though it’s not a bad idea to start with Messner’s series opener, Emma McKenna, Full Out. It’s a great way to introduce readers to a slew of authors whose books they may want to try next!
Standalone
Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo: This absolute darling full-color illustrated story is about friendship and moving and journeys. There’s a sequel, A Place to Call Home, but I’m still putting it in the standalone category, because it does. Castillo also writes and illustrates picture books; Nana in the City won a Caldecott Honor.- The Apartment House on Poppy Hill by Nina LaCour, illustrated by Sonia Albert: Nine-year-old Ella lives with her moms, and she is in everyone’s business!
But what is going on with her secretive upstairs neighbors? This one also has a sequel now (Ella Josephine, Resident in Charge), which is worth checking out. Ella is confident and organized, comfortable talking to adults and even helping them solve problems; she’s the kind of kid who dreams of leading meetings, and she’s fun to read about whether you are that kind of person yourself or not. - Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller: This 2025 Newbery Honor book is set in and around a New York City laundromat run by Magnolia’s parents.
When Magnolia’s new friend Iris encourages Magnolia to return lost socks to their owners, it’s an opportunity for Magnolia to show Iris everything she loves about the city, even though Iris misses her old home. The two encounter anti-Asian hate, but they love and are proud of their families and their community, and they figure out how to smooth the bumps in their growing friendship and come out stronger together. - The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi: Now ten years old, this story still appeals, especially to animal lovers and/or kids who are interested in wandering around Paris vicariously.
Bunnicula by James Howe: This “rabbit-tale of mystery” was published in 1979 and I contend that it holds up today. (There’s also a graphic novel version now.) Harold the dog and Chester the cat are appalled when their humans bring home a mysterious black and white rabbit they found while seeing the movie Dracula; Chester believes “Bunnicula” is a vampire bunny and goes to great lengths to vanquish him, to Harold’s unease. Pun-filled sequels follow (Howliday Inn, The Celery Stalks at Midnight), but the original stands alone.
So, those are some of my go-to recommendations. What’d I miss?
I decided our February book club would be the last one until summer, when I would run it again for a new group of rising K/1st graders. No one showed up for the program…but, there were plenty of kids and adults in the children’s room, so I invited them all in for a storytime instead. We read the same two books – Arihhonni David’s The Good Game and Who Will Win? – and used the coloring sheets I’d printed (a flying squirrel and a bat, characters in The Good Game), I just sprinkled in a few songs and rhymes as well: “Open Shut Them,” “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” and 
Three of the younger kids started with Robot Turtles, and the others began making codes for each other to decipher. I gave a basic explanation about how to use the Caesar cipher (or shift cipher), then helped the kids get Robot Turtles set up, then helped the ones who were having trouble figuring out the ciphers. (I think one thing that tripped them up initially was the letter-letter correspondence, rather than letter-number correspondence; the only number you need with this kind of cipher is the “shift,”; it’s not an A=1, B=2 kind of code.) But eventually, everyone figured it out, and then they could swap ciphered messages to decipher!
In the next few weeks, we’ll have a building challenge with blocks (we have both regular and life-size Jenga), a puzzle challenge (a 36-piece jigsaw with the picture showing, then upside down), penny boats, Snap Circuits, primary color painting (think Mix It Up!), and more. What STEAM activities do you like to do with kids?
The kids’ graphic novel book club I started last fall is still going strong, with about 4-7 kids attending each month. This month we read Lucky Scramble by Peter Raymundo, about a kid named Tyler who goes to a Rubik’s cube competition. Our icebreaker question was “What’s your favorite kind of puzzle?” and a lot of the kids said “Rubik’s cube,” even though none of us could solve one. (I said word puzzles, like wordle, and it turns out all of the kids also do the NYT puzzles!)
Last, the kids voted on which book to read next. The choices were Curveball by Pablo Cartaya, Pebble & Wren by Chris Hallbeck, and Puzzled by Pan Cooke. The first two got one vote each and Puzzled got two votes, so that will be our February book – but all three books got checked out. It was a good afternoon!
Jenny Arch 