We’ve gotten back into the swing of reading books every night to our daughters. Sometimes the summer can throw off your whole routine and things get forgotten. We’ve been visiting the library a lot lately to pick out chapter books to read together to get her excited about reading more. She will have to do a lot more reading this coming school year, so why not prepare her during the summer months.
So I decided it was time to start on some good chapter books that she could read on her own. I asked friends on Facebook to weigh in on their kid’s favorite first chapter books, and I got a lot of really great suggestions. Here are some of their suggestions:
Junie B Jones
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Magic Treehouse
Little House on the Prairie
Heidi Hecklebeck
Captain Underpants
With Thrift Books, I was able to get a bunch of great used books at fantastic prices. So I ended up getting a handful of first books in different series. I found most of them in the Thrift Deals section also, so I was able to get a bunch of books for $20! They have an unbeatable selection of 7 million books, honest/accurate grading and features that help you find out-of-print and second-hand treasures, all for the lowest everyday price on the internet. There is a Wish List feature that allows you to add books that you are looking for to a list and when they become available you’ll get an email letting you know. So if you have a hard to find or out of print book, this is an excellent way to snag it!
Shipping was free as well. Since I bought this collection of chapter books, I’ve already gone back and bought the second book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. They just had a huge sale to celebrate J.K. Rowlings birthday, so I was able to finish our Harry Potter collection (in Hardbacks) for only $23.
Thrift Books also has a Reading Rewards program that was introduced to provide registered members of Thriftbooks.com with special reward, discount, and promotional offers. Every every 500 points you earn on ThriftBooks.com; you’ll receive a FREE book ($5 in value), which after browsing the site can be either one book free or one and half the price of another. You can’t beat free books! I’m only 5 points away from my first reward.
There are two tiers that allow you to earn points. In the first level, you earn 8 points per every $1 you spend. After you spend $100 you reach Literati level and start earning 10 points for every $1. This earns you points faster so more free books!
So here are the books we ended up getting to start our new chapter book reading adventure. Keep in mind we are big Disney lovers, so there are a few that we picked up.
The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide
Disney Fairies: Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon
Heidi Hecklebeck Has a Secret
Never Girls: In a Blink
Judy Moody was in a Mood
The Adventures of Captain Underpants
Magic Tree House: Dinosaur’s Before Dark
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1
Pixie Tricks: Sprite’s Secret
We decided to read The Spiderwick Chronicles first because my daughter expressed interest in mystery and fantasy, which this book has both. Each day, we read a chapter or two before bed. We will let her read the first couple of pages to practice sounding out the hard words and then take over so that she isn’t missing the story. When she gets more comfortable reading, she will be able to flow through the whole book.
It’s funny when my oldest daughter is reading, my youngest will repeat everything she is saying, so we get to hear the book in echo form. We all end up giggling at how funny it sounds.