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  1. The best way for a 1st grader to enjoy Charlotte’s Web is sitting on mom’s (or dad’s) lap! 🙂

  2. Thank you!!!!! I have a houseful of ‘early readers’. My 1st born read The Secret Garden (illustrated classic) when she was 5 (got it for her birthday) and hasn’t stopped reading since. Now she’s 10, and this summer, has already read The Hobbit and Little Women. It is very hard to find chapter books that are appropriate. Always has been. Nowadays, the books targeted at teens is alarming…and my 10 yr old thinks so too) But we started homeschooling last year and have been introduced to so many lovely classics! The point: She actually still LOVES picture books…as do her younger sisters ( who were also very early readers…but dont have quite the book passion as first-born). This has opened some wonderful new doors to help me do what I’ve always wanted: Keep them little. 🙂

  3. I can’t imagine trying to get a first grader to read Charlotte’s Web independently! I read chapter books aloud to my kids (like Charlotte’s Web), but we read 5x the number of picture books as chapter books. And I would never expect a little one to read anything but picture books on their own!

  4. Great post! I am planning our 1st & 2nd grade language arts homeschool curriculum around picture books.

  5. My first grader, well, almost second, loves chapter books. She reads all the time and reads her favorites repeatedly. I won’t let her read just anything but she’s read Charlotte’s Web, and loves Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Phantom Tollbooth. I’ve been reading these books myself over the last or so and as she got stronger in kindergarten and saw me reading a lot, she wanted to as well. It was her own progression, not something I forced. I have often talked about reading them aloud together but she doesn’t want to. She does like to be read to but such things as Shel Silverstein and Big Truths for Little Kids (a catechism book).

  6. I just want to say that I felt the same way. Until, I read Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me …. She is also a Christian and a professor. I very much liked what she had to say about literature. I also disagree with the thought that you will give up as much as you have said. There is A LOT to be said for chapter books. Also, I raised four children who are now adults and now have three little ones. You can NOT protect them from everything. Forbidding exposure leads to curious children. I learned that the hard way.

  7. Great post! But you didn’t really address the first question. IMO, it depends on the child. Two of my sisters and I loved to read chapter books (Narnia, Boxcar Children) at young ages (grades 1-2). I was done with picture books by first grade. At 6, another one of my sisters enjoyed reading both mini chapter books AND picture books. I wouldn’t really rush the chapter book thing. When he/she is ready, you’ll know.

  8. Oh yes, the one thing I would keep parents aware of: I wouldn’t recommend letting a 3rd grader read a YA novel. For younger readers wanting chapter books, I think you should be safe reading the Newbery books. I’ve read a lot of them and haven’t came across any major issues. Contemporary children’s novels, anything romance, scifi, fantasy, and YA many times are full of today’s society.

  9. I think as in all things we can swing too far, so I wouldn’t actually try to keep an early reader from chapter books, especially if they are clearly displaying comprehension. I do appreciate this post though, I always wondered at his desire to read way below his level, despite my own affinity for picture books, and am comforted to know that as always he was intuitively filling his own needs. Another idea I’ll put forward is to read the novels together. My son could easily read Narnia on his own but I read it to him because of the opportunity to discuss our reactions and interpretations together.

  10. Was wondering why my advanced 2nd grader hates chapter books. Turns out he’s just wiser than his momma. Your post makes so much sense of it all now. You know, I even think this afternoon, he was trying to convey to me the low quality of his chapter book (that i forced him to read). I now suspect that it’s one of those books you mentioned that has been written as a chapter book just to appeal to ambitious parents. My eyes have been opened. Thank you.

  11. I personally have a VERY reluctant reader. I started teaching my daughter to read when she was 5, but didn’t get serious about it until almost seven. She is now almost 8. I kept trying to get her to read picture books. She would pretend not to be able to pronounce words that she could, especially around grandparents! She also would ‘read’ a book on her own and when asked to describe what the book was about, she would just tell me what was in the pictures, like I wouldn’t notice. So, I took away the picture books for learning to read and went for Charlotte’s Web. She still owns around 50 picture books, but she was almost 8 and wouldn’t read anything. At first, it would take her an hour to read 1 page and now she can read a few chapters in an hour. Personally, I think if you are going to go to chapter books, pick a funny one! She has also read Cat Kid Comic club and is about to start the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. These ones are good for every kid!

  12. My five year old loves to read. He’ll read anything! He started out with “young” chapter books like Ivy and Bean and now he reads BFG, Mouse and the motorcycle, Bible, magazines, etc. He still reads the picture books and the in between books as well. He’s like his mama! Both my kids were learning sight words at age 3. My daughter got impatient with me and said….”I want to read!” So I started teaching her sight words and she took off! She’s now 7 years old and reads at a third grade level!

  13. Well of course you run to the bookstore to buy books. That’s the only appropriate way to celebrate reading.

  14. My 5 year old LOVES reading, she always has. We have probably around 200 to 300 picture books, maybe even more… grandmothers on both sides worked in childcare, I did for awhile too, so we are always finding new books. We love picture books, but when her brother was born this past year, I noticed the quality of reading time with picture books was losing its spark.. so I tried different chapter books, she wasn’t super interested until I found a series on pet rescue stories (she wants to run an animal shelter and loves animals dearly) reading one or two chapter together each day (we homeschool so sometimes more!) But the rule was, we read it together first before she got to keep it. Now she is so excited when she gets to read the book herself, as well as enjoying the time reading it together. I would say, dont caution against reading chapter books if the child wants to and interested.. but dont force it either. Know what your kids are reading, read with them when possible, but remember that the ultimate reason to learn to read is to read the Word of God! So encourage reading while also encouraging discernment of what we are reading! But saying dont let a child read chapter books because by 3rd grade they will read young adult novels is a bit much… there are plenty of books out there that are good book, so teach your child how to find them instead of keeping them in the dark. Help a child who loves reading to learn to read the right things… my 5 year old has a childrens bible (NIrV) with no pictures and loves to take it and sit and look at the pages, can she really read it? Probably not really, but the concept of her learning to be able to read it is the whole point of offering it to her, name imprinted on it and everything.

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