Books for 5 year old

[Eminybob]

I’d like to get DS into reading a bit more - he happily reads his school reading books, and simple baby books to his baby brother.

He is in year 1, he is on the oxford reading tree level 5 (currently reading the magic key series), he is always reading signs, posters, words on the telly etc, so he is reasonably confident but not completely fluent.

I was wondering if there are any chapter book series that might be ok for his level? I don’t want to discourage him by trying anything out of his depth.

Horrid Henry is good as it mixes text with pictures, but might be a little way ahead. DD is on a different scheme but did read the magic key books last year in year 1, so I'm trying to think of the right level.

Zoe's Rescue Zoo were good and there are a number of books by Michael Rosen that might work. The Book People website has a selection of book collections that might be worth looking at?

I agree with Pragmatic, but also how about a trip to the library? They often have quite a few early reader books from different schemes, and you and your DS can have fun choosing a few.

Try the early readers at the library. My 6 year old loves them. Year 1, on the 'owls' banding. But anything that she's interested I she reads, fairy stories, children dictionaries and lately a picture thesaurus.

Our school kept the kids on much easier books than they were capable off (as proven by a school change, and a shift from orange band to free reading chapter books), so depending on how easily he reads the school books, I'd go for a mixed box set - something like this

Sounds like my DD, also Y1, on green/level5/magic key, and also constantly reading everything in the environment.

How easy are these level 5 books for your DS?

DD is finding them very easy. She reads three in one go, and without stumbling or pausing for any words, except for the occasional unfamiliar long-ish word like 'toboggan' or 'narrator' where she pauses for a moment and applies her phonics to work it out.
I think she could easily be reading a couple of levels higher.

If your DS is similar, I would strongly recommend the Magic Treehouse series. My DS (in Y5 now) started with these when he was in Y1 and reading Purple level books (level 8) and it was just right. I am going to try these on DD now despite being only on level 5, but only because I think she 'ought' to be on level 7 or so.
The Magic Treehouse books are a long series (over 100 books). Four together make a mini-series, and each one is a complete story. The beauty is that they come on pretty much every topic under the sun, so you can go by your child's interests to get them started. DS was into Ninjago and ninjas at the time, so we started with the book on ninjas. What is your DS into? I'm sure there is a Magic Treehouse book on that too!

Before DS got into Magic Treehouse, he would only read books with colour illustrations - purely because he loved pictures so much, he could spend ages looking at them and noticed all sorts in the pictures that I would have missed. The Janet&Allan Ahlberg 'Happy Families' series was good for that.

Brill, thanks everyone. We did go to the library but I got confused as the books weren’t in age appropriate order and I ended up getting 2 that were far too easy for him.

I’m thinking he might enjoy horrid Henry, I think they have them at the library so might start there.

Jolly Christmas Postman would be lovely for Christmas as a read together book. He will pick up on the rhyme and the illustrations are great. Other re together ones are Hairy McClary series. The rhyming is very good for Year !'s to pick up on and they have some lovely language.

Ask the Librarian they love advising and encouraging young children.

Horrid Henry Early Readers are, essentially, one chapter of a HH book but with larger print and lots of coloured illustrations. I would make sure you get the Early Reader first! There are lots of other books available as Early Readers, so I would ask the librarian where they are!

More advanced picture books might be the way to go - these can push the boundaries in terms of language, but not discourage the child in terms of the sheer volume of words. This site has some good Year 1 books. For chapter books, Barrington Stoke offers a series of titles carefully matched to reading levels.

Have you looked into Reading Chest? We subscribed for DD when she was in YR/1 because it gave us a wider choice of books than the ones sent home from school. Also meant she could move up a level when she was ready to, rather than waiting for the teacher.

The rabbit and bear books are great dragon masters series. Books by Holly Webb are great for kids who like animals.