Short chapter books to read together for KS1?

[TheLittleOwl]

As the title says really.

DD is KS1, but really struggling with reading. School have said the constant in and out of school due to lockdown isn't helping.

They don't want to put her off reading so have suggested taking the pressure off her learning and just enjoy short chapter books together.

But I don't know where to even start, whats suitable for this age that we can enjoy together?

DD loves animals particularly jungle/zoo animals, she likes dolls and dressing up, but is also a big fan of spiderman. So whats suitable for us to read together? I don't want to be bored to tears by the book.

Also suggestions for bedtime stories which are shorter? We love Julia Donaldson and Judith Kerr any other suitable authors for bedtime?

Helen Peters has written a Jasmine Green series about a young girl who lives on a farm. She ends up finding injured or abandoned animals and looks after them. Interesting subject matter and fairly short chapter books so not overwhelming.

Mr Men are nice and short.

Dd is year 2 and still reads the Usbourne farm books (apple tree farm). There also a matt haig book about a girl that can talk to animals 'evie and the animals'.

Dd is lapping up the Princess in black books at the moment. Lots of pics, short chapters and very very funny.

Claude books by Alex Smith are brilliant.

Thank you will look at all of these

Sorry I am being a bit dumb but what do you mean by “read together”? Does that mean books she can read herself with a bit of support, rather than her reading independently? Or do you mean books you can read to her?

@Bubbinsmakesthree

Sorry I am being a bit dumb but what do you mean by “read together”? Does that mean books she can read herself with a bit of support, rather than her reading independently? Or do you mean books you can read to her?

Books I can read to her

Horrid Henry!

My dd is also a reluctant reader and doesn’t particularly enjoy being read to either. She really likes the My Naughty Little Sister books. Quite dated but they’re lovely to read.

Is your library doing a select and collect? Ours is - you give age and interests and they choose for you - may be a good place to start as you can ask for what is popular etc

The Zoe’s Rescue Zoo (I think that’s the name) series are good for a child that age. My boys also enjoyed Gerald Durrell’s Puppy series. Winnie the Witch also went down well.

The latter two aren’t chapter books as such but each one is about chapter length.

Absolutely agree with My Naughty Little Sister, also the Enid Blyton books about fairies and pixies etc. Not the famous five, school.stories etc. Theyll be too old for her still.

The Enormous Crocodile is good for that age, and a good intro to Roald Dahl. Another vote for My Naughty Little Sister too. Maybe also try some anthologies of children's poetry? Lots of kids (IMO!) don't read enough poetry - it's so good for language development, but is also very accessible because each 'bit' is so short (and it's often funny). Michael Rosen is an obvious choice, but there are loads of collections out there.

The Little Animal Ark set of books by Lucy Daniels

The Rabbit & Bear books by Julian Gough are excellent. Funny, short chapters, pictures and toilet humour. What's not for a 6 year old to love.

@cashooo

The Enormous Crocodile is good for that age, and a good intro to Roald Dahl. Another vote for My Naughty Little Sister too. Maybe also try some anthologies of children's poetry? Lots of kids (IMO!) don't read enough poetry - it's so good for language development, but is also very accessible because each 'bit' is so short (and it's often funny). Michael Rosen is an obvious choice, but there are loads of collections out there.

Like the suggestion of poetry I'll have a look into that thank you

If she is keen on animals, Dick King-Smith books are short chapter books. We love the sheep pig

@mongoosebaby

If she is keen on animals, Dick King-Smith books are short chapter books. We love the sheep pig

I have not heard of him since I was child, I loved his books though. Thank you

Flat Stanley.

Barringtion Stoke to lots of really great books. They are designed for children with literacy difficulties but are really high quality and enjoyed by all of my class.

Their little gems series are fairly short and would be lovely to read together.

Olga da Polga and Paddington are fab too for that age group.

Ah if it’s books you can read to her that’s easier, depending on how engaged she is (my KS1 DS has always been very happy being read-to, despite not being much of a reader himself).

We have read The Worst Witch series. Pippi Longstocking. Winnie the Pooh. Beatrix Potter. Roald Dahl. The Wishing Chair.

We’ve got a nice modern anthology called Tales from the Forest abut woodland creatures.

For the longer books we read a chapter or two per evening at bedtime and they’re normally pleading with us to keep going.

My two girls really liked Zoe’s Rescue Zoo, Enid Blyton; particularly Amelia Jane and The Magic Faraway Tree, Horrid Henry and David Walliams’ books.

The Faraway Tree and Wishing Chair books have nice short chapters. Mine loved those and then moved onto the Worst Witch.

My daughter is 6. She adores Horrid Henry. She enjoyed My Naughty Little Sister, Chris Hoy's flying fergus books, The Enormous Crocodile and Fantastic Mr Fox. She also likes to read Winnie the witch and Beatrix Potter books.

Dick King Smith books
Roald Dahl
The thirteen story treehouse series
Enid blyton
My ds prefers being read to and couldn't really manage a book until he got to end of year 1. We now take it in turns to read a chapter of a book at bedtime. He is in y2 now.