English chapter book for kid

LeeHoMa

hi all BK Mom and Dad,

Can anybody give me some help? Which series of chapter book is good for pupils from Primary 3 to Primary 4? And any suggestion for the one who study Primary 5~Primary 6?

We did try Oxford "Magic Key" series, but it seems a little bit too simple for P3 student!

I have headache to source suitable English Chapter book for kid!

LeeHoMa

hi all, can any parent share your precious opinion on good English story book for kids?

agustus

Hi LeeHoMa,

It depends very much on the language cognition skill of your children and your target.  Magic English is pretty simple. I don't mean the language, the theme and the story bored any normal children.  If you can tell more about the children's ability, maybe we can discuss this topic better.

I'll suggest books Detectives stories for upper primary students and tales for lower primary.  But it'll still depend on how many vocabulary they understand.  It'll never be advisable to 'force' a child to read when he/she will need a dictionary to check more than 40% of the words.  That will not interest the child in any way to move to a higher lever.

Thus my advice is: First, figure out how good is the English standard. As most local children has adequate understanding skill. So, reading a too 'naive' English books wil not get them anywhere, while reading the child's equavalent will be too tedious as the understanding of English is inadequate.  Secondly, you'll have to figure out what you are expecting to get.  Sit down with the child and discuss this topic.  You'll know what the child need by the end of half an hour of discussion when the child talks more than you.  Don't advice too much, just listen and give guideline.  It'll work wonders.  Hope these help.  If you can tell me what the child's recent book, maybe I can guess what is the level.  Just my humble opinion, thanks for reading.

vanessamom

del

LeeHoMa

hi Agustus, thank for your precious advice!

Absolutely agree with your point of view not to force the kid to read a book which much out of his/her ability - and this is not my will as well.

My kid is just beginning to read English book by herself. She started with Dr. Seuss "Cat in the Hat" series, Oxford "Magic Key" series and then we did try "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis(But Narnia is mainly read by her auntie). Lately, she interested in "The Magic Tree house" series from Mary Pope Osborne. She did read 5~6 books from this series already.

It is always my headache to recommend her for the suitable Chapter book(or, series book). I understand that this is a very difficult task to select the best-suited one for kids. Even though I chose a good book, doesn't mean my kid will love it. I have an experience that my daughter like to watch a movie "Monster Inc.", but she hesitate to read this Disney book by herself.

It will be great if you can share some comment about those books(maybe the detective book you mentioned), such that I can introduce to my daughter.

宏媽

I think the "step into reading" of Random House, Step four and five, is very suitable for kids to start reading chapter books. They have different types of stories and easy to read, though there are a few challenging vocab. My child is addicted to them, he started from Step 1 a year ago and he is now reading Step four, starting with Step five and Chapter books.

Tiffany媽咪

I recommend Babara Park's Junie B Jones series for girl.  They are also published by Random House.  It is full of joke and fun.  My daughter has to read every day. Even adult will love to read it!

嘉晴媽咪

Tiffany媽咪,

Where can I buy the book? Thank you.

Tiffany媽咪 寫道:
I recommend Babara Park's Junie B Jones series for girl.  They are also published by Random House.  It is full of joke and fun.  My daughter has to read every day. Even adult will love to read it!

faxfax

The Box Car Children
Andrew Lost
The Magic School Bus
Flat Stanley

LeeHoMa

hi 宏媽,

How old is your kid? And which grade? It surprised me if he can jump from step 1 to step 4/5 within 1 year!    How can you do that?

Are your kid has good academic result in English?

嘉晴媽咪

Dear Tiffany媽咪,

I've bought Babara Park's Junie B Jones series yesterday, I found it's not very easy for kids of 5-6 yrs old. Can your daughter read by herself alone? How old is your kid? Thanks!

嘉晴媽咪

hi 宏媽,

I also want to know!

LeeHoMa 寫道:

hi 宏媽,

How old is your kid? And which grade? It surprised me if he can jump from step 1 to step 4/5 within 1 year!    How can you do that?

Are your kid has good academic result in English?

agustus

Hi LeeHoMa,

Sorry to reply late, been busy with work and family lately.  

My children love to read detective stories thus I bought plenty for them. I don't know the age and grade of your child but I presume you have a P4 and a P6 children. If you want series books, I'll recommend Goosebumps, Hardy boys, Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Pony Pal and Geronimo Stilton.  Hardy boys, Famous Five and Nancy Drew are more classic stories about young children solving problems including crimes, I love them when I was young and thus introduced to my children when they are ready.  They love them too. These are for the older children say about p5 to form 3, depends on the ability.  Goosebumps are not too mysteries but full of adventure and some even 'spooky', still, it's a thrill to read them. lately, my young child love Pony Pal which is also a series of books about young children getting a pet pony and the relationship between them. It's touching and lots of moral to learn from.  Geronimo Stilton is a new series, there are Chinese and English version of it, I believe the latest is book 36 but I have not buy yet.  It's about a mouse reporter solving mysteries. kind of cute as the book got lots of different writing and color as the fonts.   My children will read the English ones I bought and read the chinese version from school library.  The library has only Chinese version.  I used to buy lots of books for my children as they wanted to re-read most of the time.  If you are not sure what to get best, scholastic, oxford, cambridge and longman published lots of english fiction with different levels.  i don't believe in the levels as not all type of books are suitable for all people.  Still those levels are a good guideline.  I bought a series of books call Black cats, they are in levels but I doubt it's the proper way to arrange. nevertheless, there bound to have children who love that type of differenciation.  I also have lots of scholastic books, they have a series in form of apple fiction, little apple , apple mysteries and so on.  Quite delightful to know the books are teaching moral values too other than just improving english.  If you are interested to try out some of the books I mentioned, I can show you some of mine provided you are not too far from my resident or office.  My children are all book lovers so they treasure the books very much. My house is a small library with thousands of books. Or, if you wanted just to view on them, I can take some pictures and post it here.  Well, got to give me some time as I'll be free on weekends.  Hope these helps and have a fruitful day.

LeeHoMa

hi Agustus,

Thanksssss so much for your advice!    Yes! I am looking for some series book who good for P3 level. For the book you recommended, I will try them one by one. I'll have some leisure time during the Chinese New Year Holiday upcoming.

Please post the picture up! I can't wait to see how you decorate your home as a tiny library.

LeeHoMa

hi faxfax,

Thank very much! Will take a look on those books in bookstore or library!

faxfax 寫道:
The Box Car Children
Andrew Lost
The Magic School Bus
Flat Stanley

justinnma

This topic is really worthy to read. Thanks for all your sharing.

Any recommendation for P1 boy?

Thanks!

嘉晴媽咪

agustus,

What's your recommendation on book reading for K3 or P.1 kids? Thank you.

gracechung

I want to know too. Thank you.

嘉晴媽咪 寫道:
agustus,

What's your recommendation on book reading for K3 or P.1 kids? Thank you.

agustus

Hi LeeHoMa,

Well, I am always late, sorry.  I messed up my children's arts and so had to help her re-do all over again.  Wow, never expect to use half a day just to do a small lantern.  

My home is not a library, only my children call the shelves so as they are taking turn to be the librarian. Anyway, I've taken some photos of one of the book shelf.  I never know it's so pack already.  Maybe it's time to either get more shelves or reduce some collection.

Hope these pictures can ring some bells to your thinking.  Have a nice day.