Captivating Beginning Chapter Books

Last week I hit the mother load of NEW easy chapter books at the library — and loved almost all of them. (Since I prefer to be positive, I don’t post about books I’ve read and disliked. If you’re ever wondering about a book, just email me.) These are all excellent beginning chapter books, I think your kids will love them! And, even better, they are all series!!

Beginning Chapter Books

Big Bad Detective Agency by Bruce Hale
The Big Bad Wolf aka. Wolfgang is the only suspect in the destruction of the Little Pigs house. And he doesn’t have an alibi. So he partners with the cheerful 4th Little Pig, Ferkel, (who knew!?) to find the real culprit. I love this humorous fairy-tale mash-up and can’t wait for more adventures in this series.

Tank & Fizz The Case of the Slime Stampede by Liam O’Donnel, illustrated by Mike Deas
I loved this book – and couldn’t put it down. Tank is a girl techie troll and Fizz is her best friend detective goblin. They know that their beloved school janitor would never have released the slimes that ate the playground and it’s up to them to figure out who really did it — and why. Excellent!

Snoop Troop It Came from Beneath the Playground by Kirk Scroggs
A great story, comic-book style illustrations, and lots of interactivity impressed me. I know your kids will love this book, too. As a reader, you get to play a part in solving the crime by looking for clues in the pictures, drawing the culprit based on the description, and so on. Isn’t that cool?

Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot The Voodoo Vultures from Venus by Dav Pilkey, illustrated by Dan Santat
Ricky, a mouse, and his Mighty Robot are banished to the outside as a punishment for tardiness. And that ends up being a good thing since everyone else who is watching TV become hypnotized by the evil Victor Von Vulture’s voodoo ray. Ricky and his Mighty Robot pretend to be hypnotized in order to stop the vultures, but their plan doesn’t work. Will they be able to stop the vultures or be hypnotized themselves? A battle ensues. Kudos to Dav Pilkey and Dan Santat for creating such an action-packed, engaging new series for young readers. And the illustrations are marvelous. It’s not often you see a book in full color – love that!

The Magical Animal Adoption Agency Clover’s Luck by Kallie George, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger
Clover discovers and volunteers to work at the magical animal adoption agency in a deep part of the woods. But after just one day, Mr. Jams leaves Clover in charge by herself. It’s a lovely story showing Clover learning more about herself (that maybe she isn’t unlucky) and gaining confidence.

Finley Flowers Original Recipe by Jessica Young
3rd grade Finley wants to win a cooking contest so she can give the prize (free pizza for a year) to her best friend, Henry, for his birthday. She insists she doesn’t need ideas or help which turns out to be a disaster as well as a valuable learning experience. Charming illustrations accompany this sweet story of friendship.

Scribbles and Ink Out of the Box by Ethan Long
I’m such a big Ethan Long fan — he must have some sort of mind meld with kids, his books are perfect for early readers. In this easy-to-read (very easy first chapter book) adventure, Scribbles and Ink (a cat and mouse) find that a box is a really cool thing to play with — it can become so many things (a race car, a mask, overalls). Unfortunately, the duo begins arguing about who gets the box and the box rips in half. After working out their differences, they think of a boxtastic solution. Fun!

The Case of the Weird Blue Chicken by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Kevin Cornell
Kids know it’s not the blue chicken (who is a bird, not a chicken) who is weird, it’s the chicken squad — they are downright wacky! In this adventure, the chickens are asked to investigate who has stolen the blue bird’s house. And despite the chickens inability to actually investigate anything, they do discover the culprit and a solution. Very funny.