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Old School Chapter Books Hi Peeps! Feeling cozy? Settled in? Because I've got some chatting to do today. There's change in the air...I can feel it....it's scary...and fun...and wow...because my baby girl is on that line. That line between picture books and chapter books. I've been talking a lot about this with some friends who are in the same boat with their kiddos.

So here's where we're at. Julia is able to handle various levels of the Early Reader books and many picture books on her own. Don't get me wrong, she's still waaaay into picture books, and if we read a book that is light on picture-pretty, she's like, 'where's the art action, yo?' (I haven't really taught her to say yo yet, but give me time.)

But at night time story reading, she's ready for more. MORE STORY. Stuff that's got a bit more meat on it. So we've been reading a variety of things, which I'll touch on throughout the week.

I love classic stuff. So we're reading some classic stuff. We've been reading 'The World of Pooh' off and on since early Spring. For those adults or kids who say 'pooh-pooh' to Pooh (did you catch that? I'M SO AWESOME), I say, have you really read it? It's not for babies. Half the time, Julia is all, 'What are they talking about mom?' These are books meant for older kiddo reading, like I wouldn't start until ages 6 or 7. Probably not until age 8 or 9 would a kiddo be able to read it on their own. So much funny! J just loooooooooves 'Pooh'. Ditto the 'Uncle Wiggly' book. Very sweet, very fun, smallish short stories that are chapter-length.

Julia loves funny. The more absurd and funny, the better. 'Lotta Says No' by Astrid Lindgren (we'll be onto 'Pippi' before the year is out, I'm sure.) is fun and funny and features a sassy, spunky, little girl who knows her own mind. Julia can relate. Go read this and then read the sequel.

I read the ENTIRE line, pretty much, of Steven Cosgrove's 'Serendipity' books when I was just about Julia's age. Not chapter books, but longer stories with plenty of amazing illustration along with the text. We have 'Leo the Lop', which J ADORED, and 'Zippity Zoom', and I'm about to do a massive order of these out-of-print gems. (I don't mind getting used books, you shouldn't either! Sometimes it's the only way to get hold of something amazing.)

The last thing I want to leave you with today is a book I've already posted about, but I think I should talk about at least 2x a year really, AT LEAST. Gyo Fujikawa's 'Fairy Tale and Fables' is not a chapter book per se, but all fairy tale books kind of are in a way -- a bunch of short stories lumped in together. Julia can handle the longer-in-length story action and the art is more incredible than most fairy tale books you'll see around. Plus, Y'ALL SHOULD BE READING FAIRY TALES. (Here's a great essay on why.) So, there's that.

Labels: Chapter books, Children's books, Fairy Tales, Picturebooks, Vintage Books
