"My Light Bulb Went On!"

When spring break started, my 6-year-old had all the skills to read chapter books.  She could decode.  She knew dozens (maybe more) sight words.  She had the interest - she loved nothing better than to have me read to her.  But somehow, all that didn't add up to being a reader.

By the end of spring break, 10 days later, through no effort on my part - or hers, really - it did.  In the last two days she breezed through four Princess Posey books (my older daughter was also a fan).  This morning she got ready for school quickly and then asked if she could read Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie (the first in a series that is now up to 3 books), which was also one of my older daughter's first chapter books.

When I asked her what had happened between the beginning of spring break and the end, she replied, "My light bulb went on!"

She also told me, "Reading is the best thing, next to chocolate."

Music to my ears.

A First Grader Reads About A First Grader

Kids usually like to read about kids who are older than they are, at least in my experience.  I'm not sure whether it's because it makes them feel more grown-up or because it allays (or creates) any worries they have about the next grade or stage... or something else entirely.  But maybe this rule doesn't hold true for the younger set, because right now my first grader is really enjoying books about a fellow first grader: the Princess Posey series by Stephanie Greene.

With its short chapters, large text, realistic plots and illustrations every few pages, these books fill that all-too-large gap between early readers (boring!) and middle grade fiction.  The stories are sweet but not saccharine, the text and plots simple but not boring.  Posey faces the fears and anxieties of many a first-grader and navigates social relationships in way my daughter could relate to.  And although Posey secretly becomes Princess Posey when she wears her special pink tutu, being a princess here is empowering.  Long live Princess Posey!

To (Junie) B. or Not to (Junie) B.

The other night my daughter was sitting on the couch, reading a book to herself and laughing out loud.  She was not reading a great work of literature, but one of the Junie B. Jones books.  Now, I know that Junie has been criticized as modeling poor behavior, not to mention poor grammar, but I was still surprised when talking with some acquaintances to find that several of them do not allow their children to read these books.  (I wonder what they would do if their children were in my daughter's first grade class, where her teacher is actually reading the first book aloud to the whole class!)  Why would I deprive my child of that laugh?  And more importantly, why would I deprive her of the chance to make her own judgments about Junie's behavior?  Characters in books are not supposed to be role models.  They are supposed to be friends, entertainers, and sometimes, a jumping-off point for a discussion about the choices they make. They are supposed to show us new ways to think about ourselves and other people and the world around us.  A role model rarely does that as well as a more complex, nuanced character does.

That doesn't mean that I don't think that certain books are inappropriate for my daughter right now.  So I will warn her if I think a book is too hard or too scary.  And I will not go out of my way to present her with books that I don't think are appropriate... or even all that good.  And if I can't stand the book personally, I won't read it to her.  But when she finds a book on her own, I let her read it.  And laugh.

Solo!

My 6-year-old just read her first chapter book all on her own!  I'd been looking for a chapter book that she might be able to read by herself, and I am pretty pleased with myself as my first choice turned out to be a hit.  Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie by Julie Sternberg (it's her first book) has super-short chapters (1-3 pages) and short sentences placed on separate lines, so it's a lot less intimidating than long paragraphs and pages dense with words.  In this sweet book, 8-year-old Eleanor's babysitter Bibi, who has taken care of her her whole life, moves away, making Eleanor's summer "as bad as pickle juice on a cookie."  But Eleanor adjusts to a new babysitter, while never forgetting Bibi.  A great first chapter book.

Nate the Great Really Is Great

Most early readers are boring.  They have to be.  They have to contain short words and repeat them.  A lot. But the Nate the Great series, while not for the very earliest of early readers (like the Biscuit books) are the first early readers that I have enjoyed with my daughter.  Now, while I know I said she doesn't really like early readers and prefers to attempt chapter books, we have made an exception for this series.  She can't quite read them by herself but we can alternate pages or paragraphs with just a little help.

Nate the Great is a detective.  While eating as many pancakes as possible, he investigates mysteries of great importance reminiscent of those Encyclopedia Brown used to solve (although I remember those being both on a higher reading level and slightly more scientific), such as finding missing grocery lists.  Nate's serious tone ("I do not eat on the job.") functions as pseudo-serious for us adults reading along.

In addition to being the first early readers I can tolerate (and actually like!), they are also the first mysteries that have not scared my daughter.  When a Cam Jansen mystery involving a robbery scared her, I figured I'd solve the problem by flipping to the end of the book and assuring her that the perpetrator had been caught.  No dice.  An hour later, she came out of bed, worried that the wrong person had been caught and would go to jail.  Nate is perfect for her.

What are your favorite beginning readers or early chapter books?