Tag Archives: chapter book

Jun1

Twice Upon a Time: Sleeping Beauty, The One Who Took the Really Long Nap by Wendy Mass

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IMG_0142Twice Upon a Time: Sleeping Beauty, The One Who Took the Really Long Nap by Wendy Mass, paperback novel, 172 pages, published by Scholastic Inc. in 2006.

Most people know the old fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, who is cursed by an evil fairy to and sleeps for 100 years. Sleeping Beauty, The One Who Took the Really Long Nap is a new version of this favourite tale, told alternately from both the side of the princess and the side of the prince.

Princess Rose is endowed with many gifts from her fairy godmothers as a newborn, but the oldest and meanest fairy in the land curses her instead to prick her finger on a spindle and die. The last of fairy godmothers can lessen the curse but not lift it, so when Princess Rose pricks her finger she falls into a deep and prolonged sleep, one which will last 100 years.

The Prince has worries, not least of which is his mother who is part ogre, and needs to feed on fresh meat twice a month. He grows up alone, with a page his only friend, but when he leaves, the Prince is on his own. He spends many hours and days wandering the forest near his castle, and he stumbles across an old castle that is completely overgrown with trees and vines. He attempts to gain entrance to this castle, but the vines won’t yield. The prince is determined to discover the secrets of this old castle.

An old tale retold and refreshed, and a very enjoyable one at that. The basic skeleton of the original story is retained, with the details expanded and tweaked to create a new version that is fun and engaging. Telling the stories of both the Princess and the Prince was a unique way to add dimension, and is done very well. The reader is introduced to the characters not just of the Princess as a beautiful girl waiting and her Prince Charming who dashes in and rescues her gallantly. The characters have depth, and flaws and realism, and I could conjure them in my mind throughout their adventure. There were also moments of humour, and I found it to be an entertaining read.

This story is most suited to middle and upper primary school children, but I think my second grader would enjoy it a lot too. Explanations of some things like pages, squires and spindles might be required for younger children, but that just adds to the experience of reading with your child.

This is the second book by Wendy Mass that I have enjoyed this year, and I will be looking for more by her in the future.

 

May28

Fly Guy and the Frankenfly by Tedd Arnold

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IMG_0095Fly Guy and the Frankenfly by Tedd Arnold, hardback, 30 pages, published by Cartwheel Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc, in 2013.

Fly Guy is Buzz’s pet fly and best friend. In this adventure they are playing monsters, doing monster puzzles and monster drawings, just before going to bed. When Buzz wakes in the night, he sees that Fly Guy has created his own monster!

This is a very easy chapter book great for first readers. The text is big, and the language simple, with great colour illustrations. My preschooler loves this story, she has a few Fly Guy books, and wants to get some more. The stories are short, but fun, and she likes that she can read it on her own. I highly recommend this book for emergent readers in preschool and lower primary school.

May28

Creepella von Cacklefur: Fright Night by Geronimo Stilton

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IMG_0090Creepella von Cacklefur: Fright Night by Geronimo Stilton, paperback chapter book, 112 pages, published by Scholastic Inc. in 2013.

Creepella von Cacklefur is a good friend of Geronimo Stilton. She lives with her family at Cacklefur Castle in Mysterious Valley, where many spooky things happen. Creepella writes books that Geronimo publishes, and Fright Night is her latest best seller.

Geronimo is in Mysterious Valley when he gets roped into being a judge for the scary poet contest known as Fright Night. Creepella’s father is one of the contestants, but during the competition he goes missing. And there is something strange about one of the other contestants too. It is up to Geronimo and Creepella to solve the mystery.

This is the fifth installment of Creepella von Cacklefur’s adventures, and like the original Geronimo Stilton books, it is full of colour illustrations and graphic text. The chapters are reasonably short and easy to read, making this a fantastic book for lower to middle primary age children. These stories are fun, and I like the funny names that the characters are given.

Despite the story revolving around a scary poet contest, this book wasn’t really scary at all. Both my preschooler and second grader thought it was funny, but I think a lot of that was because Geronimo is a scaredy mouse and kept trying to escape from the contest. There were some references to things that can be spooky, such as coffins and mummies, as is fitting for the theme of the story. This was another fun Geronimo mystery adventure told by his good friend, Creepella.

 

May25

Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and other good stuff) by L. Pichon

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IMG_0094Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and other good stuff) by L. Pichon, paperback novel, 345 pages, published by Scholastic Children’s Books in 2011.

Tom and his friend, Derek, live next door to each other and have formed their own band, the Dogzombies. They practice in Derek’s garage, with his annoying father popping in all the time to give them musical advice. Dogzombies needs a drummer, so the boys hold auditions, just in time for their first gig.

Tom has an interesting family that he has to cope with, including a mean and rude older sister, some unusual grandparents that he calls ‘The Fossils’, and twin cousins that keep trying to make him watch scary movies. And then there is school, too. Tom and Derek are in year five, where they have to avoid the school band, put up with the taunting and lies of the smug and sly Marcus, and adequately complete their homework to get merits and gold stars. None of which is always easy.

I thought this book was going to be really funny, but it wasn’t. A few times I found myself smiling, but not much really made me laugh, aside from the Dogzombies song about Tom’s sister, “Delia’s a Weirdo”, and when Marcus got his just desserts. Otherwise it was a fairly simple story of the antics of Tom and his friends as they navigate family and school life without getting into too much strife, something that is rather difficult for Tom. It’s not all bad though. The illustrations on every page of this book are simple, yet they definitely enhance the quality of the story, and help it to appeal to young readers. The story was also mostly believable, within the realms of the reader’s own experiences as a child, and the characters were interesting and diverse.

This chapter book could also be considered a graphic novel, due to the large volume of illustrations throughout the book. I found myself turning the pages far too often, as there wasn’t much contained within each page. While this was a little distracting for me, for a young reader, it would give them a feeling of satisfaction in being able to read such a thick book relatively quickly and easily. I think it is most suitable for lower to middle primary age students. My second grader started reading this, but didn’t get far into it before saying it wasn’t that interesting. She has greatly enjoyed other authors with a similar style, such as Dav Pilkey and Andy Griffiths, so I was a little surprised, but we all come across books that just don’t “grab” us.

 

Mar25

Ava Anne Appleton Accidental Adventurer by Wendy Harmer

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IMG_8596Ava Anne Appleton Accidental Adventurer by Wendy Harmer, illustrated by Andrea Edmonds, paperback chapter book, 90 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

There are a lot of ‘A’s in Ava Anne Appleton’s life. Her parents are Alan and Anne Appleton, and her dog is called Angus. She even lives at 3A Australia Avenue. She is very comfortable in her ordinary and predictable life, but all that changes when her father brings home a large mobile home named the Adventurer, and announces that their whole family will be traveling around Australia for the next year. Ava isn’t sure this sounds like a great idea, but as her parents are obviously thrilled about their trip, she just has to go along with it. When they set down for the night near a lake, Angus runs off into the bush, and Ava follows after him, quickly becoming lost in the unfamiliar surroundings. She has to find Angus and get back to her parents. Luckily she meets a new friend that can help show her how to enjoy her first adventure.

This is a chapter book with easy to read (and largish) text, and a simple storyline with simple language. This book would be great for lower primary school kids that are moving into independent reading of chapter books. There are some black and white illustrations through the book, and the chapters are reasonably short. At first I thought Ava didn’t seem much like an ordinary eight year old, with her need for order and neatness, but perhaps I just have too much experience with kids that whip through the room like a tornado! Perhaps Ava has been attributed with some more adult-like qualities because she is an only child in the story. Despite her reluctance to adventure, run about and get dirty, she is still a likeable character, and my own children liked her. I read this to my preschooler, and she loved it. We have now started reading Ava’s second adventure. Though this was a very easy read for my second grader, she still enjoyed the story too.

Feb15

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

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IMG_8258The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, paperback, 121 pages, published by The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic Inc. in 1997.

Harold and George are two rather mischievous and naughty boys. They like to play pranks on their fellow students, and their teachers, clown around in class, and just generally be pretty silly. They also write their own comic books together, creating various super heroes and villains, with Captain Underpants being their best loved hero. They sell their home-made comics to other kids at school.

The very mean and grumpy principal of Harold and George’s school has been trying to catch them playing their pranks for years, and finally he gets them on video destroying an important football match. He uses this tape to blackmail the boys into being his personal slaves. The boys have an idea to escape their slavery involving a hypnotic ring , but things don’t go quite the way they imagined when the principal believes himself to be Captain Underpants, and wants to go and save the day.

This book is the first in a series of Captain Underpants adventures. It was pretty silly, but still entertaining. My seven year old and all her friends love reading Captain Underpants’ adventures, again and again. Toilet humour is big with the kids at the moment, and this book really caters to that obsession. This is an easy read great for early primary school children with funny black and white illustrations throughout. With short chapters and text broken up with plenty of pictures, this book would be good for reluctant readers too. There is also a ‘flip-o-rama’ section, where one is instructed to flip the page back and forth to animate some of the pictures, which was fun. Overall, not a literary classic, but good as a light and amusing read for kids.

Nov9

The Snake Who Came To Stay by Julia Donaldson

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IMG_3649The Snake Who Came To Stay by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Hannah Snow, paperback, 77 pages, published by Scholastic in 2013.

This is a chapter book written by the author of one of our favourite books, The Gruffalo. The summer holidays are coming up and Polly has advertised her home as a holiday place for pets. After she has accepted responsibility for Bill and Ben the guinea pigs, Charlie the Mynah bird, Doris the snake and a pondful of fish next door, Polly’s mum says that is enough. The guinea pigs make lots of noise, Charlie keeps loudly imitating everything, and Doris hisses quietly in her tank in the kitchen. It’s a rather noisy holiday home for pets, but everything is going well until Polly leaves Doris’ tank lid open. Her mum is not impressed, but surely Doris will turn up somewhere soon.

This is an easy chapter book with black and white illustrations throughout. It was a nice story with likeable characters and some funny bits. Suitable for lower primary school children, I read this to my preschooler, and she enjoyed it. My first grader read this and it was an easy read for her, but she liked the story.

Nov4

The 39-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

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IMG_3581The 39-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, paperback, 344 pages, published by Pan Macmillan in 2013.

Following on from The 26-Storey Treehouse, Andy and Terry have added another 13 storeys to their amazing treehouse. There is a bowling alley, a tank of man-eating sharks and an active non-erupting volcano, but the 39th level is still under construction.  The boys are writing their next book when they get a call on their 3D telephone from Mr. Big Nose, who imposes a ridiculous deadline of the following afternoon for the new book. How can Andy and Terry write and illustrate a long book in such a short time, as long books take longer to write than short books, which take a shorter time to write than long books…. Well, Terry has the answer, on the 39th level his new invention will do the writing and illustrating for them. But when the machine thinks it can do a better job at writing books than Andy and Terry, things get out of hand. They have to regain control of their treehouse and their book, and what better way to do that than invite Professor Stupido, the greatest un-inventor ever to live, to un-invent Terry’s machine, but what if Professor Stupido doesn’t want to stop there?

This book is a crazy ride of the imagination, where anything and everything is possible, and will probably happen! A very amusing book for lower to middle primary aged students and above, it really does have laugh out loud moments, and my first grader thought it was hilarious. She read it several times over the weekend, as it is a pretty easy read, despite its length. The text is simple, large and heavily interspersed with amusing black and white illustrations. I think this would be a good book for a reluctant reader.

 

Oct31

Ella and Olivia Series by Yvette Poshoglian

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We’ve been reading some of the books from the Ella and Olivia chapter book series. They have simple storylines, with large text and black and white illustrations, making them a great start to reading chapter books for lower primary school children. I’ve read these books to my pre-schooler and she loved them, wants me to keep reading so she can find out what happens. I don’t mind reading them to her either, which is something I can’t say about every book she picks out! When she is ready for chapter books, I would be happy for her to read these books on her own. I think she particularly related to Ella and Olivia because she saw herself as being like Olivia, with an older sister that she idolises, and a baby brother who drools a lot 🙂 These could be stories about her and her sister, so it’s easy for her to picture the story unfolding. We are going to see if there are some more Ella and Olivia books available from the library for us to read together.

Update August 2015: Now in kindergarten, my daughter still loves these books, but now she can read them herself. We have collected the entire set now, and each time a new one is released, she asks for it straight away. I will try to review the rest of the series in the coming months.

IMG_3536Ella and Olivia: Ballet Stars by Yvette Poshoglian and illustrated by Danielle McDonald, paperback, 63 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2012.

This is book number three in the series. Olivia wants to be just like her big sister, Ella. In Ballet Stars, Ella is taking ballet lessons, and Olivia wants to learn to dance too. Ella’s ballet school is putting on a production of Cinderella, and Ella wants to be the star and dance a solo. Olivia wants to be in the show as well. Ella practices and practices, teaching Olivia along the way, even if Olivia only has her swimmers and sandals to dance in instead of a leotard! Will the girls get want they want?

 

IMG_3644Ella and Olivia: The New Girl by Yvette Poshoglian and illustrated by Danielle McDonald, paperback, 63 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2012.

This is the fourth book in the series. In The New Girl, it is Olivia’s first day at big school, and Ella is starting year two. There is a new girl in her class, Millie, and she is a bit mean. She is rude to Ella, and Ella starts to dislike her. When Millie is mean to Olivia and won’t let her play with them, Ella stands up to Millie on Olivia’s behalf. Maybe Millie isn’t really mean, maybe she is just feeling lonely in unfamiliar surroundings. Will Ella give her a chance?

 

 

IMG_3580Ella and Olivia: Puppy Trouble by Yvette Poshoglian and illustrated by Danielle McDonald, paperback, 63 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

This is book number five in the series. In Puppy Trouble, Ella and Olivia are finally allowed to have a puppy. They pick out a cute little fellow from the pet shop and take him home. They soon discover that there is much more to keeping a puppy than just playing with it all the time. This story gentle reminds readers that pet ownership comes with responsibility, including cleaning up after your pet, even when you just want to play with them.

 

 

IMG_3631Ella and Olivia: The Big Sleepover by Yvette Poshoglian and illustrated by Danielle McDonald, paperback, 63 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

This is book number six in the series. In The Big Sleepover, Ella is allowed to have her very first sleepover with her best friend Zoe. Ella is very excited. When Zoe arrives for the sleepover, her dad suggests that Ella might like to come riding with Zoe the following day. The girls have fun, but when it’s time for bed they don’t want to go to sleep. A midnight snack, giggling and waking Olivia makes for a late night. And there are consequences come morning.

 

IMG_4950Ella and Olivia: Hair Disaster by Yvette Poshoglian and illustrated by Danielle McDonald, paperback, 63 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2015.

This is the fifteenth book in the series. Ella is preparing to play Sleeping Beauty in her ballet recital. She has been practicing with Olivia everyday. Ella and Olivia decide to try out some hair styles in the bathroom the day before the show. Olivia brushes Ella’s hair over and over, and then Olivia reaches for the scissors. What will Ella’s hair look like for the ballet concert?

 

Oct23

There’s a Fly Guy in my Soup by Tedd Arnold

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IMG_3405There’s a Fly Guy in my Soup by Tedd Arnold, hardback, 30 pages, published by Scholastic Inc. Cartwheel Books in 2012.

This simple book is part of the Fly Guy series, which follows the adventures of Buzz and his pet fly Fly Guy. In this story, Buzz and Fly Guy are on holidays, and Fly Guy finds himself in some trouble in the hotel restaurant when he mistakes a bowl of soup for a warm bath.

This book has easy to read text with very short chapters and colour illustrations. It could be considered an early or first chapter book and would be suitable for children in lower primary school to read themselves, but also suitable for reading to younger children. My preschooler thought it was quite funny and is interested in reading more Fly Guy stories.