The Best Beginner Chapter Book Series

It’s a joyful moment when your child begins reading. But once they begin reading, it isn’t long before they fly through picture books like nobody’s business. At that point, they’ll likely enjoy diving into simpler chapter books.

Series are Claire’s absolute favorites! At the end of a book, she is always sad to say goodbye to the characters she’s grown attached to. When she finds out there’s a sequel (or “sequence,” as she calls it) she gets so excited! Once a child finds a series that captures their attention, it just fuels a love for reading that much more.

The following series are books that Claire has absolutely loved. Some of these chapter books we started reading together. Others were ones that Claire read independently. Either way, these books are perfect for beginning chapter books. They have lots of pictures and not too many words on a page. Of course, since I have a daughter, some of these books have unicorns or princesses in them, so boys might not be as interested. But we also have some series to recommend that everyone will love!

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Mercy Watson

You may be familiar with Kate DiCamillo from some of her middle grade fiction – The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn-Dixie, Flora and Ulysses, to name a few.

While we love Kate DiCamillo’s more serious novels, Mercy Watson is a blast. It’s definitely geared towards younger kids with its short chapters and many illustrations, but everyone will laugh at the adventures of Mercy Watson, porcine wonder, lover of toast with a great deal of butter.

The Princess in Black

What if you had a secret? Princess Magnolia may look prim and proper, but she’s actually a superhero! When monsters come to her kingdom, can she save the day, keep her secret safe AND be back in time for tea? These books have been some of Claire’s favorites and she’s read them over and over and over again!

The Owl Diaries

This series is all about Eva Wingdale, an adorable owl. The books, geared toward newly independent readers, are written as Eva’s diary. In the first book, Eva offers to organize the spring festival. She finds herself in over her head and unsure if she’ll be able to get everything ready in time. These books were a recommendation from one of Claire’s friends and she has thoroughly enjoyed them.

The Adventures of Sophie Mouse

Sophie Mouse lives with her family in the forest. Each of the books in the series is endearing, with adorable illustrations. In this first book, a new student arrives at Sophie’s school. At first, everyone is excited to meet the new student … until they realize he’s a snake! Can Sophie convince her friends that he’s not so scary after all?

I read a few of these books aloud to Claire when she was 4. We had forgotten about them until we rediscovered them at our library recently. Claire’s been devouring them!

Wellie Wishers

If you’re anything like me, you grew up loving the American Girl books. If you were lucky, you might’ve even owned one of the dolls. Unfortunately, I didn’t (though that didn’t stop me from receiving the catalogs and keeping a running wishlist in case someone wealthy decided to buy me a $100 doll 😜).

While the Wellie Wisher series is not historical fiction like the original books, it is a great introduction to American Girl books. The books are all about a group of friends – Willa, Camille, Emerson, Kendall and Ashlyn – who learn about friendship. The full color illustrations are beautiful and the stories are sweet and wholesome.

Magic Treehouse

You simply can’t have a list of best beginner chapter books and not include Magic Treehouse! For many kids (Claire included), these were the chapter books that began their foray from picture books to chapter books.

Jack and Annie are siblings who stumble across a mysterious treehouse in the woods near their home. It’s filled with books. As they flip through the books, one of them wishes aloud that they could visit that place. All of the sudden, the wind picks up, the treehouse begins to whirl around and Jack and Annie find themselves travelling back in history!

These books are filled with historical and scientific facts. Sometimes Claire will mention something about Mozart or the Civil War or dolphins (just a few examples) that we didn’t learn in school. The random facts she spouts out are almost always from Magic Treehouse books. At this point, Claire has read almost all of the books, but still rereads them and loves them. I’m assigning a few for her to read to accompany our studies on Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome this year.

A to Z Mysteries

The A to Z Mysteries series is about three children – Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose – who solve mysteries together. Each book begins with a different letter of the alphabet. Claire’s favorite books are mysteries, so it’s no surprise that she flew through many of these books. One week, she checked out six of these books and managed to read all of them within two days!

Note for more conservative parents: There are a few of the books that have to do with ghosts, zombies, vampires, etc. Each book can be read as a standalone, so you can easily skip those books without detracting from the successive books.

Imagination Station

The Imagination Station series is much like Magic Treehouse, but it’s based off Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey. Cousins Patrick and Beth travel back in time and go on many adventures together. These books are written with a Christian worldview. While many of the books take place during various secular historical periods (ancient, medieval and American), there are quite a few that are set during Biblical time periods (David and Goliath, Daniel in the Lions Den) or Christian history (Corrie Ten Boom, William Cross). This series covers a wide variety of historical figures and time periods that aren’t in the Magic Treehouse series. Claire loved this series just as much as the Magic Treehouse books.

My Father’s Dragon

Written in the 1940s, there’s a good chance that you enjoyed this trilogy as a child. Somehow I managed to not read them, despite the fact my older sister loved them. It was a delight to discover these books with Claire. In the first book of the series, a young boy, named Elmer Elevator, runs away to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon. Unforgettable adventures ensue in My Father’s Dragon and the following books. Children of all ages will love these endearing books, but Claire enjoyed them being read aloud to her at 4 years old. Once she could read independently, she was able to read them on her own.

Unicorn Princesses

To be completely transparent, I haven’t actually read these books. But if you were to ask Claire what her favorite books were, these books would certainly make this list (along with Betsy-Tacy, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking, in case you were wondering). I felt it necessary to include these books, because Claire has read them cover to cover more times than I can count.

Cressida is a young girl who is certain the unicorns exist. Because of her belief in unicorns, she is able to travel to the Rainbow Realm, where a group of unicorn princesses need her help in many magical adventures. There are eight books in this series and Claire has loved every single one.

Nancy Clancy

You have probably heard of Fancy Nancy, especially now that Disney Junior has created a TV show based on the popular books. Nancy is probably the fanciest little girl in the world! Like most parents, my favorite part of the books was Nancy’s need to speak in a fancy way (AKA unusual vocabulary words for children and French words).

In these books, Nancy is back as an older girl who is obsessed with solving mysteries. As I’ve mentioned, Claire loves mysteries. She’s currently working her way through the original Nancy Drew series, which is also a series that Nancy Clancy simply adores. She and her friend, Bree, have detective headquarters in Nancy’s backyard and solve all sorts of mysteries in this fun series. The advanced vocabulary and French words continue in these books. Claire likes to quiz me on French phrases after reading one of these books; I usually fail the quiz, but I took Spanish, not French 😜

Zoey and Sassafras

This is a relatively new series to us, but it’s quickly becoming a favorite! Zoey has the ability to talk to magical creatures and they often come to her for help. With the assistance of her cat, Sassafras, Zoey uses science to help diagnose what’s wrong with the magical creatures and help them get better. Some of the magical creatures she helps are dragons, unicorns, monsters and mermaids.

I love the real life science intermingled with the stories! After reading the second book, Monsters and Mold, Claire talked with me about preservatives and ways to prevent mold.

Amelia Bedelia

If you’re anything like me, you grew up reading Peggy Parish’s books about Amelia Bedelia, the maid who takes everything literally. I remember laughing at all the predicaments she would get herself into with her employers, only to win them over with her baking skills at the end of the book.

Well, Amelia Bedelia is back! These books are about Amelia Bedelia as a child and are set in modern times. Thank goodness! While I love the original book, a lot of the phrases Amelia Bedelia took literally aren’t phrases we use today. “Dressing the chicken” and “drawing the drapes” are a few examples. In this series, Amelia Bedelia still gets herself into plenty of hilarious situations based on misunderstandings, giving a new generation an opportunity to fall in love with Amelia Bedelia’s witty optimism.

If you’re looking for some new chapter book series, I hope this post was helpful to you! We are always looking for new books, especially series. I’d love it if you shared your favorite chapter books with us in the comments below!