Welcome to Hickory Hollow! The town may be tiny, but it is a special place for the people who live there. There is always fun and adventure to be had in Hickory Hollow. It’s a great place to be a curious kid! There are important discoveries to be made, secret riddles to be solved, unexplained mysteries to be discovered, and even hidden treasures to be found. But watch out! Sometimes, the town seems to have a mind of its own.
Chapter books are an ideal gateway to reading. Comprised mostly of prose in short chapters with several (or a lot of) illustrations, they’re generally aimed at children aged seven to ten. There are plenty of benefits to giving a chapter book to the little readers in your life. For starters, they serve as a bridge between picture books and middle grade books that are fully prose, which will be part of their next era of reading. They certainly worked that way for me.
Like many kids, I loved chapter books when I was growing up. The appeal lay in what they offered me: adventure. They let me go on quests and undertake explorations, be a detective and travel to outer space, all from the safety and comfort of my home. If the kids in your life are similarly adventure-minded, they will love the eight books gathered here. With plots ranging from monster-fighting to quests for world (neighborhood) domination, and characters who are endearing and resourceful, these stories are sure to fit the bill for any child who is looking for an adventure of their own.
Now, I was talking about children, but if you peeked into this list for yourself? Everything I said still stands. Enjoy!
Love Puppies by JaNay Brown-Wood
It’s well-accepted wisdom that dogs can fix a lot of life’s problems, but when a team of puppies makes it their mission to shower love on you? Oh my goodness.
Such is the case for Meiko, who is struggling to make friends at her new school. But fear not! Rosie and the other Love Puppies are coming to the rescue.
Start with: Best Friends Furever.
Abby in Orbit by Andrea J. Loney, illustrated by Fuuji Takashi
Abby’s starting third grade at a new school. This, by itself, might be unremarkable…until we learn that she’s starting school on the OASIS International Space Station, where she soon makes a mistake.
This is no ordinary mistake, either: she almost costs Mami her big experiment. Can she fix this, or is Abby doomed to be earthbound?
Start with: Blast Off!
Pets Rule! by Susan Tan, illustrated by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei
Ember is a rescue chihuahua who has been adopted by a new family, but he has much bigger plans: he’s intent on world domination. Well, neighborhood-domination. His efforts, aided by other pets, are hindered when he begins to get attached to his humans.
Start with: My Kingdom of Darkness.
Sejal Sinha by Maya Prasad, illustrated by Abira Das
Are you looking for girls in STEM for the little reader in your life? Look no further than this delightful series, where Sejal Sinha, an eight-year-old Indian American girl, puts her skills to use and solves problems that stump most adults.
An example, you ask? Building her own Hurricane Hunter and flying into the eye of an incoming hurricane.
Start with: Sejal Sinha Battles Superstorms.
Princess in Black by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Princess Magnolia wears frilly dresses…until she dons all black. This series follows Magnolia as she becomes the Princess in Black and battles foes. And monsters. Monster foes.
Start with: The Princess in Black.
Kwame’s Magic Quest by Bernard Mensah, illustrated by Natasha Nayo
Magic schools are, well, magical, and Nkonyaa School is no exception. Kwame is looking forward to his education, only his magic doesn’t seem to be manifesting, and his friend Fifi is behaving oddly. Could something be truly wrong?
Start with: Rise of the Green Flame.
The Legendarios by Karla Arenas Valenti and Vanessa Morales
If you want more cultural knowledge for your tiny reader, check out this series about twins Emma and Martín, who are not pleased to be moving from Cuernavaca, Mexico, to Illinois. When their abuela gives them a book of Mexican legends, it seems to be a nice going-away gift…until they realize it’s truly a portal to the legends themselves.
Start with: Wrath of the Rain God.
Disaster Squad by Rekha S. Rajan, illustrated by Courtney Lovett
As the Jackson family travels across the United States, they respond to natural disasters and lend a (few) hands along the way, to people and animals alike. Up first: fighting wildfires in Northern California.
Start with: Wildfire Rescue.
Are you looking for books for older children, too? Try these 9 recent MG mysteries, or these YA books about queer witches.