On beyond "Wrenly"?
July 23, 2017 8:09 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for non-threatening chapter books for my seven-year-old that are roughly at the level of "Ivy and Bean" or "The Kingdom of Wrenly" (or slightly more challenging) in language, but a lot bigger. Girl protagonists and fantasy adventures are a major plus.

I'm preparing for a cross-country flight with my daughter and would love to bring one or two books with us, but the "one or two" is a problem; she's a reader (she loves the series I mention above, and the Magic Treehouse books), but the books she gravitates to are snack-sized. I think the last "Ivy and Bean" book I got her lasted less than twenty minutes. Does anyone know of compelling books (a series would be ideal, but standalone novels would be fine) roughly in this vein but lots, lots longer? Enough to last for a big chunk of a flight to California? Shannon Hale's "Squirrel Girl" novel is perhaps the ideal, but it was bedtime reading for her; Tamora Pierce is probably a little advanced and didn't seem to take quite yet. She's read "The Little House in the Big Woods" and seemed to enjoy it but it didn't leave her begging for more, so something with more (gentle, kidlit) action sequences would be best. Large type and enough illustrations to seem non-imposing seem to make a major difference to her level of interest in picking up the book.
posted by snarkout to Writing & Language (11 answers total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Has she read either the Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald or the Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker? My daughter liked all three of those series at that age.

Fancy Nancy started as a picture book, but there are now longer, chapter book spinoffs she might enjoy.

She might enjoy the "Noisy Village" books by Astrid Lindgren. It's a group of kids having (non-threatening) adventures in a Swedish town.

At that age, I read the All of a Kind Family series (by Sydney Taylor), the Melendy books (by Elizabeth Enright), and the Half Magic books by Edward Eager to my kid, but she wasn't interested in reading them on her own.

If she's read the Wimpy Kid books, she'd probably like the Ellie McDoodle books by Ruth McNally Barshaw, which have a girl as the protagonist/"illustrator" but are not as tweeny as Dork Diaries.
posted by mogget at 8:23 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


What about the Junie B Jones series, the Cam Janson series, or the A to Z mystery series? There are LOTS of each and they would all be age-appropriate as far as content, but then again they're not particularly long. Are you set on physical books, or would you be able to load up a kindle or other device with a bunch of shorter books for her?
posted by bookmammal at 9:21 AM on July 23, 2017


Has she read *all* the Magic Tree House books? My son, who is also 7, says the "Merlin Mission" books in the series are REALLY GOOD and they are longer, with more words on the page. They are books 29 and above in the series.
posted by rozee at 9:22 AM on July 23, 2017


Piper Green is a nice series of books about a girl of about 6-8 years old who takes a boat to school and has small adventures like finding an earring in a tree. There are three books so far in the series.
posted by xo at 10:53 AM on July 23, 2017


Best answer: My brother and I loved the Edward Eager books when I was growing up. They were written in the mid-1950's and star four children - two girls and two boys. The books feature magic and adventure but they are also gentle in tone. Half Magic, the first in the series, is 224 pages and rated on Amazon as grades 2-5 reading level. So, pretty long but divided into chapters where each chapter is a separate adventure. It's been while but my memory is that is roughly on the reading level of Little House, definitely easier than Tamara Pierce.
posted by metahawk at 12:18 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Ursula Vernon! Hamster Princess (first book: Harriet the Invincible), or even better, Castle Hangnail. Illustrated, the right reading level, and a lot of fun.

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine is also great. A Tale of Two Castles is another good one by that author.
posted by gideonfrog at 1:39 PM on July 23, 2017


It looks like the Ivy & Bean books run about 130 pages (example) and most books geared for that reading level don't exceed 200 pages. I liked The Trouble with Ants (180 pages) in the Nora Notebooks series which according to its "Lexile measure" is more challenging than I&B series (580 lexile score). The Clementine series is great and is a bit easier.
posted by spamandkimchi at 5:16 PM on July 23, 2017


I was also here to call out the Edward Eager books. Fantasy, set in another era but that made it even more interesting for me as a kid.
posted by rednikki at 10:50 PM on July 23, 2017


Oh! Also Natasha Lowe's Poppy Pendle series might be great.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:18 AM on July 24, 2017


Would she be interested in the Dido Smith books by Joan Aiken? Not sure if they're too complex for her. You might have to order them.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 4:37 AM on July 24, 2017


The Penderwicks books are lovely. Seconding Edward Eager and Cam Janson.

But yes, The Penderwicks. Really lovely, gentle books. There are at least 3.
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:46 PM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


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