What’s next after DogMan?

November 18, 2023 5:42 PM

My newly seven-year-old doesn’t want to read picture books at bedtime anymore. We’re working our way through DogMan right now. What else can we try?

DogMan is slightly above his independent level, but he’s working through it with us taking turns. I’m fine with suggestions for just me reading, but if there are graphic novels which are actually at his level, I’m up for that too. He’s not great with ‘scary’ content and has already vetoed Magic Tree House for that reason.

posted by ficbot to Media & Arts (28 answers total)

Captain Underpants by the same author.
The Bad Guys
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
posted by nickggully at 5:48 PM on November 18, 2023

Ninja Kid?
posted by deadwax at 6:12 PM on November 18, 2023

Dragonbreath and Hamster Princess by Ursula Vernon would be worth a look. They're series, if he ends up liking them.
posted by EvaDestruction at 6:19 PM on November 18, 2023

The Treehouse books by Andy Griffiths.
posted by lulu68 at 6:27 PM on November 18, 2023

Catwad
Wallace the Brave
posted by CMcG at 6:32 PM on November 18, 2023

- Dav Pilkey also wrote Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot with another illustrator. Also Captain Underpants as mentioned above, and Super Diaper Baby. His Dragon books might be readable by the kid alone.
- Princess in Black
- Press Start (the Super Rabbit Boy books, may be readable solo)
- Glorkian Warrior
- The Squirrel books by Mo Willems (may be readable solo)
- Words by Christoph Niemann (this is not a story, just funny pictures illustrating words, YMMV)
- Hilda
posted by ignignokt at 6:52 PM on November 18, 2023

The Catstronauts graphic novel series might work.
posted by gudrun at 7:12 PM on November 18, 2023

Investigators!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:13 PM on November 18, 2023

We loved catstronauts too
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:13 PM on November 18, 2023

CatKid is by the same author I believe.

I also ame to suggest the ## Storey Treehouse books mentioned above. My son is currently obsessed with Dogman and his last obsession was those treehouae books.

Also look at the various "branches" series of gapter books. My son liked Eerie Elementery and Desmond Cole. Though I don't know if those might be scary.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:16 PM on November 18, 2023

Coming in to second the Investigators. The second book was the very first book my 7-yr-old nephew read on his own - TWICE! He was very proud to tell me that.

There is also a spin-off series featuring the other agents of S.U.I.T.S. which my nephew also enjoys.
posted by Constance Mirabella at 7:56 PM on November 18, 2023

My 6 year old and husband have been reading and enjoying The Wild Robot books at bedtime lately.

Seconding the Super Rabbit Boy series. They’re not in the rotation quite as frequently as they once were, but we got many rereads out of each of the books in that series.

There are Questioneer books (The series that includes Ada Twist, Scientist) for older kids that are pretty good.

I’ll be watching this thread with interest because I too have been searching for something to read now that we’ve exhausted Dog Man and Captain Underpants.
posted by Maeve at 7:59 PM on November 18, 2023

Rutabaga the Adventure Chef!!!
posted by furnace.heart at 8:22 PM on November 18, 2023

My kids are very into Dragon Masters.
posted by inkyz at 8:39 PM on November 18, 2023

If magic treehouse is too scary, hold on Wild Robot (which is super super good, but has intense stuff, especially at the end)
posted by rockindata at 8:44 PM on November 18, 2023

Bug Boys! It's about the lives of two beetles who are best friends. It's a great mix of wonder, goofy humour and beautiful depictions of friendship and emotions. It's got the same tenderness of the later Petey/Lil' Petey relationship in Dog Man.
posted by Lluvia at 1:13 AM on November 19, 2023

The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza! There are two books so far.
posted by wsquared at 4:50 AM on November 19, 2023

Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggy books are great for that stage of reading. Also the Hilo series, and Zita the Spacegirl.
posted by marlys at 5:35 AM on November 19, 2023

The Hilo series.
posted by unreasonable at 8:48 AM on November 19, 2023

My six year old adores the Dory Phantasmagory books and those are the first non-picture books she's slowly reading independently. Dory is an imaginative, silly kid and the books are about her imagined world, and not scary at all.

My kiddo also loves Junie B. Jones but that's still a bit too hard for her to read. Similar vibe of a silly kid, my first grader finds her hilarious.
posted by iminurmefi at 9:35 AM on November 19, 2023

Ivy and Bean
Bunjitsu Bunny

The children’s librarian at our local library is particularly good at this.
posted by vunder at 10:57 AM on November 19, 2023

My 9 year old made this transition with books that have pictures, but are primarily not about them; primarily story-driven, with relatively short chapters. We recommend The Notebook of Doom (his teacher gave him one, and he was hooked) and Once Upon A Tim. Both are series, so plenty of hours of material there. Likely available at your local library.
posted by nadise at 11:14 AM on November 19, 2023

Fart Quest (significantly less puerile than Pilkey, despite the title.)
posted by HeroZero at 11:35 AM on November 19, 2023

My kid loves Bunny vs Monkey, Looshkin, and Investi-gators.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:19 PM on November 19, 2023

Nthing Bunjitsu Bunny

Is Dr. Seuss considered a 'picture book' by them? Because they are excellent books for younger folk to read by themselves
posted by TimHare at 8:32 PM on November 19, 2023

We were also flailing around after finishing DogMan and finally found Treehouse books. There's also a German series of graphic novels "Kiste" (Box), featuring a boy and a magic box, which my kid loved, and I also highly recommend them. I've found the first book in English here.

I would dis-recommend Dairy of a Wimpy Kid, because my kid started saying he hates school after starting reading it. I know that correlation is not causation, but that's what I noticed.
posted by gakiko at 3:17 AM on November 20, 2023

I think Diary of a Wimpy Kid gives voice to some negative feelings a lot of kids have about school but isn't usually represented in early or middle-grade fiction (at least as far as we've seen), which can lead to more vocalizing about dissatisfaction. FWIW, my nine-year-old eventually noticed the narrator, Greg, isn't reasonable about some things and no longer accepts his views as necessarily mirroring his own. He still enjoys the books, though!

A gentler variation that you could start with are the Awesome Friendly Kid books: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, Awesome Friendly Adventure, and Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories. They're told from the perspective of Greg's friend Rowley, who is very pro-school, gentler, and more naive. Of course, he is also not quite a reliable narrator, but that's also fun.
posted by ignignokt at 8:56 AM on November 20, 2023

For reading on his own, I think the Catstronauts spin-off, Waffles and Pancake might be in his ballpark.
posted by ignignokt at 8:57 AM on November 20, 2023