May 30, 2024 Comments Off on 2024 Summer Reading Guide: Emerging Readers (ages 5-9)
The school year is wrapping up, which only means one thing (well, besides parental panic): it’s time for my Summer Reading Guide! This year’s guide, chock full of new releases, will have three installments: Emerging Readers (today!), Elementary Readers, and last but never least, Tweens & Young Teens. Keep your eyes here so you don’t miss all the fun!
If you’re local (or even if you’re not!), you can visit Old Town Books, where the guide is already on display and ready to shop (sneak peek of the entire guide here!). If you want personalized recommendations, I’ll be holding office hours this Saturday, June 1 from 10am-5pm; Friday, June 14 from 12-5pm; and Saturday, June 29 from 10am-3pm. Come shop with me: our shelves overfloweth with summery reads!
Emerging readers, the target of today’s round-up, is a broad classification: it encompasses a spectrum of readers from those who are just beginning to read on their own to those confidently reading but still happiest with slimmer stories and lots of illustrations. I’ve organized this list—a mix of early graphic novels, early chapter books, and young chapter books—from youngest to oldest, easiest to hardest. (I’ve also noted page count and included a picture of the interior so you can gauge level.) All of the books are starts to new series, many with second titles already out or out soon. As always, I’ve read them all and weeded out tons of others to bring you the best of the best!
Let’s get those new(ish) readers in love with reading and then build on that momentum!
Cat, Bat & Rat
by Ame Dyckman; illus. Mark Teague
Ages 4-8, 76 pages
If early reader titles were all as good as this, kids would be having a lot more fun learning to read! Technically, The Cozy Home and its sequel, Vacation, just out, are classified as picture books. But trust me when I say that these stories about the sometimes pranksters, always lovable Bat, Cat & Rat are gold for those learning to read. Combining Ame Dyckman’s snappy humor and Mark Teague’s infectious visuals with short sentences, accessible vocabulary, and lots of repetition, it falls in that sweet spot where, once kids master it, they’ll want to read it again and again. Give this to those looking for a tiny step up from Elephant & Piggie or David LaRochelle’s See the Cat series.
Orris & Timble
by Kate DiCamillo; illus. Carmen Mok
Ages 5-8, 76 pages
Scooch over, Mercy Watson, and make some room for Orris and Timble, the charming protagonists of Kate DiCamillo’s newest early chapter series, starring a misanthropic rat and a naive owl! Riffing off the Aesop’s Fable about the Lion and the Mouse, Orris and Timble: The Beginning takes us into an abandoned barn to tell how an unlikely predator-and-prey relationship blooms into a sweet friendship. In classic DiCamillo style, it’s sparingly written, tinged with melancholy and wry humor, and leaves readers with the sweetness of butterscotch and the promise that every life is made better by stories and companionship.
Tiny Tales: Firefly Night
by Steph Waldo
Ages 5-8, 31 pages
If you aren’t familiar with the “I Can Read! Comics” series, they’re leveled like a traditional “I Can Read” paperback, only the story is delivered in comics form, including a quick guide at the front for parents to read to their early reader about how to read comics. I decided to include this slim but sweet story from the “Tiny Tales” series in this year’s guide because fireflies, to me, epitomize the magic of those early summer nights. In Firefly Night, Firefly desperately wants to show his non-nocturnal friends the beautiful moonflower, which only blooms in the middle of the night, but will they stay awake to see it? The gold and purple palette gives all the summery night vibes, too.
Reggie
by Jen de Oliveira
Ages 5-8, 80 pages
Meet Reginald “Reggie” Guinn, an anthropomophic penguin with a sweet personality and a propensity for following his curiosity into trouble. Both Reggie: Kid Penguin, the series opener, and Reggie: Penguin in Charge (out in June!) are collections of multiple short comics about Reggie’s hijinks, from building a playground for uncooperative “roly-polies” to giving himself a haircut on the morning of Picture Day.
Ava Lin
by Vicky Fang
Ages 5-8, 92 pages
In Ava Lin: Best Friend, the opener to this early chapter series based on the author’s own Chinese American family, Ava Lin is a fiery but well-intentioned first grader who loves bubble tea, random treasures she finds on the ground, and the 117 varieties of pets on her wish list. She’s also well-versed at using her imagination to get herself out of tricky situations—an especially good thing when finding a best friend at school proves trickier than expected! In addition to its charming, relatable protagonist, the book boasts one of the nicest aesthetic presentations of font and text placement I’ve ever encountered for a new reader, boosted with ample white space and comics-styled illustration.
Birtle
by Tara J. Hannon
Ages 6-9, 80 pages
In addition to boasting terrific social-emotional learning content, this debut early graphic novel series—Birtle and the Purple Turtles is first and Birtle and the (Very) Unwelcome Garry, just released, is second—meets standards established by Nothing Comic About Dyslexia, including a sans serif font, mixed lettering (not all caps), and dark text on a light background. A dyslexia-friendly font can make a big difference for kids with dyslexia, but it services all developing readers! Tootie has long yearned for a playmate, so when a mysterious companion quite literally drops into her life, landing on her shell with a “PLOP,” she’s thrilled. The trouble is that the newcomer, whom Tootie quickly names Teeny and outfits in a purple turtle shell to match her own, bears little resemblance to a turtle. (Readers will immediately recognize she’s more of a tweety.) The duo strikes up a warm mutual friendship, bonding over games and tea parties, which eventually paves the way for Teeny’s own journey towards self-understanding and advocacy.
Band Camp!
by Brian “Smitty” Smith
Ages 6-9, 75 pages
Be still my punny heart! If you’re familiar with the Pea, Bee & Jay series for emerging readers, then you know how much Brian “Smitty” Smith loves a good pun. Well, he has gone and outdone himself in Band Camp, an graphic novel series that gives new meaning to tooting your own horn. In All Together Now, the first title (2nd to follow in September), we follow four motley instruments—Cordelia the accordion, Trey the triangle, Kaylee the ukulele, and Zook the kazoo—as they embark on their first year at Band Camp, navigating less-than-ideal cabin assignments (a.k.a Junk Bunk), nature education, food fights, ghost stories, camp pranks, and a knock-down-drag-out relay race that could prove they have as much a right to the bandstands as the more traditional instruments.
Mile End Kids Stories
by Isabelle Arsenault
Ages 6-9, 136 pages
I’ve always adored these gentle, gorgeously illustrated stories by Canadian creator Isabelle Arsenault, originally published in 2017-2021, but it wasn’t until they were collected in an omnibus edition this spring that I realized how perfect they are for beginning readers, owing to their speech bubbles and visual panels. In three sweet, funny stories—each one given a unique color scheme—the neighborhood kids of Montreal’s Mile End navigate the ups and downs of friendship. There’s Colette, who in her nervousness about making friends in the first place hastily invents a lost pet; Maya, whose latest theatrical work is almost ready for a public performance, only her actors’ visions for the show don’t exactly match hers; and, finally, Albert—boy after my own heart—who just wants to read his book in peace.
The Great Puptective
by Alina Tysoe
Ages 6-9, 121 pages
Big on eagerness and short on sense is the theme of this endearingly humorous graphic novel series opener, The Great Puptective, about the arrival of a puppy who (mostly mistakenly) believes he has a nose for solving mysteries, perfect for fans of manga-inspired art or the kind of hijinks in Ben Clanton’s Tater Tales. When Poppy the Puptective bounds out of the box delivered by the animal shelter, ready for his first case, Truffles the cat is immediately intent on beating the over-enthused pup at his own game. The two take their place in a long line of sunshine-grump duos in kid lit, but as Truffles’ plot to drive Poppy away backfires, he gets schooled on the value of new friendships and keeping an open mind.
Cloud Puppy
by Kelly Leigh Miller
Ages 6-9, 155 pages
Come for the cuteness explosion, stay for the excellent friendship representation in Cloud Puppy, this meaty graphic novel series opener, perfect for those ready for longer stories. Cloud Puppy—part cloud, part puppy—is passionate about many hobbies, but none more so than reading the Pretty Princess Warrior Dragonetta series with her bestie, a unicorn teddy named Berry Rose. When the two discover that their favorite author will be the local comic book convention, their insistence on dressing up as the same character leads to their first official fight (spoiler: it’s a whopper). A terrific story about the ups and downs of navigating fandom and a primer on making amends.
Fluffle Bunnies
by Anna Humphrey & Irma Kniivila
Ages 6-9, 175 pages
How did sweet, innocent bunnies become evil masterminds? This hilarious graphic novel series, sporting film noir vibes and perfect for fans of The Bad Guys, kicks off with an origin story titled Buns Gone Bad. According to our firefly narrator, who once saw the whole thing go down in the public park he calls home, the bunnies’ “reign of endearing evil” started after their mother ran off to Brazil to learn jiujitsu. Biggie, Boingy, and Flop quickly discovered some hard truths about life—squirrels will take over your cozy nest as soon as you leave and refuse to give it back, public toilets are not swimming pools, and raccoons will believe anything you tell them—and it was that last discovery that gave way to an elaborate scheme to become rulers of the park.
Puggleton Park
by Deanna Kizis; illus. Hannah Peck
Ages 7-10, 143 pages
“It is a truth everyone knows that all dogs need a forever home, and for Penelope the pug, this was no different.” With fabulously detailed line drawings, this chapter series stars a darling pug set in Regency-era London, replete with tea parties, balls, and some “most dreadful squirrels.” It’s a read-aloud dream for your Janeite parents (and those looking for dramatic voice opportunities) and an independent read for children seeking softer stories than what much of middle grade has to offer. In the series opener, Puggleton Park, Penelope loses her owner (see dreadful squirrels) and after several nights observing the ladies of London as they make their way in and out of grand balls, she is rescued by the kindly widow Lady Diggleton. What happens when the best trainer in London tries to turn Penelope into a proper pup? The second title, Penelope and the Curse of the Canis Diamond, released at the same time!
The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class
by Kate Messner, Rajani LaRocca, etc.; illus. Kat Fajardo
Ages 6-9, 106 pages
This unique series well suited to both girls and boys gets mega points for collaboration: eighteen books, each by a different acclaimed children’s author and each centered around a different character in the same third grade classroom. I’ve had a chance to hear Kate Messner, leader of the project and author of the first book, Emma McKenna Full Out, talk about the work these authors have put into creating their characters and then proofing each other’s books to ensure consistency, and what a cool thing for a child to consider as they read through these stories! With the first title, we’re introduced to many of the diverse classmates (and quirky teacher!) of the brand-new Curiosity Academy, though the story is mainly concerned with what happens after Emma discovers that her ex-bestie, with whom she suffered an embarrassing fallout, is in the same class. In the second book, Rohan Murthy Has a Plan, authored by Rajani LaRocca, Rohan’s plan to start a pet care company to raise money for the school’s garden gets complicated when he realizes he’s actually afraid of animals. Spot illustrations by Kat Fajardo add spunk to the fun and fast-paced storylines.
Bibsy Cross
by Liz Garton Scanlon; illus. Dung Ho
Ages 7-9, 117 pages
Another terrific school-based series! I can’t remember ever coming across a young chapter book written in verse form, but its brilliant execution here has me realizing what a natural fit this is for emerging readers looking for stories that pack a punch without excess wordiness. Combine that with an older Dory Fantasmagory-like protagonist—all kinds of chatty and “just the teensiest bit wild”—and glossy illustrated pages boasting a black-and-white color scheme with strategic pops of a single accent color that changes from book to book, and you’ve got the makings of a winning series. “Mostly things are easy-peasy and regular-pegular for Bibsy,” except when they’re not—like when she’s butting heads with her third grade teacher who thinks Bibsy “goes on a stone too far,” or gets carried away hosting a bike-a-thon to raise money to buy books. Bibsy Cross and the Bad Apple, along with the second in the series, Bibsy Cross and the Bike-a-Thon, both release on June 11!
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