Best Chapter Books for Kids in 2023

Happy March!  Let's kick off a new month with new books!

I love reading chapter books with my big kids.  And several of you have messaged me asking for book recommendations!  These posts take a long time to put together so I'm excited to finally share my list of current favorite chapter books with you.  

I've gotten into a good routine of reading to them at bedtime.  Olive sometimes reads to Fletcher after I head downstairs and we also read picture books during the day.  Today I'm going to share our very favorite chapter books!  These are books that the kids have really enjoyed.  I'll try to give you a few details about why we love them and then I'll put my Amazon link with the description.

This stack of books makes me smile!  It's my favorite record of all the books we've read recently.  It makes me proud to see on hard parenting days and I hope these books will be books that the kids look back and remember fondly.

 1 // The Wild Robot & The Wild Robot Escapes

This set of books is so interesting!  Roz, the wild robot, is endearing, interesting and always learning.  She's very smart and she works so hard to make new friends.  She's creative and we were all invested in her wild life.  We read these months ago and still talk about them regularly.  There are sweet illustrations that help you love the characters even more throughout the books.  Book #3 comes out in September - we can't wait!!

 

2 // Dog Man Series

We are new to Dog Man by Dav Pilkey.  It's the same author/illustrator as Captain Underpants, but we like this graphic novel series better.  They're silly, are filled with sight words for early readers and both my 1st grader and 4th grader enjoy them.  My new reader feels confident reading pages aloud because of all of the familiar sight words.  These are more fun to read together when you're sitting side by side.  You won't want to miss these cute illustrations.  Everything is very child like - crossed out words and doodles for art.  There are even drawing lessons in the book of book 1 so that you can write your own Dog Man story.  There are at least 11 books in the Dog Man series.

 

3 // Cat Kid

These go along with the Dog Man graphic novels, but have more of a cat focus.  My kids love them for all the same reasons that they love Dog Man.  The illustrations and text are really approachable and interesting.

 

4 // Frindle

This is a classic novel that I always loved reading to my 3rd graders.  Nick Allen might be labeled a troublemaker by some, but really he's creative and interested in doing new things.  He's a friendly guy full of creative ideas that he likes to try out on his teachers and classmates.  Why do you have to call a pen a pen?  This was a fun one to read and discuss.

 

5 //  Hotel Flamingo

We loved this animal packed series.  Anna inherits Hotel Flamingo and is set on revitalizing it as a booming hotel on Animal Boulevard.  The hotel workers and guests are the most interesting animals.  We really enjoyed learning facts about the different animals and loved seeing what jobs they did around the hotel.  Anna is a very hard worker and loves to handle any animal challenge or adventure that comes her way.  The illustrations are darling and the whole series is so cute.  We loved the whole set!

 

6 // The Zebra Wall

This is another classic that I always read with my students.  The Vorlob family is so interesting.  They do everything their own way.  They have unique family traditions and seem to make a splash wherever they go.  Their oldest child has lots of big feelings about adding a new baby to the family.  The family dynamics are so interesting.  This story gave us lots to talk about - everything from home decor, to embarrassing situations, to things we're scared of and naming a baby.  The Vorlobs are the most interesting family around as illustrated by their family car - a retired school bus!

 

7 // Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue

We loved reading about Kitty's adventures rescuing a cat in need.  She was brave and bold and the neighborhood knew they could count on her.  The illustrations are precious and very detailed.  It would be a fun book to read side by side so you don't miss any of those details.  This book feels geared to a 1st/2nd grade audience, but my 4th grader didn't complain about listening to it.  There is a whole series if your kids enjoy book #1.

 

 

8 // Clementine

For those of you whole like silly kids, Clementine is your girl.  She's got the best of intentions, but her plans often go wrong.  She has an incident with hair cutting, marker messes and little brother troubles.  Her mom is an artist.  Her dad is the building maintenance man and there is never a dull moment with Clementine.  These are much better than Junie B Jones and leave room for lots of discussions about how Clementine could handle things differently or how she was misunderstood.  Both kids love Clementine.

 

 

9 // Who Was... Series

4th grade Olive loves these biographical stories.  She's probably read about every female she can get her hands on.  She says they are interesting and she loves to read them independently.  She is always talking about them and things she's learned from them.

 

10 // Who Would Win...

1st Grade Fletcher loves to read this series.  He's still an early reader and can use the pictures + the text to read these on his own.

 

 

I hope this gives you some new book options to read with your kids!!  Let me know if you have any questions or any tricky readers are your house.  I'd love to help connect you with good books!