Early Chapter: Staff Picks

Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations: A Graphic Novel (Cat Kid Comic Club #4): From the Creator of Dog Man By Dav Pilkey, Dav Pilkey (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Dav Pilkey, Dav Pilkey (Illustrator)
$12.99
ISBN: 9781338846621
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Graphix - November 29th, 2022

New Cat Kid Comic Club! More madcap comic-maker mayhem from the creator of Dog Man."

- Clare


An Elephant & Piggie Biggie! Volume 5 (An Elephant and Piggie Book) By Mo Willems Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781368072243
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hyperion Books for Children - October 18th, 2022

The last of the Elephant & Piggie Biggies. These are a real bargain with five full books in each collection."

- Clare


Dinosaurs Before Dark Graphic Novel (Magic Tree House (R) #1) By Mary Pope Osborne, Jenny Laird (Adapted by), Kelly Matthews (Illustrator), Nichole Matthews (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Mary Pope Osborne, Jenny Laird (Adapted by), Kelly Matthews (Illustrator), Nichole Matthews (Illustrator)
$9.99
ISBN: 9780593174715
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers - June 15th, 2021

Yes that's THE Jack & Annie book now available as a graphic novel.

- Clare


Big Foot and Little Foot (Book #1) By Ellen Potter, Felicita Sala (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Ellen Potter, Felicita Sala (Illustrator)
$7.99
ISBN: 9781419731211
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Amulet Paperbacks - September 11th, 2018

A funny and sweet read-aloud book for kids to read to grown-ups or for grown-ups to read to kids. I love how gentle Hugo the Sasquatch is. (Bonus: this book will teach you how to say “Cryptozoology”.)

- Clare


Revver the Speedway Squirrel By Sherri Duskey Rinker, Alex Willan (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Sherri Duskey Rinker, Alex Willan (Illustrator)
$16.99
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9781547603619
Published: Bloomsbury Children's Books - October 6th, 2020

Revver is a squirrel who dreams of becoming a race car driver. It’s ridiculous, his whole family think he’s crazy! But this persistent fluffy tailed hero keeps following his dream until he’s an important part of the pit crew. A surprisingly charming story which will fascinate vehicle obsessed Kindergarteners. Fun to read aloud and discuss too.

- Clare


Ivy and Bean 1 (Ivy & Bean) By Annie Barrows Cover Image
$5.99
ISBN: 9780811849098
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Chronicle Books - April 19th, 2007

Ivy & Bean are best friends even though they don't have much in common. What they share is a nose for funny and often slapstick adventures. This series has long been a Mr Mopps' bestseller.

- Mopps' 


Mia Mayhem Is a Superhero! By Kara West, Leeza Hernandez (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Kara West, Leeza Hernandez (Illustrator)
$6.99
ISBN: 9781534432697
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Little Simon - December 18th, 2018

When Mia finds out she's a superhero, she also finds out there's a whole secret superhero after school program. I love how Mia has to work at her powers. Even superheroes need to persist. A good starter chapter book with a lot of books in the series.

- Clare 


Listen to My Trumpet!-An Elephant and Piggie Book By Mo Willems Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9781423154044
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hyperion Books for Children - February 7th, 2012

Elephant & Piggie books are great for emerging readers, there’s lots of repetition of sight words and nonsense noises you can spell out letter by letter. This is my absolute favorite Elephant & Piggie Book, because you get to make trumpet noises that are so bad they’re good. 

- Clare


Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen By Debbi Michiko Florence, Elizabet Vukovic (Illustrator) Cover Image
$5.99
ISBN: 9780374308346
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) - July 11th, 2017

Jasmine's stories all center around an element of Japanese culture, including the yummy mochi in this book. This is a longer chapter book series which also touches on difficult social issues for 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders, like grumpy older sisters, friendship trials and in this case, gender bias!

- Clare


Flubby Is Not a Good Pet! By J. E. Morris, J. E. Morris (Illustrator) Cover Image
By J. E. Morris, J. E. Morris (Illustrator)
$4.99
ISBN: 9781524790783
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Workshop - February 11th, 2020

A book for very new readers, with hardly any words on each page. But Flubby's face makes me grin every time I see it.

- Clare


Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot #1) By Dav Pilkey, Dan Santat (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Dav Pilkey, Dan Santat (Illustrator)
$5.99
ISBN: 9780545630092
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scholastic Inc. - April 29th, 2014

This is the first chapter book my son read to me, so it will always have a place in my heart. Grown-ups might like to know that Ricky Ricotta is not potty-centric like Dav Pilkey's more famous series Captain Underpants. 

- Clare


Tashi (Tashi series) By Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg, Kim Gamble (Illustrator) Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9781760528126
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Allen & Unwin - March 1st, 2019

Another Mr. Mopps Bestseller. Tashi is really good at outsmarting the bad guys (who can be quite scary). A good read aloud for kids with wild imaginations who like to know the bad guys won't get away with it.

- Clare


Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote: The Questioneers Book #4 By Andrea Beaty, David Roberts (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Andrea Beaty, David Roberts (Illustrator)
$12.99
ISBN: 9781419743504
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Amulet Books - October 6th, 2020

In the newest Questioneers book Sofia takes on a classroom election for a new pet. Running an election is not easy as Sofia takes on misinformation, aggressive campaign strategies, possible election fraud and voter disenfranchisement. The illustrations in these books really bring the stories alive, great for the visually minded chapter book reader.

- Clare


Dragons and Marshmallows (Zoey and Sassafras #1) By Asia Citro, Marion Lindsay (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Asia Citro, Marion Lindsay (Illustrator)
$6.99
ISBN: 9781943147090
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Innovation Press - March 14th, 2017

These books are the best! Magic, science, secrets, a curious cat and a clever girl. Just read one and I promise that both kids and grown-ups will want to read the next one straight away.

- Clare