Raising Readers - A booklist for your girls

To my absolute delight my daughters love to read!  It has been so fun to watch them imagine and discover new worlds through the books that they read, and sometimes I have to encourage them take a break from reading to do other things.  Because of this people often ask me for book recommendations for kids.

Finding the right books for your child to read can make the difference in them being a reader or not.  The book has to be interesting enough to keep their attention and yet easy enough for them to get through.  When my oldest daughter was just starting to read I had no idea what books to get for her.  I tried to find booklists for her very beginning age group but wasn't very successful.  I started asking all of my friends and even the librarians in the children's section of the library.  We did some trial and error, but we've found a lot of books and series that my children absolutely love and will read without me.  Here are some of our favorites.

Kindergarten - 1st Grade

Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold -  This series was popular with my 1st grader this past year.  It is about a boy and his pet fly.  There are not very many words per page and the words are relatively easy.







Llama Llama by Anna Dewdney - In this picture book Llama goes through all kids of adventures with his Mama.  The words and pictures are adorable and my kids read these over and over.



Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann - My children fell in love with this book at my sisters house, and it has been one of our best readers ever since.  Warning, you will most likely be asked to make a batch of pink cupcakes after reading.  Out of this series Pinkalicious and Silverlicious are our favorites.






Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Conner - This book is for the fashionista at heart.  My girls could totally relate to Nancy when she gave her dolls a fancy name and tried to accessorize her parents.







Olivia the Pig  by Natalie Shaw - Olivia is a pig with imagination and determination.  She is adorable and fun and the kind of character you want your little girl to read about.





Fairies Series by Daisy Meadows - The good news is that there are a lot of these books to read.  The downside is that these books are all over my house.  My girls absolutely love these books.  I will hear them laughing out loud from the couch or their room, and often they come running to tell me the funniest thing that they just read.  We love these books so much they made it onto our 25 Gifts for girls list.




Belinda begins Ballet by Amy Young -  This is a recent addition to our favorites list, but when we brought these home from the library there was a rush to see who got to read them first.

1st - 3rd Grade

Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo - Mercy Watson is a pig who loves adventure and buttered toast.  She has a mind of her own, and is always having some kind of adventure.

Disney Fairies by RH Disney - This series is all about Tinkerbell and her friends in pixie hollow.  If your girls are fans of the Tinkerbell movies they will love these books set in the same fantasy land.

Fairy Realm by Emily Rodda - In these books a girl named Jessie discovers the Fairy Realm while on a visit to her grandmother's house.  She experiences a variety of adventures with the fairies that she meets there.