No More Jack and Annie

If you’ve ever spoken to an elementary school kid about books, they’ve probably mentioned The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osbourne.  If you’ve ever read one, you know that they are formulaic stories about Jack and Annie, who travel back in time in their magic tree house and learn about history.  For some reason kids love them.  After begging for book suggestions, a friend with an 8 year old told me that if her son brings home one more Jack and Annie book, she’s going to scream.  So what makes these books so popular with kids?  Well, for one thing the books are organized in chapters, and nothing makes a 2^nd grader happier than reading a chapter book.  As kids move away from picture books, they need books where the characters and the plot stay basically the same.  This helps them make meaning of longer and more difficult texts. 

Fortunately, publishers have figured this out and there are tons of series just like The Magic Tree House, some with more literary merit.  For mystery lovers, we have Cam Jansen by David A. Adler and Jigsaw Jones by James Preller.  I prefer Jigsaw; the humor is a little more sarcastic, but my students always gravitate towards Cam.  My favorite mysteries right now are the A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy.  In these, Dink, Ruth Rose and Josh solve mysteries with alliterative titles, but there is always a red herring, so the ending is a surprise. 

If we’re sticking with time travel, I love Jon Scieszka’s Time Warp Trio series.  Joe gets a magic book from his crazy uncle for his birthday, and he and his two friends, in typical 9 year old boy fashion, don’t read the directions and end up traveling through time, very funny books. 

For good realistic fiction there’s The Polk Street Kids by Patricia Reilly Giff and Marvin Redpost by Louis Sachar (the author of Holes).  Both center around real kids dealing with real school problems.  The stories tackle bullying, learning difficulties and friendship.  I used to read Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me? to my 4^th graders every year.  It’s about nose picking.  But perhaps the best in this genre is the Julian series Ann Cameron.  They are beautifully written stories about a boy, his best friend, Gloria and his little brother, Huey, who get into endless trouble.  For kids on the verge of becoming independent readers, these series books are great, but they should be good reads, too. 

 

Easy Series

The Polk Street Kids by Patricia Reilly Giff

Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

Julian by Ann Cameron

Horrible Harry

The Time Warp Trio by Jon Scieszka

A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy

The Magic Tree House Mary Pope Osbourne

Cam Jansen by David A Adler

Jigsaw Jones by James Preller

Marvin Redpost by Louis Sachar

Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott