The best chapter books for young kids aged seven plus to read with or without parents

This was the first ever book I read as a child of seven years old. I sat on my grandmother’s sofa in Leicester, bored, and I picked up this worn burgundy hardback and opened it looking for the pictures. Before I realised it I had read the first page and was turning to the next. An exciting moment. I subsequently read all the Famous Five books. I didn’t really think of reading them to my son as Enid Blyton is not greatly regarded these days. True, the world she recreates is traditional, especially for women, and it doesn’t challenge kids linguistically but it is not as outdated as I had thought. And there is the fiercely independent George (Georgina) – the girl who wants to be a boy and, of course, the wonderful Timothy (the dog).

There is treasure, adventure, George’s mad scientist father, secret tunnels, islands, castles, and naughty men, who can get quite rough. The roots of the stories are dipped in the real world rather than imaginary which also feels like a step up the reading ladder for kids. I decided to read the first one to my then eight-year-old non-reading boy. He loved it. I subsequently read all of the Famous Five books to him.

An old-time favourite and, like Enid Blyton, a good link between picture and chapter books. It was one of my childhood favourites and one I have read to my son more than once. It is a story of the bullied overcoming the bullies and perhaps something that resonates with kids as the small foxes manage to outwit three rich men and their machines trying to dig them out. The fox characters are anthropomorphised and so outside of the ‘real’ and yet there is a strong sense of place, and although the characters of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean are exaggerated, they are recognisable and realistic.

These are a perfect series of stories for kids transitioning from picture to chapter books. The setting is ‘realistic’ (London and the US) and the characters involve Mac B (Kid Spy) and the Queen of England, among others. That doesn’t sound like a realistic premise but it absolutely works. The first-person narrator is the author reimagining his spy childhood in the 80s. ‘Before Mac Barnett was an author, he was a kid. And while he was a kid, he was a spy.’ The illustrations are perhaps more plentiful, which would make reading by themselves easier – although, again, I read these to my son. The writing is light, humorous with lots of historical referencing, particularly to the old USSR.

Published over one hundred years ago and without illustrations (at least in the Kindle edition I read), this book still caught my son’s attention. The protagonist, Mary Lennox, is a challenging child, either because of her neglected upbringing or because of genetics (I suspect she would be diagnosed with ADHD these days). Again, it is realistic and there are not so many ‘badly behaved’ children at the centre of stories. It is an omniscient narrative (as were most books at the time) but Mary’s viewpoint is well captured.

Similar to the Mac B books, this is a series about a character who likes to solve crimes/mysteries, and the characters and settings are realistic. Even more wonderful is that the setting is Botswana and it gives much insight into the country and people. I was fortunate enough to be able to read this with my son while travelling with him in Botswana. Perfect.