Featured Five: Early Chapter Books (3)

Five new Early Chapter book reads to add to your reading list!

Oona Finds An Egg (Oodlethunks #1) by Adele Griffin & Mike Wu
Available Now from Scholastic / Goodreads / Buy It 

Oona has found a very special egg. Oh, how she loves her baby! She'll do anything to protect this egg until it hatches. Then she can find out what's inside, even though it might just gobble her up! But Oona's precious bundle of eggy joy may never see the light of day. It seems everyone wants Oona's egg. Her little brother, Thunk, that smelly kid, Bruce Brute, and a bunch of others in her West Wog world all want a piece of Oona's treasure. Oona the protector, Oona the curious, Oona the mighty will do whatever it takes to safeguard her darling. No one will get their grimy, Cro-Magnony hands on her egg. Because, more than anything, Oona wants something of her very own to care for.

National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin pairs with artist Mike Wu to deliver a cast of lovable, primitive family and friends in West Wog. The stories pop with adventure, original language, and an unstoppable protagonist who is as adorable as the egg she's working so hard to protect.

Oona Finds An Egg is a sweet start to this new Oodlethunk series. I think the part of me that loved Flinstones as a kid was really ready to latch on to the setting in this one. I'm looking forward to Oona's future adventures!

 
Balto of the Blue Dawn (MTH #54) by Mary Pope Osborne
Available Now from Random House / Goodreads / Buy It 

The magic tree house has returned and it’s taking Jack and Annie back in time to Alaska, 1925. There they meet Balto, a jet-black Siberian husky destined to save victims of the diphtheria epidemic. But the trail isn’t easy, and Balto is going to need Jack and Annie’s help!

It's been years since I actually stopped and picked up a Magic Tree House book, but I've got a soft spot for Balto. This 54th installment in the series is a "Merlin Mission," which means that Jack and Annie have extra magical assists from the mythical Merlin. In this particular book, they have an elixir that turns them to champion mushers and erases their involvement in this historical event from the minds of those they encounter.

Dogsledding and Extreme Sports (MTH Fact Tracker) by Mary Pope Osborne & Natalie Pope Boyce
Available Now from Random House / Goodreads / Buy It

Track the facts about the famous sled dog race and other incredible feats—with Jack and Annie!

When Jack and Annie came back from their adventure in Magic Tree House #54, they had lots of questions. How do sled dogs race for so long? When was the first Iditarod? What are some other extreme sports? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts about the Iditarod, open water swimming, the Ironman triathlon, free climbing, the X Games, and other ways people test their limits.

Filled with up-to-date information, photographs, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie, the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers are the perfect way for kids to find out more about the topics they discover in their favorite Magic Tree House adventures. And teachers can use the Fact Trackers alongside their Magic Tree House fiction companions to meet Common Core text pairing needs.

The Magic Tree House stories are great for beginning and reluctant readers, but, in my opinion, it's these Fact Trackers that really shine! This particular Fact Tracker was fascinating; in addition to dogsledding, there were facts about triathlons, the X Games, Diana Nyad, and more. Even if readers aren't interested in the fictional MTH books, I recommend giving the Fact Trackers a try!

Catnapped (Puppy Pirates #3) by Erin Soderberg
Available Now from Random House / Goodreads / Buy It 

Ahoy, mateys! Set sail for fun and adventure on a pirate ship full of puppies.

Fighting like cats and dogs? Exactly! The puppy pirates played a prank on the kitten pirates, and meow! The kittens sure are mad. Can the pups escape the kittens’ claws? It’s dog vs. cat, and may the best pirates win.

Two perennial kid favorites—dogs and pirates—combine in the new chapter book series perfect for fans of Rainbow Magic, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Paw Patrol. 

In this third Puppy Pirates book,the puppy pirates and kitten pirates find themselves docked at the same harbor - so of course, hijinks ensue! There's something about this series that makes ideal for collecting, so if you're reader is interested in these, expect to make a trip to the bookstore upon each installment's release!

The Dino Files: A Mysterious Egg by Stacy McAnulty & Mike Boldt
Available Now from Random House / Goodreads / Buy It

What if a fossil in your backyard . . . came to life?!
 
Frank’s grandma is a famous paleontologist (that’s a dinosaur scientist). But she’s also an adult who makes up rules. Rules like: no digging for dinosaur bones when you have a sunburn. That means Frank is stuck playing inside with his annoying cousin, Samantha. But then Grandma finds a fossil of an egg! And when Frank and Sam sneak into the dino lab late at night, they find something even more amazing. . . .

The hilarious Dino Files chapter book series follows a nine-year-old dinosaur expert, his paleontologist grandparents, a cat named Saurus, and fossils that might not be so extinct!

I'm not sure you can really go wrong with dinosaur chapter books... especially when the main character is a budding scientist who's constant companion is a cat named Sauraus. I expect good things of this new series!

I'm always open to recommendations and feedback. Which Early Chapter books are your go-to recommendations? Any recent favorites?