blondeviolin Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 My 5yo has been devouring a set of books we have where the character in the book says something with a bubble (Help Me Be Good by Joy Berry). They are pretty far below her reading level. Her dad was wondering why she was reading them when she said, "Well, it's because I can read it where the pictures are!" We have one Calvin and Hobbes book, but she doesn't care for it. Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I grew up on Archie. He's still going strong and you can get stacks of Archie comics for free or cheap on used and freecycle sites. Not terribly high brow material I know but shucks, it's good fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) I'm familiar with those Joy Berry books and there are many more in the series. You might want to look at Jellaby by Kean Soo, the Amelia series by Jimmy Gownley, Babymouse series by Jennifer Holm, the Bone series by Jeff Smith tho it may not be age appropriate because of scary creatures? Some on our "to read" list are Zita the Spacegirl, The adventures of Mal and Chad : the biggest, bestest time ever / Stephen McCranie, and Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework. Much of the Marvel comicbook series "Marvel Adventures" is aimed for a young audience and is pretty safe content-wise and violence-wise. Any of the above may or may not be at your daughter's level but they might give you some starting points. hth edit: I almost forgot: Peanuts! The entire series of comic strips has been collected and bound into several volumes. My ds has been working his way through those off and on over the last year. Here's a link to just one of the volumes: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Peanuts-1961-1962-Charles-Schulz/dp/1560976721/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319814767&sr=1-9 Edited October 28, 2011 by Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 There is a series about "Benny and Penny" by Geoffrey Hayes that we liked. The publisher has other books in the same format, but by different authors, check out the Toon Book library for their graded readers. We also liked "Jack and the Box" ETA: We found them at the library Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 My dd has always been an extreme comic reader, but she mainly devours my dh's childhood collection of Family Circus, Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey, Hi and Louis, etc. I don't even know if you can buy them now. http://www.amazon.com/Read-N-Grow-Picture-Bible-872-Picture-Revelation/dp/084991163X This is a picture Bible with the stories in cells and captions underneath. My dd enjoyed it about that age. Just so you know, an extreme bent like that can be an indication of dyslexia. It means they're using pictures and context to read the words instead of decoding. My dh is dyslexic, and I'm having my dd evaluated next month as she probably is too. So that would be a little thing to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Anything from TOON Books, definitely. They do Benny and Penny among other things and they've had a bunch of new releases recently, I haven't even read them all. There's a couple more imprints of easy reader comics. One is Balloon Toons. Several of those are cute and easy, though there were fewer standouts. There's also Phonics Comics, which has a number of specifically girl-targeted series. My experience has been that those are of a lesser quality in terms of art and writing though. Elephant and Piggie is even simpler and in comic book format. Also, it's just consistently awesome and hilarious. Another possibility is Owly. Not girl targeted, but wordless, adorable, amazing. There are several in the series and many library systems will own them. Slightly harder to read and definitely a little silly is the Hamster and Cheese series, about a private detective guinea pig (the "g" fell off his sign - GET IT?). Getting a little bit older and more difficult, there's Babymouse. It's targeted to slightly older kids and there are some slightly more grown up girl issues there - but the comic itself is very sweet. Babymouse likes to escape into her own little world and imagine she's queen or fighting pirates or the like. Tiny Titans is one my boys like, but it's pretty genderless. It's not amazing graphic novel stuff or anything, but the kids enjoyed it. Binky is a series that I couldn't get my boys to bite on, but it's cute, short, fun. The art is really nice. It's about a cat who imagines he's in outer space. Getting into slightly older stuff again, there's the Amulet series. Great stuff and great art - fantasy, girl power, about a girl who has a special destiny to wield a magic amulet and go to this faraway land. We're all obsessed in our house. There's some violence, but it's very much targeted to kids. Ditto the book Zita the Spacegirl - another one in that same vein, about a girl who gets sucked through a portal to another planet in outer space and has to find her courage. Those may be a bit heavy for a 5 yo, but maybe to keep in mind. I don't think a child enjoying graphic novels is an indication of dyslexia. I enjoy graphic novels because they're awesome, not because I can't also read Pride and Prejudice when I feel like it. Children often enjoy art and pictures together because they're CHILDREN. That's why picture books have been around for so long. Children also often connect emotionally with books that are "below" their reading level. Just because an advanced reading 4 year old can read Moby Dick doesn't mean we should all be worried if he decides Magic Treehouse is just more fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindygz Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 My daughter has enjoyed Babymouse, Fashion Kitty and has just recently been reading the Geronimo Stilton books and quite liking those as well. She also likes Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes. She is very artistic and I think that is the appeal of the comic books for her. I personally do not like any comic books except Calvin & Hobbes (or others that are really straightforward to read, format-wise) because I am a very verbal person, so the pictures make it hard for me to follow what is happening. I just want the story to be in the words. So I think it is great that there are books that appeal to all types. My dd9 really enjoys other "standard" books, too, FWIW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieuog Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I think The Big Adventures of Majoko is fun and cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Sticky Burr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 That's easy, Yotsuba&!. :D You can preview them at a B&N if there's one nearby. They're shelved with manga rather than in the kids section, but are perfectly acceptable content-wise for a 5yo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 That's easy, Yotsuba&!. :D You can preview them at a B&N if there's one nearby. They're shelved with manga rather than in the kids section, but are perfectly acceptable content-wise for a 5yo. Hee hee! I was trying to figure out the name of that series without getting up off of my bum! OP, I am not sure how well your five year old is reading, but in dd's early stages, she loved Phonics Comics. I bought a bunch from Barnes and Noble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 DD (7) loves Chi's Sweet Home. http://www.amazon.com/Chis-Sweet-Home-Kanata-Konami/dp/1934287814/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319849322&sr=1-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimmy Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Elephant and Piggie are fun, along with the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. My daughter loves those Joy Berry books too and I just.can't.stand.them. Unfortunately she knows exactly where they are at the library;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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