I have used The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume for struggling readers in beginning 3rd grade. This is a fairly new series and the books are easy to read. It was especially popular with students who had a younger or older sibling. Megan McDonald has a series featuring Judy Moody's kid brother -- Stink. These are a little easier than the Judy Moody books and are fun to read. I have had success with Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown, A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy, and The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne. The Secrets of Droon is a great little fantasy series that my students have enjoyed. Some of the Dan Gutman books like the Million Dollar Kick might work.
I have found that the key is to find what the student is interested in and then help them find a series to get "hooked" on. A series provides familiar characters and plots which help support struggling readers. I have found that it is important that the font not be too small and that there are at least a few illustrations to break the text. They do, however, want "chapter books" and not picture books. The early series are also great transitional books that can lead to more advanced level books. The Magic Treehouse books have non-fiction, informational books to go with many of the fiction stories which is a nice way to broaden genre exposure. Kids who like Secrets of Droon often go on to read other fantasy novels such as Deltora Quest. Judy Blume, Megan McDonald and Dan Gutman have written many books for elementary students and if students have enjoyed an easier series by an author they are often willing to try another series by the same author. Hope this helps. Saundra _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
