Dory Fantasmagory is a wonderful book to help young readers cross the bridge to more complicated chapter books. Dory is the youngest in her family and she has a wild and fantastic imagination that her older brother and sister don’t fully appreciate. She is constantly talking to her imaginary monster friends like Mary, who always wants to play with her, unlike her siblings. She is also constantly asking questions like, “Why do we have armpits?” and “Does Mrs. Gobble Gracker eat rubber chickens?” This book will have your kids (and you) laughing and asking to read this book over and over. Fortunately, it is a part of a series! Check these out – Dory and the Real True Friend, Dory, Dory Black Sheep, and Head in the Clouds.

From the publisher: ‘Meet Bink and Gollie, two precocious little girls — one tiny, one tall, and both utterly irrepressible. Setting out from their super-deluxe tree house and powered by plenty of peanut butter (for Bink) and pancakes (for Gollie), they share three comical adventures involving painfully bright socks, an impromptu trek to the Andes, and a most unlikely marvelous companion.” This is a wonderful book for early readers about friendship, compromise, and roller skates. Continue the adventure with Two for One, and Best Friends Forever.

Some of my favorite books to read are reimagined fairy tales. Harriet is a hamster princess that takes the magic and the curses of fairy tales to a whole new level. Harriet was cursed at birth, a curse that will happen when she is 12 years old. In her mind, that means she is invincible until she turns 12. She and her trusty quail Mumphrey go on a series of hilarious adventures until her 12th birthday and then the completely unexpected happens. If you like this book you’ll love Ursula Vernon’s other series Dragonbreath.

I was first introduced to Three Times Lucky on audiobook and after the very first chapter, I was hooked. I would listen to it in the car and found myself having many “driveway moments” just so I could listen to a little more. It is a thoroughly entertaining, funny, touching, and beautiful book. The story is told by Miss Moses “Mo” Lebeau who is getting ready to start 6th grade. She and her friend Dale work together in this book to solve a mystery that has blown into her small town of Tupelo Landing, NC. The characters are unique and the story will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Mo tells her story with a colorful brush that brings the people to life. After you fall in love with this book you will want to read more adventures of Mo and Dale in The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, The Odds of Getting Even, and The Law of Finders Keepers.

From the Publisher: “Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block . . . for the fourth time. California’s Newport Beach is her family’s latest perch, and she’s determined to shuck her brainy loner persona and start afresh with a new Brady Bunch name—Cindy. It’s the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Even mood rings and puka shell necklaces can’t distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home.” This is a funny and moving story that will make readers laugh and learn.

Here is another look at the awkward middle school years by the authors James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. Jacky is a 12-year-old girl, one of the middle children in a house full of girls, whose mom is away serving in the military and whose father is rarely at home. Jacky is constantly pulling pranks and cracking jokes in order to keep her family happy, but the jokes go too far sometimes and end up getting her in trouble. This book is a funny and poignant look at navigating the challenges of family, school, and finding a sense of self outside of the jokes. The jokes keep coming in the next book Jacky Ha-Ha My Life is a Joke.