Reluctant readers (Tamariki).

Struggling to get into reading? Check out this amazing selection of chapter books that is bound to turn the reluctant reader into a well renowned bibilophile!

Updated August 20, 2024
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The strange case of Origami Yoda
Angleberger, Tom.
Paper Book
In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren't strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient....
The one and only Ivan
Applegate, Katherine.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling and Newbery Award-winning novel The One and Only Ivan is now a major motion picture streaming on Disney+ This unforgettable novel from renowned author Katherine Applegate celebrates the transformative power of...
Tales of a fourth grade nothing
Blume, Judy
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling author's first book in her classic Fudge series. "As a kid, Judy Blume was my favorite author, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was my favorite book."--Jeff Kinney, author of the bestselling Wimpy Kid series ...
Flat Stanley
Brown, Jeff
Paper Book
In this 50th anniversary edition, join Flat Stanley and the rest of the Lambchop family on the adventure that started it all!  Kids love Flat Stanley--even reluctant readers. And for parents and teachers, each Flat Stanley book delivers multicultural adventure, plot and character...
Invisible Stanley
Brown, Jeff
Paper Book
Flat Stanley's adventures take a new turn when Stanley gets to be INVISIBLE! One morning, after a terrible storm, Stanley Lambchop is nowhere to be found. His family can hear him, and there is a lump under his covers, but no one can find him! Just where is that boy? Then they...
Stanley, flat again!
Brown, Jeff
Paper Book
Is Stanley flat again!? Stanley Lambchop has had his share of unusual adventures. But being flat was one thing he thought he was through with forever. Then one morning, he discovers he was wrong. Still, there is so much that a boy who is only one inch thick can do that a round...
The enchantress returns
Colfer, Chris
Paper Book
After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance. Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress...
A Grimm warning
Colfer, Chris
Paper Book
In the third book in the New York Times bestselling series by Chris Colfer, the Brothers Grimm have a warning for the Land of Stories. Conner Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him--until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm....
The wishing spell
Colfer, Chris
Paper Book
Celebrate the 10-year anniversary of  Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories with this gorgeous illustrated anniversary edition! Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that...
Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane
Collins, Suzanne.
Paper Book
The action and adventure continue in the second book in Suzanne Collins's masterful New York Times bestselling Underland Chronicles!Months have passed since Gregor first fell into the strange Underland beneath New York City, and he swears he will never go back. But he is destined to be a key player...
Gregor the Overlander : book 1 in The Underland chronicles
Collins, Suzanne.
Paper Book
This irresistible novel by Suzanne Collins tells the story of a boy who embarks on a dangerous quest in order to fulfill his destiny -- and find his father -- in a strange world beneath New York City. Gregor the Overlander joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and...
Matilda
Dahl, Roald.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG! Adapted into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a Netflix film! Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects...
The Twits
Dahl, Roald.
Paper Book
Originally published: London: J. Cape, 1980.
Bink & Gollie, two for one
DiCamillo, Kate.
Paper Book
Your favorite marvelous companions are back! Meet them at the fair in this delightfully droll sequel to the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winning Bink and Gollie. The state fair is in town, and now Bink and Gollie -- utter opposites and best friends extraordinaire -- must use...
Bink and Gollie
DiCamillo, Kate.
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! Winner of the 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award! In a brilliant collaboration, best-selling authors Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, along with acclaimed illustrator Tony Fucile, introduce an outrageously funny pair of friends. Meet...
Harriet, the spy
Fitzhugh, Louise.
Paper Book
Harriet, would-be writer and avid observer of life, records everything she sees and hears . . . until her notebooks fall into the wrong hands. Bursts with life . . . a tour de force.--School Library Journal. ALA Notable Children's Book; New York Times Outstanding Children's Book.
Fortunately, the milk--
Gaiman, Neil
Paper Book
An absolute delight of a madcap story for the young (and young-at-heart) by New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with equal parts pirates and piranhas, adventure and aliens, oddity and love. "I bought the milk," said my father. "I walked out of the corner shop, and...
Diary of a wimpy kid : Greg Heffley's journal
Kinney, Jeff
Paper Book
Boys don't keep diaries--or do they? The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to It's a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where...
Double down
Kinney, Jeff
Paper Book
The pressure's really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his "creative side."   As if that's not scary enough, Halloween's just around the corner and the...
From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Konigsburg, E. L
Paper Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with E. L. Konigsburg's beloved classic and Newbery Medal­-winning novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler! When Claudia decided to run away, she...
Stink : the incredible shrinking kid
McDonald, Megan
Paper Book
In honor of Judy Moody's younger "bother," the creators of the award-winning series have put themselves in a very Stink-y mood — proving, once and for all, that you're only as short as you feel. Shrink, shrank, shrunk! Every morning, Judy Moody measures Stink...
Dinosaurs before dark
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
Read the #1 bestselling chapter book that started it all! Magic. Mystery. Time-travel. Get whisked back in time in the magic tree house with Jack and Annie! Where did the tree house come from? Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them...
The knight at dawn
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! A castle with a secret passage! That's what Jack and Annie find when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to the Middle Ages for another wild adventure. In...
Mummies in the morning
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! Jack and Annie don't need another mummy. But that's what they get when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to ancient Egypt. There they meet a long-dead...
Wonder
Palacio, R. J
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A PARADE BEST KIDS BOOK OF ALL TIME * Millions of people have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face--who shows us that kindness brings us together no matter how far apart we are. Read the book that...
Big Nate : in a class by himself
Peirce, Lincoln.
Paper Book
Sixth grade renaissance man Nate Wright is bombastic, enthusiastic, and larger than life -- it's why his friends call him "Big Nate." But behind the bravado, Nate is a faithful friend whose antics crack up his classmates, impart life lessons to readers, and bring a smile to comics lovers...
Big Nate strikes again
Peirce, Lincoln.
Paper Book
Now an animated series from Paramount + & Nickelodeon! For fans of Jeff Kinney and Raina Telgemeier, here comes the second novel in the New York Times bestselling Big Nate series.  BIG NATE will surpass all others! But it won't be easy. He's stuck with Gina,...
Where the red fern grows : the story of two dogs and a boy
Rawls, Wilson.
Paper Book
For fans of Old Yeller and Shiloh, Where the Red Fern Grows is a beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man's best friend.      Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he's finally able to save up enough money for...
Sideways stories from Wayside School
Sachar, Louis
Paper Book
There was a terrible mistake-Wayside School was built with one classroom on top of another, thirty stories high! (The builder said he was sorry.) Maybe that's why all kinds of funny things happened at Wayside-especially on the thirteenth floor. There was a terrible mistake-Wayside School was...
Wayside School is falling down
Sachar, Louis
Paper Book
Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Wayside School Is Falling Down! Yum! Miss Mush is dishing out her famous Mushroom Surprise in the Wayside School cafeteria. Ron says it tastes like...
You're a bad man, Mr Gum!
Stanton, Andy
Paper Book
Mr. Gum may be the nastiest man on Earth, but he has the tidiest, greeniest, floweriest, gardeniest garden in the world...that is, until a giant whopper of a dog named Jake destroys it in a fit of doggy joy. In retaliation, Mr. Gum hatches one of his astonishingly evil plots, involving some...
Lost treasure of the emerald eye
Stilton, Geronimo
Paper Book
Re-enter the world of Geronimo Stilton, where another funny adventure is always right around the corner. Each book is a fast-paced adventure with lively art and a unique format kids 7-10 will loveWho Is Geronimo Stilton?That's me! I run a newspaper, but my true passion is writing tales of adventure....

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