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
Life with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he's never far from trouble. He's an almost three-year-old terror who...
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...
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
The first book in Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories about two siblings who fall into a fairy-tale world! Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with...
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
The classic story from Roald Dahl, about an exceptional young girl with extraordinary powers. 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 school to be...
The Twits
Dahl, Roald.
Paper Book
Roald Dahl’s thrillingly grotesque book for young readers is now available in a gorgeous new gift edition, featuring the deliciously wicked artwork of Quentin Blake. Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, nastiest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything–except playing mean...
Bink & Gollie, best friends forever
DiCamillo, Kate.
Paper Book
All righty, then! Celebrate the tall and short of a marvelous friendship with this Bink and Gollie adventure. Gollie is quite sure she has royal blood in her veins, but can Bink survive her friend's queenly airs -- especially if pancakes are not part of the deal? Bink wonders...
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
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 Bink and Gollie, two precocious little girls --...
Harriet, the spy
Fitzhugh, Louise.
Paper Book
Soon to be an Apple TV+ animated series starring Golden Globe nominee Beanie Feldstein and Emmy Award winner Jane Lynch, it's no secret that Harriet the Spy is a timeless classic that kids will love! Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down...
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...
The 13-storey treehouse
Griffiths, Andy
Paper Book
Andy and Terry live in a treehouse. But it's not just any old treehouse, it's the most amazing treehouse in the world! This treehouse has thirteen stories, a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a secret underground laboratory, and a marshmallow machine that follows you around...
The 26-storey treehouse
Griffiths, Andy
Paper Book
Andy and Terry live in a 26-story treehouse. (It used to be 13 stories, but they've expanded.) It has a bumper car rink, a skate ramp, an antigravity chamber, an ice cream parlor with 78 flavors, and the Maze of Doom--a maze so complicated that nobody who has gone in has ever come out again. Well...
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
By popular demand -- Judy Moody's brother, Stink, gets his chance to star! Shrink, shrank, shrunk! Every morning, Judy Moody measures Stink and it's always the same: three feet, eight inches tall. Stink feels like even the class newt is growing faster than he is. Then...
The worst witch
Murphy, Jill
Ebook
Catch up on Mildred Hubble's magical adventures at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches with these reissued editions featuring energetic new covers. Mildred Hubble is starting her first year at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches - and making a mess of it! She can't ride her...
Dinosaurs before dark
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
Where did the magic tree house come from? Before Jack and Anie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them back to the prehistoric past. Now can they do it before dark... or will they become a dinosaur's dinner?
The knight at dawn
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
"Peacocks for dinner and boys in skirts? hats what Jack and Annie When the Magic Tree house whisks them back to the middle ages for another wild adventure. In a great hall of a castle, a feast is underway. But Jack and Annie are not welcome guests!"
Mummies in the morning
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
Jack and Annie find themselves whisked away to ancient Egypt, where they come face to face with a dead queen--and her 1,000-year-old mummy!
Wonder
Palacio, R. J
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * 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 inspired the Choose Kind...
Big Nate : in a class by himself
Peirce, Lincoln.
Paper Book
Now an animated series from Paramount + & Nickelodeon! For fans of the hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Get ready to meet Big Nate! In the very first novel in the New York Times bestselling series, Big Nate is in a class by himself! Nate knows he's meant for big...
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
Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Sideways Stories from Wayside School, the first book in the series! Accidentally built sideways and standing thirty stories high (the builder said he...
Wayside School gets a little stranger
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 Gets a Little Stranger!  Before you enter Wayside School, you should know that it's a thirty-story building with one classroom on...
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...
Horrid Henry
Simon, Francesca
Ebook
Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 to 5 Horrid Henry is the very first collection of stories about the master of mischief (and the funniest kid in the universe) including: Horrid Henry is dragged to dance class. Horrid Henry competes with Moody Margaret to make the...
Cat and mouse in a haunted house
Stilton, Geronimo
Paper Book
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 love.I was lost in a dark, spooky forest! Until I stumbled upon Curlypaw Cannycat's Castle. The castle was...
The curse of the cheese pyramid
Stilton, Geronimo
Paper Book
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 loveI'm off to Egypt! I climbed onboard a crabby old camel that would take me across the desert to the Great...
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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