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
Started it all, it did! This is the first book in the New York Times bestselling Origami Yoda series. Perfect for fans of humor, adventure, and a touch of the Force! It takes the wisdom of Yoda to survive sixth grade. Meet...
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
When Stanley Lambchop wakes up one morning, his brother, Arthur, is yelling. A bulletin board fell on Stanley during the night, and now he is only half an inch thick! Amazing things begin happening to him. Stanley gets rolled up, mailed, and flown like a kite. He even gets to help catch two...
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
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 this stunning fantasy from a rising literary star. Gregor is summoned back to the Underland by the terms of a second prophecy. Spies have reported the sighting of a Rat King, a character who has been legendary since the Middle Ages. Recognizable...
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
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 --...
Even weirder!
Do, Anh
Paper Book
From bestselling author Anh Do comes the hilarious hit chapter book series, WeirDo. These illustrated books will keep readers laughing as Weir and his friends navigate the trials of elementary school.Weir's back and even weirder!But it's not just Weir who's weird, it's his whole family. Not...
Weir Do
Do, Anh
Paper Book
From bestselling author Anh Do comes the hilarious hit chapter book series, WeirDo. These illustrated books will keep readers laughing as Weir and his friends navigate the trials of elementary school.Meet Weir Do.No, that's not a typo, that's his name!Weir Do's the new kid in school. With an...
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
In the first book of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, #1 international bestselling author Jeff Kinney introduces us to Greg Heffley: an unforgettable, unlikely hero that every family can relate to. Being a kid can really stink. And no one...
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...
Dinosaurs before dark
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
"We are celebrating by bringing full color to the Cretaceous period--full-color art that is! This jacketed hardcover edition boasts new artwork, plus extras, like an interview between the creators, a letter from Mary Pope Osborne, and up-to-date dinosaur info! Join Jack and Annie as they travel back...
The knight at dawn
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Paper Book
This jacketed hardcover edition boasts new artwork, plus extras, a letter from Mary Pope Osborne, and new nonfiction information! Join Jack and Annie as they travel back to the time of knights and castles, and have an adventure filled with magic, mystery, history, and fun facts.
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
Read the beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man's best friend. This edition also includes a special note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool. Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when...
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...
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...
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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