Short Chapter Books and Novels for 5-10+ Year-olds

Posted in Reading Lists and Book Lists on February 1, 2017 - by

Short Chapter Books for kids 5-8

This is a list of suggestions for short chapter books and short novels that children between the ages of five and eight years old can start reading. Because every child's reading level is unique, therefore making it difficult to prescribe specific age ranges, there will be books on this list that are not age-appropriate for some kids until they are around the age of 10+. Nevertheless, if you have children between the ages of five and ten, this is the best starting point for discovering engaging and fun new short chapter books.

  1. The Hobbit
    Written by: J. R. R. Tolkien | Published: 1937
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  2. Mouse and the Motorcycle
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  3. The Little House on the Prairie Series
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  4. Ramona books
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  5. My Father's Dragon series
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  6. Magic Tree House Series
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  7. The Phantom Tollbooth
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  8. Charlotte's Web
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  9. The Secret Garden
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  10. The Complete Winnie the Pooh
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  11. The House at Pooh Corner
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  12. A Bear Named Paddington, Paddington Bear
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  13. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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  14. The Tale Of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
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    (Or really anything by her.)
  15. The Penderwicks
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  16. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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  17. Little House in the Big Woods
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  18. The Jungle Book
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  19. Alice in Wonderland
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  20. Geronimo Stilton series
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  21. Odd and The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
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  22. Mr. Popper's Penguins
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  23. Pippi Longstocking
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  24. Ronia Robber's Daughter
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  25. The Girls of the Good Day Orphanage series by Carol Beach York
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  26. Cynthia Rylant
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    Anything by Cynthia Rylant is an excellent choice.
  27. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
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  28. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
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  29. The Cricket in Times Square
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  30. The Worst Witch series
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  31. The Mercy Watson series
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  32. The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith
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  33. Sophie books by Dick King-Smith
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  34. The Boxcar Children
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  35. The Magic Faraway Tree
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  36. The Wizard of Oz
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  37. Mrs Pepperpot
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  38. Misty of Chincoteague
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  39. Harry Potter
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  40. Harry the Poisonous Centipede
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  41. Captain Underpants series
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  42. A Series of Unfortunate Events series
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  43. Dolphin Tale
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    (We recommend using the original edition)
  44. Five Children and It
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  45. Junie B Jones series
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  46. Stuart Little
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  47. The Moffat series by Eleanor Estes
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  48. Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George
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  49. Brambley Hedge
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  50. Hank the Cowdog
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  51. Toys Go Out
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  52. Galaxy Zack series
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  53. Ghosthunter series by Funke
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  54. The Trumpet of the Swans by EB White
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  55. Mary Poppins
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  56. Tumtum and Nutmeg
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  57. The Giants and the Joneses
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  58. The Borrowers
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  59. Milly-Molly-Mandy
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  60. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic
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  61. The Chronicles of Narnia
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  62. Fortunately the Milk
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  63. A Wrinkle in Time
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  64. The Martian
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  65. Peter Pan
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  66. King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table
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  67. Bad Unicorn
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  68. A Wind in the Door
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  69. A Swiftly Tilting Planet
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  70. The One and Only Ivan
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  71. The Princess in Black series
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  72. Bunnicula
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  73. Lulu and the Brontosaurus
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  74. The Indian in the Cupboard series
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  75. Beatrix Potter
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  76. The Children of Noisy Village
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  77. The Littles series
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  78. Esio Trot
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  79. The Magic Finger
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  80. Moomintroll books
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  81. Keeker and the Sneaky Pony
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  82. Billy and Blaze
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  83. Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
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  84. Famous Five by Enid Blyton
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  85. Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
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  86. Henry Huggins
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  87. The Twits
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  88. Wind in the Willows
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  89. The Iron Giant
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  90. Mr. Poppleton
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  91. Gregor and the Overlander series
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  92. Notebook of Doom
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  93. Dory Fantasmagory
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  94. Appleblossom the Possum
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  95. Half Magic
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  96. Ginger Pye
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  97. The Golden Compass
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  98. Homer Price
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  99. The Secret World of Og
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  100. Laura Ingalls Wilder books
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  101. Encyclopedia Brown
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  102. Igraine the Brave
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  103. Swallows and Amazons
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  104. The Waggit books
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  105. Any of Beverly Cleary's books
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  106. Platero and I
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  107. Nate the Great
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  108. My Side of the Mountain books
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  109. Ragweed and Poppy
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  110. Because of Winn-Dixie
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  111. The Children of Green Knowe
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  112. Psamead Trilogy by Edith Nesbit
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  113. Thornton W. Burgess's books
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  114. Magic Chalk by Zinken Hopp
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  115. Wonderful Adventures of Nils
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  116. Karlsson on the Roof by Astrid Lindgren
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  117. Beyond Five in a Row
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  118. Dragon Masters
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  119. The Eight Children series
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  120. The Aurora series
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Great short chapter books
The majority of this list was first compiled by the awesome members of the Secular, Eclectic, Academic (SEA) Homeschoolers Facebook group.

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