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Mary G
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My 7 yod is a reluctant reader ... we have tried just about every series and we finally found one that really sparks her interest:
The Cobble Street Cousins, written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin is such a wonderful series about 3 cousins who live with their Aunt Lucy (while their parents are off dancing somewhere) and the adventures they have. These books are SO CUTE!
We just finished: In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen which is the first book. The others include: A Little Shopping, Special Gifts, Some Good News, Summer Party and Wedding Flowers. Maggie is SO ANXIOUS to start book 2!
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CKwasniewski
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Mary,
These look absolutely darling! 
In fact, even though our Rose is not reading yet, I may get them to read aloud to her. We haven't hit on just the right thing for a while...
Thanks!
CK
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KC in TX
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I love Cynthia Rylant books. My children have fallen in love with her Mr. Putter books. My oldest dd loves to read them.
I'll have to look in the Cobble Street Cousins ones. Thanks, Mary!
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Mackfam
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Oh wow! Thanks for the heads up Mary - these sound great! I'm going to check my library.
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Jen Mackintosh
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PDyer
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I've held them all at our library. Thanks, Mary!
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Patty
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sweetiesmom
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My dd loved these books also. Does anyone know of a good series like this one for a reluctant little boy?
sweetiesmom
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Mary G
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sweetiesmom wrote:
My dd loved these books also. Does anyone know of a good series like this one for a reluctant little boy?
sweetiesmom |
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I did see a series, also by Cynthia Rylant, at the library that looks like it would be fun too ... The Lighthouse Family ... those sound like they'd be fun too....
One thing I like about Cynthia Rylant's writing -- it's relatively simple but the sentences are full sentences with some "depth". Often in the easy chapter books, I find poor sentence structure, grammar errors or just plain non-sentences. How is a child to learn to write if the stories he/she reads are full of errors?
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MaryG
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MaryMary
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ohhhh, thanks for this, Mary.
Believe it or not I had "Wedding flowers" in my cart the last time I ordered from Amazon, but I removed it when my total got embarrassing! I didn't really know what to expect from the series, although Cynthia Rylant is always good, imho.
I have a seven year old dd that is stuck on Magic School Bus (chapter books) and the Magic Tree House series. I'll have to see if our library has any of these...
Thanks again!
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amarytbc
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Thanks for the tip, will be picking one up later today.
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SuzanneG
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what is easiest / hardest of these three series?
It looks like it may be like this (from easiest to hardest):
Mr. Putter
Cobble Street Cousins
The Lighthouse Family
As an aside: I was over at a friend's house last week while her dc were on Christmas vacation and her dd-7 is an outstanding reader....really fast reading, really big words and understanding everything. She probably reads better than most high schoolers  .
I asked her to read a chapter from one of her chapter books to the girls for quiet time. It was one of those "series" books that I didn't recognize (not that that means much, as I'm not "there" yet)....but it was nothing that anyone HERE had mentioned. And I was completely turned off by these couple of chapters....a bunch of 2nd graders having conversations about food that was "totally gross" and how mean their teacher was, how silly someone looked, etc....ad infinitum, ad nauseum. The sentence structure was lame, no plot, etc.
And, this is a girl who I KNOW is capable of reading and understanding lit that is WAY BEYOND THIS. It's really too bad. And, on her bookshelves are literally 50 or so of these lame books.
On the way home, my girls asked me if I understood those couple of chapters, cuz they didn't . Dd-5 asked "I wasn't really sure if anything happened, Mom....I guess I just wasn't listening." I wanted to scream....."NOTHING HAPPENED AND NOTHING INTERESTING WAS DESCRIBED! It was a bunch of rude children talking to each other about absolutely NOTHING!"
DD-6 said, "Emily is a really good reader, huh Mom? But I don't understand her books.....they're kinda wierd."
Yeah.....KINDA!
All this  to say that I'm so grateful for all your suggestions and experience and love of all things beautiful!
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Karen T
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We read the Cobble street books last year from our library. I just happened to find them on the shelves and since we already loved Rylant we got them. We have also read the Lighthouse series and they are OK but don't have as much depth IMO as the Cobble Street cousins. Still interesting, though.
My favorite picture book by Cynthia Rylant is
The Old Woman Who Named Things
karen T
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Karen T
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SuzanneG wrote:
what is easiest / hardest of these three series?
It looks like it may be like this (from easiest to hardest):
Mr. Putter
Cobble Street Cousins
The Lighthouse Family
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I would not say The Lighthouse books are harder than the Cobble street books, but may not have as many pictures. Mr Putter and Tabby (love those) are on the same lines as Henry and Mudge, which she also writes.
Karen T
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margot helene
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It looks like a "girl" series. Would boys like it do you think?
Thanks
margot
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Erica Sanchez
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Margot,
I think boys would like the Lighthouse books. I remember them to have a bit of adventure with rescuing of animals/characters and such. I thought the characters were very sweet and caring in these books. The Cobble ones have such pretty illustrations. I remember these to be pretty girly. We loved these, too. :)
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erica471
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Thank you! I picked thest up at my library. I'm anxious to start them with Dd. 
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margot helene
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We picked them up, too! And ds is reading the first "lighthouse" one right this minute!! HE loves it!
Thanks
margot
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Kristen in TN
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I found "In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen" somewhere and picked it up because of the title and author. My sister-in-law's name was Lucy and she died of cancer when my husband and I were married 3 months (she died on Valentine's Day.) I thought this book would give my children an idea of their Aunt Lucy whom they see pictures of and hear about, but never met. I am so glad to know there is a little series and I'll be looking for them. Thanks for this post.
God bless,
Kristen in TN
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SuzanneG
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Great recommendation, Mary. My "reluctant reader" dd-7, just finished In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen on Saturday. She really liked it and I just requested A Little Shopping from the library. She told dh all about it yesterday at dinner, so I know she understood it, even though I originally thought it was a bit too hard for her. Shows how much I know...   .
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Suzanne in ID
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amarytbc
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Thanks so much. My 7 year old read the first book in the series in one sitting and is begging for more. It's so hard to find good chapter books for this age.
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Matilda
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Do you know anything about the Poppleton series. Where it might fall in the easiest/hardest range? Thanks!
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Great Beginning Chapter book series
