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A first chapter book is often a child’s first real foray into reading books that don’t have full-color illustrations (see Figure 2-10). In this exciting time in a child’s life, they get to go the section in the bookstore or library that houses the big-girl and big-boy books. First chapter books discuss more mature subject matter and have more complex stories than board books and picture books, as well as more complex characters and relationships with one another.

From Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth, Book 1, reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins Children’s Books. Text © 2012 by Jane O’Connor. Illustrations © 2012 by Robin Preiss Glasser.

FIGURE 2-10: Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth, Book 1, a first chapter book.

Most first chapter books, if they have illustrations at all, contain a few black-and-white images scattered randomly throughout. The authors of first chapter books maintain the pacing directly through story developments and conflict, rather than through illustration or subtle suggestion. Some popular first chapter book series include the My Weird School and the My Weirder School series by Dan Gutman and Jim Paillot (HarperCollins) and Annie Barrows’s and Sophie Blackall’s Ivy + Bean series (Chronicle Books).