How old was your child when you started reading them chapter books?

Chapter books are meant to be self-read. IMO, there is no reason to push something on them that they are not fully going to appreciate or understand. That's what story books are for. There are hundreds of them at the library so you'll never run out of new, age- appropriate material.

My DS starting reading chapter books on his own in first grade. DD is definitely on track to do the same.

My kids were 3 when I started reading them chapter books. We mainly did the classics like The Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows, Black Beauty, etc. We would read a chapter at a time and have some open discussion about certain parts. My kids really want to read the Harry Potter series and the Chronicles of Narnia. They watched the movies and are really interested in reading the books.

My son was... 5yo? when we started Harry Potter. Now he's 8yo, and all we read are chapter books anymore. From there, we did the first few Narnia books. We're currently reading Gulliver's Travels... The Swiss Family Robinson is next in line. There are oodles of books aimed at condensing classic books into kid terms. Our library has a couple of series', and we've been going through those super fast. He just eats them up.

My daughter is 5yo now, and is just beginning to express an interest in chapter books over picture books. We're about halfway through Little Women right now, and she's enjoying it a lot more than I even thought she would. Kids are able to grasp a lot more than they're given credit for.

For chapter books they like to read on their _own_... definitely the Junie B. Jones, and the Magic Treehouse, and the Encyclopedia Brown, etc, etc. But that's the cool thing about reading the chapter books _to_ them... you can start with a lot more complex materials. They just sit there and zone. Everyone loves being read to.

We read _Walk Two Moons_ when he was 3, but really he was more interested in the rhythms and repetitions from early reader books until right around his 4th birthday a few months ago. We're reading the _Magic Tree House_ series right now and he really seems to enjoy them since we get through them in just two or three sittings. I don't doubt his ability to handle something longer, not at all, but he seems to like getting through the entire story a bit more quickly.

It seems most likely that we'll start one of _The Giver_ series (I don't know if we'll start with _Gathering Blue_ or _The Messenger_ first, just for ease) or if we'll try _Treasure Island to see how it goes. He was initially excited, earlier this year, to read _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ (our library had used it as an "On the Same Page" book with lots of activities so he had become familiar with the story), but the dialectical conversations annoyed him too much.

Probably about 3 or 4. I'm not sure what we started with - probably whatever we were reading to their big sister. But, I do remember going through the whole of the Chronicles of Narnia with them when they were 3 & 4 years old.

The earlier you start the earlier it will inprove their perceptions. As long as they can listen they will learn. My parents read to me from before I could talk and throughout school I was 3-4 reading levels above everyone else.

I don't think t.v. is a misuse of their time, it's just that I see no real use of it nowadays and there is nothing at all educational or worthwhile on now. Children of today face 'entertainment' that is just plain ridiculous and does not have any morale meaning behind them

Just read a e book and watch a similar e book that has been converted to that movie. You will discover details in a written reserve that people neglect enjoying a movie. We do not have the sense of smell or color that our minds can create.

3. Little House on the Prairie books are so far a favorite..

Prior to k is about as far back as I can remember. In either k or first grade we were reading Harry Potter. She read one page and I read the other.