Miss Priss is a good little independent reader, but she is still at a stage where she needs 8-year old content, shorter chapter books, and simple plot lines. An obvious choice is Junie B. Jones, but the character bothers me. I want Miss Priss wants spunky book characters that are in the same vein as Junie B., but she also wants I want the character to use decent grammar.
Here are a few book suggestions that meet the decent grammar and spunky girl character criteria. Miss Priss reads them on her own, but we also spend time reading together several nights a week. I read a page aloud, and then my daughter takes a turn. It helps build her reading fluency without slowing the reading down so much that she loses momentum. It is also just a fun activity for the two of us.
1st grade+
- No Dogs Allowed by Stephanie Calmenson and Joanna Cole
- Just Grace series by Cherise Mericle Harper
- Cam Jansen series by David A. Adler
- Heidi Heckelbeck series by Wanda Coven
- Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary
- The Never Girls series by Kiki Thorpe
- Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows
- Gooney Bird Greene series by Lois Lowry
- My America: Meg’s Prairie Diary series by Kate McMullan
- Hailey Twitch series by Lauren Barnholdt
4th grade+
- Wide Awake Princess series by E.D. Baker
- Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far) by Ann M. Martin
- Destiny, Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
- The Magic Half by Annie Barrows
- Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley M. M. Blume
- The Tail of Emily Windsnap series by Liz Kessler
- Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
- The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern
- Maggie Malone and the Mostly Magical Boots by Jenna McCarthy and Carolyn Evans
- The Bread Winner by Arvella Whitmore
- The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry