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Chapter Book Fun for Adventure-Loving Young Children

© Becky Jackson

Think preschoolers don't have the attention spans to listen to chapter books? Think again! Even very young kids will get still and quiet for stories that interest them.

My rowdy and rambunctious four-year-old son loves to sit in my lap for a chapter of our latest literary undertaking. During this time he is improving his listening skills, being exposed to great literature, and absorbing some built in history and science. But even more importantly, this routine reading time has created a special bond between us.

One of the first chapter books we read was Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr. My son learned about the old west and the pony express in a 4 chapter story rich with some of his favorite themes: horses, American Indians, and wolves.

A Few Simple Literature Based Learning Ideas:

*Learn more about the Pony Express and recreate it with a stick horse and mail *Find Missouri and California on a US map and trace Bill's path *Read more about Buffalo Bill (Bill Cody), how he got his nickname and his relationship with Indian tribes *Read more about wolf behavior and look at pictures of them.

Later, we moved on to a much longer novel, a condensed illustrated version of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. The story is told from the perspective of a lovable keen dog named Buck. My little boy was overcome with compassion for Buck when he was beaten, rooted for Buck during dog fights, his quest to be lead dog, and his sled pulling contest, and he especially enjoyed howling along with the wolves in the story.

Ideas:

*Find Alaska on a US map, trace Buck's path there from California *Learn more about the Gold Rush, pan for gold *Learn more about sled dogs, find pictures of St. Bernards and Scotch shepherds *Find pictures and information on timber wolves *Watch the movie version of the Call of the Wild

Another classic we enjoyed was Moby Dick by Herman Melville (the Great Illustrated Classics version). My son was intrigued by Ishmael, Captain Ahab, the indian harpooner named Queequeg, and the enormous white whale, Moby Dick. He spent a lot of time playing with toy ships and plastic whales in the bath tub during this one, but was never quite sure whether to root for the men or the whale.

Ideas:

*Learn more about whales, their size and behavior *Find the ocean on the world map and learn about its characteristics

My son's favorite of the "Great Illustrated Classics" to date has been Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. This action-packed adventure novel drew him in from the beginning as he identified himself with Jim Hawkins, the young boy who narrates the story. The mysterious Billy Bones, Long John Silver, and Ben Gunn were favorite characters to portray as well. A set of Fisher Price pirate figures and his tugboat set the stage for hours of dramatic play.