Brief Thoughts on Early Readers

While at the local library, I thought I would sit down and look at some of the early readers atas I don't know much about them. While I did not read them all the way through most of them, I did think some were better than others:

1) Dragon Slayers Academy by Kate McMullan--RL 3.4
The series starts with a young boy who dreams of becoming a hero. A minstrel tells him that he has the makings of a hero and over the course of a winter teaches him useful skills such as reading and writing. One day the young boy sees an advertisement for the Dragon Slayers Academy who will, for seven pennies, take in any boy and turn him into a hero. Enter our young boy complete with his talking pet pig!
It seems to be pretty well-written and some of the details are historically accurate. I think this is a good series, especially for boys. It seems like there are plenty of well-written early readers targeted towards girls but a lack of good books written for boys. The ones intended for boys seem primarily have techo-machinery or toilet humor. Maybe that's unfair...

2) The A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy--RL 3.4
The first book had good writing, good pacing, and a good mix of characters--2 boys and 1 girl. I am not very clever when it comes to solving mysteries so the solution was surprising to me. The mystery is solved in a logical manner and concludes satisfactorily. I would happily recommend this series to a beginning reader.

3) Geronimo Stilton series by Geronimo Stilton--RL 3
Eh. They struck me as OK. The plots could be interesting enough as Geronimo travels to different countries and mysterious places. The illustrated words could be an attraction to some children but could also serve to be annoying as they might distract from the story. I wonder if the way the words are laid out/drawn out have helped children learn the more complicated words? I could see that.

4) Mermaid S.O.S. series by Gillian Shields and Helen Turner--RL 3?
Another eh book series. It seems like a more complex and better written alternative to the Rainbow Fairy series by Daisy Meadows. This is by no means a bad thing. Mermaid S.O.S. will be sure to make young girls excited about reading. I can fully support that and I would recommend this series to girls that want something princessey.

5) Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott--RL 3.1
These seem OK. Two boys and a girl get transported to a fantasy land through a door in one of the boy's basements. The writing was OK. It just didn't wow me. Of course, to be fair, I did not read very far into the book.

6) Ivy & Bean series by Annie Barrows--RL 2.7
I wouldn't recommend these books simply due to how bratty Bean acts during the first few chapters of the book. I skimmed a bit of the middle and the two girls flout authority and don't seem to respect all their elders. Call me old-fashioned but I don't think 2nd/3rd graders need to be exposed to that.

7) The Time Warp Trio by Jon Scieszka--RL 4.1
The first book didn't really impress me. The beginning was off-putting as the reader was immediately thrown into the middle of the action. The premise of the series seems to be three boys who use a book to travel back in time. I think I would be more supportive of this series if the Magic Treehouse series wasn't already out there. However, it's not Jon Scieszka's fault that everyone and their brother seems to read Magic Treehouse books. I think I would recommend this series to fans of Magic Treehouse but I honestly think there are better things to read out there that are near the same reading level.