My almost 5 year old loves to be read to and to "read" his books!  He can't read yet but will spend hours going through his books and telling himself the story.  I've been looking to move up to reading chapter books to him, but didn't see anything I thought would hold his interest until this past Saturday when I found books 1 and 2 of the Boxcar Children series.  I read him the first three chapters of book 1 and he has clamored for more.  He does not want to stop reading them!  I am so happy about this and just wanted to share my excitement!

ETA: I forgot to ask--should these books be read in order?

Yay, a reader in the making!  Good for you!  :-)

IMO there's no need to read in order.  I've always read them as I came across them and found that I wasn't lost. 

OK, thanks Anna.  I have #1-3, with 4 and 5 on the way, and then I have random ones after that...18, 20, etc.

Yes, he loves books.  He is always asking to be read to, and disappears into his room for hours at a time, where we'll find him "reading" his books.  It's great!!

I have another chapter series to suggest.  My daughter has loved the Magic Treehouse series.  They are about a brother and sister who travel through time in a magic treehouse to learn about anything from dinosaurs to knights.  They are probably second grade reading level, but would be great for reading to your son.

Oooo, Magic Treehouse!  Good call.  Educational AND cool stories.

Sheryl, I was thinking of you while I was talking to myself...  Ok, not to myself, to a microphone.  When my son (now almost 19) was starting to read I developed a habit that I'm still pursuing - for the eventual grandkids, of course.

I picked a handful of books that my kid really liked and recorded myself reading them aloud.  He would follow along in the book and actually taught himself how to read over time.  Well, more to recognize words at first.  But he was years ahead of the class when he started first grade (we skipped kindergarten).

Bonus, of course, was that I could "read" to him whenever he wanted, even when I wasn't there!  I've even recorded older kids' books and young adult stuff for him, figuring I'd fill the gap since there are no real aduiobooks for those ages.

Back then, it was a tape recorder, but now I use a mic attached to my computer and I burn them to CDs and make them into MP3s he can have on his iPod.  If I drop dead tomorrow and my son has kids in ten years, I'll still be able to "read" to the grandkids.  :-) 

All of which made me think of your young reader.  Try it - it's fun! 

Wow, thanks for all the great ideas and suggestions everyone!!!  I think he'd really like recordings of us reading the books to him!

I will definitely check out the Magic Tree House books too!  I took him a few weeks ago to the library to get his very own library card, so maybe we can use it for those books! 

I loved the boxcar children when I was a kid and read them all in what ever order I could find them at the library. I dont think it matters and they are great books, I have a few stashed for when my son (now 2) gets older.

I have never read Magic Treehouse myself yet, but my nephew, 10, said I need to get them for my son. He, my nephew, still loves them so much he is unwilling to pass his down to my son, Even though he has 2 full size bookshelves in his room.

If you have a budding reader, either series would be great. Other classics I liked was Amilia Badilliia and Mrs. Piggly Wiggly, and Pippi Long Stockings.  -- Any great adventure...and easy reads.

I read the first 2 in order then skipped aorund some..IMO the earlier ones were the best with boxcar children, surprise island, caboose mystery, snowbound being my faves! I'm not sure how many there were originally but maybe 18 or so? anyways, after that other people started writing them in the late 90s I think and they did change them up quite a bit though I still like them. In the older ones grandfather and aunt jane are older and 'tire easily' and the kids eat all kinds of junk food and violet is way too shy and delicate. Henry also drives grandfather and the kids around. in the newer ones they drop henry from around 16 to 14 and he doesnt' drive. violet is still shy but works on it more. also they eat more turkey sandwiches and apples than burgers/hotdogs/apple pie/ice cream LOL! oh and 'dear aunt jane' who's nearly on her death bed in the mystry of yellow ranch? well she leads the kids on a canoe trip! no kidding!

anyways, totally awesome series. I may have a few of them somewhere I can send you if you're interest..think I had woodshed msytery and some of the newer ones...

We read 3 chapters of Surprise Island (#2) last night.  He is so excited by them!

Susanna, feel free to PM me about them if you find them.

when my son was in first grade he also LOVED the boxcar children. We read everyone we could get our hands on. Now I am reading them to my daughters.

Thanks Jacqueline!  I'm slowly starting to teach him to read.  He is very interested and is always asking me how to spell different words.

Last night he sat on the couch lovingly holding Surprise Island (#2) while waiting for his little brother's bed time, since we read it after I put the little one to sleep at night.

I think Surprise Island is the best one of the bunch! well the 1st one and that one are about tied..I loved both of those and have re-read those so many times it's pathetic!

Last night my younger son pulled the bookmark out of Surprise Island.  My older one tried to reprimand him..."you're not old enough for BOXCAR CHILDREN!"  LOL.  I told the older one to put the book in his room where his brother couldn't reach it, but he can't bear to put it in another room.

My teacher in 3rd grade read 'the boxcar children' to us..just the 1st one...after lunch and after that I realized there was an entire series. I think it was the first series I ever read...the school library's librarian really wasn't good at recommending books like I think now she should have been but the elementary and middle school shared the same library; just divided in half and I'd beg to check the boxcar children out when I was in middle school! luckily she let me since my friend did a lot of volunteer stuff in the librara(aka thelibrarian's job!) and I would help too.

I was a Nancy Drew girl growing up.

I liked Nancy Drew too but for me it was The Boxcar Children and Trixie Belden..after all Trixie loved horses and wasn't  perfect so she suited me :-) ok I mainly liked the horsies!