These character-driven stories entertain, empower, and increase the reading proficiency of kids who want to tackle a long, "big kid" book, but aren't quite ready for text-heavy reading.Other titles in I Can Read Chapter Books! use all-dialogue and/or comics-style narration. Engaging and easy-to-read: A spare text pairs with relatable kid-characters that are at the perfect level of complexity for new readers. Taps into a growing trend of longer page count/lower word count early readers. A little extra: Each book ends with an activity suggestion related to that title's story or theme. Harriet Ziefert, Blue Apple’s publisher and founder, was among the pioneers in creating early readers that help kids transition out of being read to and into becoming independent readers. A crucial step in this process is to offer books with more pages and more plot, while retaining a spare word count and text style. Enter I Can Read Chapter Books, a new series of readers created to fill the gap between picture books and text-heavy chapter books. The first three books in the series have anywhere from 72 to 96 pages, but very few words per page. In short, the page count is longer WITHOUT piling on the words. These books are designed to fill an important gap in reading materials. It’s important to have books that challenge the new reader to remember what happened more than 80 pages after he/she began. Best of all, each of the books features fresh-and-funny, character-driven stories. Kids will feel like they’ve made some great new friends who reflect their lives and feelings, book after book. Downloadable activity and discussion materials for kids, parents, and educators are available on the Blue Apple Books website.