Middle of Second Grade
As second graders continue to be more adventurous, they are also more curious and often seek answers to life’s mysteries. Our recommendations below feature a lot of suspense-filled mystery books, which meet our confident second graders where they are from a reading and phonics point of view.
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These books are sure to hook young readers into the plot early on as Katie and Pedro work together to solve mysteries. There are typically about three short chapters that move the story and suspense along quickly.
In The Mystery of the Stinky, Spooky Night, readers will soon find themselves laughing as they found that the stink for which they were searching originated from the shoe of Pedro’s dad!
Be sure to check out the glossary at the end of each book before and after reading to enhance understanding and vocabulary. Author Fran Manushkin also added wonderful comprehension questions, and in some books, included a fun follow-up activity related to the book’s plot.
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In this series about three nocturnal animals, young readers will have a chance to imagine what is happening at night. Together, a sugar glider, pangolin and fox embark on adventures just after waking up when the sun is down.
There are eight books in total in the series with some variance in length (on average about six chapters) and difficulty of text. Readers may need some clarification around some vocabulary like haunch, brigade and sputtered.
Visit nocturnalsworld.com for free and easy follow-up activities related to each book. As a gift idea, consider this adorable kit that includes books, activity ideas and a stuffy.
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Katherine Applegate, an award-winning and well-known author from The One and Only Ivan, wrote this Doggo and Pupper series as her first beginning chapter books for young readers. The series consists of three books featuring Doggo and Pupper together. The illustrations by Charlie Adler will captivate the reader’s attention and make them laugh, and the stories are entertaining and easy to follow. There are some multisyllabic vocabulary words such as “hydrated” that the reader will need to sound out syllable by syllable.
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Dav Pilkey writes and illustrates these books in a fun, cartoon style that deviates from his graphic novels, an approach which is sure to appeal to young readers. The books contain about 50 pages over five chapters that act almost as short stories within the theme of each book. Each page has fairly simple sentences with mostly decodable words and few tricky/challenge vocabulary words. Young readers will appreciate the humor and silliness in this series.
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Written in the 1970s, author Arnold Lobel received a Caldecott Honor for his illustrations and a Newbery Honor for his writing in two of the books in the Frog and Toad series. Each book in the series offers five chapters read more like sweet short stories about friendship.
Frog is cheerful and energetic and Toad is more stubborn and solitary. They don’t always agree on their outlook in life but they always try to understand and appreciate the other’s perspective. Readers will find the text to be highly accessible and decodable. The stories are entertaining and easy to follow, and there is some humor woven in to each situation.
Quick stats: 2,281 total words, 414 unique, 150 of which have two or more syllables.
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Readers will be hooked from page one when a weasel abruptly catches a mouse while reading. In a creative and crafty manner, the mouse suggests that the weasel collect various ingredients to add to the soup in which the weasel plans to cook the mouse. By the end, it becomes clear the mouse has led the weasel astray and made his escape.
The story is evocative of popular fables (think a fox being outfoxed) and the reader will undoubtedly enjoy the underdog’s triumph at the end.
Similar to the Frog and Toad books, the text is incredibly accessible and highly decodable. There are few tricky vocabulary words and so the reader can concentrate on fluency and comprehension of text.
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In this first book of the series, which won a Geisel award, the two brothers create their own neighborhood party and then find a way to earn some money and spend it.
The reader will be challenged by parts of the story that will require some inferential thinking to fully comprehend each chapter. The pages are structured in a user-friendly way, in that many of the pages include just one sentence per line. The book also repeats words with some frequency, which will help with word automaticity and fluency.
Because the topics and themes of the books in this series are so relatable to childhood, ask young readers follow-up questions about the story. For instance, ask young readers a way in which they could make money. What would they do with the money - save it or buy ice cream like Charlie and Mouse? And from what evidence in this book do we know that Charlie and Mouse bought ice cream?
Quick stats: 993 total words, 254 unique.
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Each book in the Poppleton series has three chapters written as short stories. The stories are wholesome and often highlight the importance of communication and friendship. Readers will find themselves laughing as the subtle humor within the context as well as the illustrations.
Each book in the series contains a large map of Poppleton’s town which readers will enjoy seeing before and after reading. The text is in clear print and is sometimes repetitive which will help young readers with fluency.
For more like this, author Cynthia Rylant wrote the thematically similar Henry and Mudge series, the Mr. Putter and Tabby series and the Annie and Snowball series.
As an added bonus at the end, and as is typical for some Acorn imprint books , there is a fun how to draw section at the end of each book.
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Minnie and Moo are cows with big personalities, often thinking of ridiculous ways to solve their predicaments. The books in this series often come full circle as the cows put their minds together to solve a case, like a missing jelly donut (as in this book) or finding the Eiffel Tower (in Minnie and Moo Go to Paris).
Readers will delight in the slapstick humor author Denys Cazet deploys. It is clear from this series that Cazet himself was an elementary teacher for 25 years and understands what makes this age group laugh and stay entertained.
The Case of the Missing Jelly Donut is long story divided into chapters, and the text is highly decodable and very much in synch with the phonics principles taught to this point in the classroom.
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Together, Kayla and her dog King work together to solve mysteries - from missing golden rings to missing teeth! The duo is notably methodical in how they solve cases, as they carefully list out the known facts. From there, they use their analytical skills to crack the case.
The books include five chapters which contain titles and corresponding content that moves the plot along. The text is highly decodable and contains some repeition of sentence structure,. Both of which compoenents will help the reader to read with better accuracy and fluency.
For fun resources related to the King & Kayla series check out this great activity kit from Peachtree
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Complete King & Kayla series (10 books)
King & Kayla and the Case of the Unhappy Neighbor
King & Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code
King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats
King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Tooth
King & Kayla and the Case of the Mysterious Mouse
King & Kayla and the Case of the Found Fred
King & Kayla and the Case of the Gold Ring
King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Library Book
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In the Young Cam Jansen “prequels”, Cam is younger and the text is geared more toward second grade. (Readers will be ready for the original Cam Jansen series by third grade.)
Cam’s name is a nickname for “Camera,” since she has a photographic memory and often “clicks” various scenes in her mind to capture important visual details. These details are then used in collaboration with her friend Eric to solve each case.
The text is highly decodable but has a smaller font with more words per page. Readers who are ready to tackle slightly longer mysteries will enjoy Young Cam Jansen, and can soon progress to the original series.
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Complete Young Cam Jansen series (20 books)
Young Cam Jansen and the Dinosaur Game
Young Cam Jansen and the Missing Cookie
Young Cam Jansen and the Lost Tooth
Young Cam Jansen and the Ice Skate Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Baseball Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Pizza Shop Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Double Beach Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Zoo Note Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the New Girl Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Substitute Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Spotted Cat Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Lions' Lunch Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Molly Shoe Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the 100th Day of School Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Speedy Car Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Circus Mystery
Young Cam Jansen and the Magic Bird Mystery
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As each book in the Flat Stanley series reminds readers, Stanley is four feet tall, about one foot wide and a half an inch thick. Stanley makes the most of his flatness in each book by finding creative ways to use his streamlined body to solve problems.
In The Lost Treasure, Flat Stanley curls up his body to fit through a net to save a dolphin and saves his brother Arthur from giant waves by turning himself into a surfboard.
Readers will love the creativity involved in each story. The books are around thirty pages with text covering about half of each page. There are descriptive verbs and adjectives throughout each book which will help to build vocabulary, i.e. “nestled” and “gleaming.”
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Cynthia Rylant was inspired to write these books after raising her son and dogs. In the Henry and Mudge series, young Henry and his big dog Mudge are inseparable. Though Mudge is giant and sometimes slobbers too much, he is gentle and kind.
The books have three chapters that read as short stories. There is some repetition of language primarily toward the beginning of sentences which will help the reader gain fluency.
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Henry and Mudge, Complete Collection (28 books)
Henry and Mudge Ready-to-Read Pack (6 books)
Henry and Mudge The First Book
Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble
Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days
Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon
Henry and Mudge in the Green Time
Henry and Mudge and the Forever Sea
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From protecting his bacon to becoming a rock star, Charlie loves to be on his ranch most. Charlie is an adorable basset hound readers will quickly come to adore. He is real, relatable and funny. He talks about needing his personal space and how his short legs aren’t so great for running.
The book takes place in the present tense so there are many -s, -es and -ing endings. Most words are highly decodable intermixed with common sight words.
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Pearl the rabbit and Wagner the mouse always find a way to work through challenging situations. As they navigate these challenges, McMullan’s writing has readers laughing out loud with relatable situations. For example, in this first book, Pearl continuously asks Wagner if he likes his new boots, and Wagner tries to find ways to elude the question but it is always an honest no!
There are 1,205 words in total, spread across three chapters. There is a nice table of contents readers can reference if they unable to read in one sitting. Much of the text is sight words and the characters’ names. Readers will often decode by breaking compound words in two. There is much dialogue which often contains more casual speech with apostrophes. Readers should be adept in understanding the decoding and meaning of didn’t, don’t, let’s.
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Similar to Adler’s other sports books featuring Mo, Mo is undoubtedly the underdog who readers will be rooting for from the sidelines. He’s never the biggest or fastest on the team, but has a good attitude and often capitalizes on his circumstances to achieve great outcomes. Sports enthusiasts should read this book, but all readers will feel empathy for Mo when he’s teased by opponents.
There are 402 words in this book, of which 142 unique. The book takes place in the present tense, so many words have -s, -es and -ing endings. All text is highly decodable. Readers will see nine words with apostrophes made up of contractions and possessives.
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At Bear Country School, the Berenstains have a chance to visit a real honey farm. Brother Bear is accompanied on this trip with Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Sister Bear. The bears have a chance to see a queen bee in action and learn about the process of extracting honey. All is well on the trip until Papa Bear’s impulses get the best of him. Like many Berenstain Bear books, the moral of this story is listening and patience!
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Cowgirl Kate is the young protagonist who is best friends with her horse name Cocoa. Together, the two go on adventures but also have to often negotiate and compromise. They have an endearing friendship that always prevails.
This is a long book clocking in at more than 1,200 words divided into four chapters. There are 343 unique words, of which almost all are highly phonetic for this point in second grade or are words studied as sight words. Readers will have a chance to build vocabulary around taking care of horses – corral, mane, mucked, cantered. Silverman often uses detailed verbs such as squealed, slouched, chomped.
Much of the text is written in the past tense, which will require the reader to decode -ed words, or those the base word’s “y” ending is changed to -ied (e.g. cried, replied, hurried).
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Buster is a shy dog, as one might guess; the first book of the series is called Buster the Very Shy Dog.
Author Lisze Bechtold writes adventures in a way that will show the reader that shyness can be good and relatable at times. Buster is kind and thoughtful, and though he is at times envious of Phoebe’s bravery, he learns to grow as a dog. Introverts and extroverts alike will appreciate this series of four books.
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Each book in the Iris and Walter series centers on a main topic, which helps Iris and Walter grow and develop, as they experience real-world adventures together.
The adventures are simple and will be relatable to young readers who are about the same age as Iris and Walter. They work together and find solutions when they lose things or have a sleepover or feel excluded when a cousin comes to play. Readers will empathize with these characters as they show their honesty and sensitivity.
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