Best Chapter Books of 2021

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These chapter books were some of the favorites among readers this year.


Aven Green Sleuthing Machine

Dusti Bowling

Age range 6 to 9 Get ready for a whole new chapter in the life of Aven Green, the remarkable heroine of Dusti Bowling's Life of a Cactus series. Told in the same wry, memorable voice as the middle-grade novels, younger readers get to know Aven t

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Katie the Catsitter

Colleen Af Venable

Twelve-year-old Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead until she realizes the mysterious neighbor who hired her to catsit is one of the city's greatest supervillains.

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Knight of the Cape

Terry Catasus Jennings

Judy Moody meets Netflix’s One Day at a Time in this first book in a new chapter book series featuring a young Cuban American girl who tries to find adventure based on the classics she read with her beloved abuela—can Dominguita become a noble kn

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Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey

Erin Entrada Kelly

“Utterly endearing!” —Annie Barrows, New York Times-bestselling author of the Ivy + Bean books "Hilarious and heart-melting.” —Sara Pennypacker, New York Times-bestselling author of Pax Introducing eight-year-old Marisol Rainey—an ir

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Pawcasso

Remy Lai

Remy Lai, the award-winning creator of Pie in the Sky makes her middle-grade graphic novel debut, Pawcasso, about the unexpected friendship between the loneliest girl in class and the coolest canine in town. "It's tail-wagging entertaining!

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Super Detectives (Simon and Chester Book #1)

Cale Atkinson

Simon and Chester are bored...until they pretend to be detectives.

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Stamped (For Kids)

Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

The #1 New York Times bestseller! This chapter book edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller by luminaries Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America RACE. Uh-oh. The R-word. B

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That Thing about Bollywood

Supriya Kelkar

Bollywood takes over in this contemporary, magical middle grade novel about an Indian American girl whose world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life. You know how in Boll

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Too Small Tola

Atinuke

Three delightful tales from a renowned Nigerian storyteller introduce a chapter-book heroine who is every bit as mighty as she is small. In a trio of droll stories, award-winning author and storyteller Atinuke debuts an endearing and enduring charact

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Jo Jo Makoons

Dawn Quigley

Hello/Boozhoo—meet Jo Jo Makoons! Full of pride, joy, and plenty of humor, this first book in an all-new chapter book series by Dawn Quigley celebrates a spunky young Ojibwe girl who loves who she is. Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-ol

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Ways to Grow Love

Renée Watson

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Renée Watson continues her charming young middle grade series starring Ryan Hart, a girl who is pure spirit and sunshine. Ryan Hart and her family are back in another installment of stories ab

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