Have you ever noticed the trend where a picture book comes out and then about a year or so later it becomes a board book?
Little Cub by Olivier Dunrea is an example of this formatting change when the new edition came out.
Tad Hill's Duck & Goose got a make-over into an oversized board book.
Another trend I have noticed is the picture book that becomes an early reader.
Above is the cover for Bonny Becker's A Birthday for Bear in picture book format.
Here is the cover for the early reader version of A Birthday for Bear.
And then you have the spin offs...
Fancy Nancy picture book
The Diary of a Worm picture book
Everything Goes On Land by Brian Biggs (picture book)
Everything Goes as an early reader
Then there is Tad Hill's adorable story about a dog learning to read.
Followed by the Drop It, Rocket! early reader.
If I were to be able to select a picture book series to turn into an early reader series, I would vote for the following books.
Friendship books are the heart of many early reader series, and what better friendship than Little Elliot and his pal mouse. The text in the picture book makes a great read aloud but is a bit above the average beginning reader. However, I can imagine an early reader series developing from the picture book series as a spin-off.
Sibling relationships are another popular story line for early readers. I fell in love with Lori Nichols' Maple and then again when Maple & Willow came out, I immediately imagined it as a spin-off early reader series.
My final pick, of course, would be the fabulous fuzzy friends from Anna Kang & Christopher Weyant. In this case, the text is already early reader friendly and it would just require a size change.
What books can you see being made into an early reader series?
All journeys have a starting place.
This is a weekly place to find books and tools
that you may use with readers at the start of their reading journey.
Join in the conversation at #road2reading.
Each week, Michele Knott and I post about new early readers and transitional chapter books. Don't forget to pop over to Michele's blog to check out her post as well.