9 Nonfiction Early Chapter Books About Animals for Kids

Nonfiction early chapter books are a trend in children’s books that I’m very happy to see. My kids have a wide range of interests, and books about animals are right at top of the list.

Kids always feel “grown up” when they move on from picture books and start reading books with chapters. Plus, the short format means they can finish a book in a palatable amount of time, which is a huge deal for a growing reader. The early chapter books on this list are perfect for kids in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade. They offer a challenge, fun facts, and engaging stories about animals that kids love.

It can be difficult to find early chapter books about animals for kids between the ages of 7-10. That’s why I always keep an eye out for them. Here are some of our favorite nonfiction early chapter books about animals.

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Awesome Nonfiction Early Chapter Books About Animals

Arctic Tale by Barry Varela

I read this book aloud to my girls. It’s based on the movie by the same name. I haven’t seen the movie but my kids and I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It’s written like a documentary narration, but with more detail since you don’t have the video to go with it. You follow several arctic animals as they struggle to survive. The suspense slowly builds and keeps you guessing as to what will happen. My kids always begged for one more chapter. And because the book is only 118 pages long, it ended up being a quick read. This book is perfect for kids that like nature shows, learning about animals, or have seen the Arctic Tale movie.

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Sharks! Animal Planet Chapter Books #1 by Animal Planet

This is one of my favorite nonfiction chapter books that I’ve read so far. The text is complex, yet simple enough that my kids can read and understand it. It also has pronunciation help on tough words as you go along.

The book is organized into chapters by topic—what determines shark status, what they eat, how they hunt, and why they matter. The information is more in-depth than most shark books, so my kids felt like they learned something new by reading it.

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Dinosaurs! Animal Planet Chapter Books #2 by Animal Planet

This book is about dinosaurs (obviously). As a chapter book, it has more text and fewer pictures than some of Animal Planet’s other books. It’s full of information about dinosaurs, the different periods, and the lifestyles of these amazing animals.

I read Dinosaurs! with my kids and they liked learning about the different groups of dinosaurs and the periods in which they lived.

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Bugs! Animal Planet Chapter Books #3 by Animal Planet

At just over 100 pages long, kids that like learning about animals, nature, and bugs will be buzzing about this book for weeks. While it has more text and fewer pictures than bug books for younger readers, there are lots of interesting facts to glean and images to peruse. Kids will learn what makes an insect, what they eat, and the different families of insects. Of course, there’s also a chapter on extreme insects that kids will love.

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Snakes! Animal Planet Chapter Books #4 by Animal Planet

Kids that love these slithery serpents will be thrilled to get their hands on this book. It’s just over 100 pages long and broken into eleven chapters. Each chapter tackles a topic like snake senses, life cycles, deadly snakes, and what snakes eat. My kids are always interested in learning more about snakes, and this book was the perfect way to feed that interest. It’s jam-packed with info about our scaly friends, how they hunt, how they move, and how they defend themselves against attack.

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Crocodile Encounters: And More True Stories of Adventures with Animals by National Geographic Kids Chapters by Brady Barr

Speaking of scaly friends and things that slither, what kid doesn’t want to read about crocodiles? These giant reptiles are toothy, sneaky, and ancient. Their ancestry dates back to the time of the dinosaurs, which makes them all the more interesting. This book discusses and explores crocodiles and the encounters people have had with them. With four stories each broken into three easy-to-digest chapters, it is perfect for kids that want a shorter format and need the satisfaction of finishing a book.

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Tiger in Trouble: And More True Stories About Amazing Animal Rescues by National Geographic Kids Chapters and Kelly Milner Halls

This is the story of Nitro, a tiger that was confiscated from an owner in Kansas and sent to the Carolina Tiger Rescue (we live really close to this!). But things didn’t go well for Nitro and he got sick and lost his eyesight. It took a team of people to figure out how to rehabilitate the tiger and help him adjust. This book also includes stories about other rescue animals that my kids enjoyed, including one about a bat and one about monkeys.

With three fascinating stories presented in a bite-sized format, you’ll want to add it to your list of nonfiction early chapter books about rescue animals.

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Dolphin Rescue: Animal Planet Adventures #1 by Catherine Nichols

Dolphin Rescue is both fiction and nonfiction, all rolled into one. It’s a story about a girl named Maddie and her brother Atticus, trying to discover who is throwing trash all over their town. The fictional story is interrupted with pages of facts about shorelines, beaches, and sea animals.

Kids that enjoy fiction will like the mystery portion of the book while learning some fun facts about the ocean and coastlines. Kids that like nonfiction will also enjoy the facts and gain an appreciation for fiction at the same time.

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Farm Friends Escape: Animal Planet Adventures #2 by Gail Herman

Like its companion book, Farm Friends Escape! is a work of fiction interspersed with loads of fun facts. It becomes both fiction and nonfiction at once as kids read the story and glean the tidbits of information about farms and farm animals.

My daughters read both this book and Dolphin Rescue and they really enjoyed them. They like nonfiction, so they appreciated all the fact pages, but they also adore fiction, so the story was fun to read. It was a good combination of the two and my kids enjoyed the result.

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