Stormy:
You are right, there are not a lot of chapter books (read-alouds) for preschoolers. After doing some searches, to no avail, I put out a list of books that I really liked on DaddyRead, click on "preschool chapter books." So far I have around 30 books there.

They are not all at the same level. Start with the simple ones like Magic Tree House, Andrew Lost, Moongobble, Mercy Watson, The Chalk Box Kid, and James and the Giant Peach. After reading through these simple ones (to kids age 4-5) the other ones on the list should all be accessible.
Josh

My first would be Magic Tree House, my 4 and 5 year old LOVE them! We just started the Boxcar series they love that also. Those are the only 2 that we have found that ds 4 will sit for and enjoy. He also loves Suess, Berenstain Bears, etc but those aren't chapter books.

__________________

A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

I actually just started reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (book two in the Chronicles of Narnia series) to my 4 1/2 year old. He's been wanting to see the movie (the first one) and I've been dragging my heels because I'm a little concerned about a few things. So we made a deal that if he could make it through the book then he could see the movie (I figure if he's mature enough to sit still long enough for me to read a chapter book to him, then he's mature enough to watch the movie).

Like aliadam said, some of the passages do go over his head, but he is still absorbing a good amount (and he has not been at all frightened). I make sure we do a review at the end of each chapter, both to see how much information he can remember and to make sure he understands what has happened before we move on.

Surprisingly enough, we started the book on Friday and read chapter 14 today - there are only 17 chapters! We are averaging between 2 and 3 chapters a day!

__________________
Stephanie
Mom to: Caleb (8/03), Ian (9/05), & Baby Boy #3 (EDD 11-9-2008)

Clifford has chapter books as well.

We just did The Waterhorse and my daughter loved it.

I'll offer a couple of suggestions (from my reading coach days). Make sure you are discussing the book with your son. With The Waterhorse, my daughter would get a little lost here and there but we would talk about it, especially since there was a lot ocean terms in it, and that helped expand her knowledge and grasp the story a bit more. Usually we would start with "Ok, last night we talked about how they found the egg. Do you remember where it was?" And at the end of reading a few pages I would kind of recap. Don't get frustrated when they don't understand everything, they don't, I think the important thing at this stage is just keep it so they enjoy the experience. I've seen a lot of kids overcome some reading problems because they loved to read and had a bit more drive then others.

At that age, I read my kids Stuart Little and then let them watch the movie AFTER we finished the book. They loved it. Mr. Popper's Penguin is also a good one, as is Charlotte's Web (you could do the same thing and show them the movie afterwards).

A really good resource that has many lists of good books is the book called
The Read Aloud Guide, by Jim Trelease. Most libraries have a copy of the book. In fact, the book motivated me to put my list online (DaddyRead). It also contains info about lots of studies on the benefits of reading aloud, and the negative aspects of TV viewing.

I am sorry, the book is called:
The Read-Aloud Handbook (by Jim Trelease)
and the link is
Amazon.com: The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition (Read-Aloud Handbook): Jim Trelease: Books

My 4 & 5 yr. old loved Frog and Toad , Little Bear and the Arthur chapter books!