King & Kayla Series by Dori Hillestad Butler

The King & Kayla series offers up warm, winsome humor (and mysteries, too!) for newly independent readers.

King & Kayla Series by Dori Hillstad Butler and illustrated by Nancy Meyers. Peachtree.

• Reading Level: Early Readers/Chapter Books, ages 4-10
• Recommended For: Ages 4 and up

Hello! My name is King. I’m a dog. I have a human. Her name is Kayla.

Kayla isn’t home. She’s at school. She’s been there for eleventy seven hours. Maybe even eleventy seven days.

All I know is she’s been gone a long, long, LONG time.

~from King and Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth

All of the King & Kayla books are narrated by Kayla’s dog, King. The text includes all the words King is saying, both in his head (like the above quotation) as well as out loud (the illustrations show barking).

King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats

King LOVES peanut butter treats. They’re his favorite food! But when he tries to tell Kayla he wants some dough, she asks, “‘Do you want to go outside, King?’” He doesn’t, but since King is a dog (and, incidentally, the narrator of the story), he can’t always communicate precisely with his beloved owner, Kayla. When the peanut butter dog treats go missing, King is blamed. But he knows there’s been an intruder in the house! Kayla makes a list of the things she knows, and King mentally adds his own fact to the list. When King and Kayla solve the mystery, Kayla rewards King with a piece of cheese. Oh boy! It’s one of his favorite foods! (Taken from our earlier roundup of multicultural chapter books)

King & Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code

Hmmm. A strange letter arrives for Kayla. No vowels! Can she and King crack the code? Of course they can! King notices interesting things that Kayla misses, as usual (such as the way the letter smells). Together they crack the case.

King & Kayla and the Case of the Mysterious Mouse

Cat with No Name is back in this volume; we also meet Kayla’s friend Lillian and her brand new puppy Thor. Hijinks ensue when King, Kayla, and Jillian try to teach Thor how to play fetch. Before you know it, King’s favorite ball has mysteriously disappeared. Cat with No Name says that Mouse took it. But which mouse?

King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth

Kayla loses her tooth at school. She brings it home in the class “tooth fairy pillow,” so she can put it under her pillow that night. (Incidentally, my family has my husband’s tooth fairy pillow from when he was a kid!) However, when Kayla tries to pull her tooth out from the pillow to show King, the tooth is missing!

King & Kayla and the Case of the Found Fred

King and Kayla are at the lake. King LOVES the lake. But this time he smells a new friend. It turns out to be a small dog named Fred. But who does Fred belong to? The lake is a big place. Kayla and King get to work and hatch several brilliant plans. Will they find out who Fred belongs to?

King & Kayla and the Case of the Unhappy Neighbor

Uh oh. Did Jillian’s dog Thor knock over the neighbor’s trash can? He’s one unhappy neighbor. Trash is everywhere and he saw Thor in his yard! King is on the case. He learns from Cat Who Has No Name that there’s a new guy in town. Mouse doesn’t know who he is, but together Mouse and King start sniffing around. Meanwhile, Kayla and Jillian are testing Thor to see if he can do the physical feats he’s been accused of. After all, he’s a pretty small dog. This book has a small bonus: the introduction of the word scat! (In strict biological terms)

King & Kayla and the Case of the Gold Ring

It’s winter and King, Kayla, and their friends are having a glorious time in the snow. Asia also shows off her shiny new ring. After a snowball fight, it’s time to head indoors for hot chocolate and warmth. Uh oh. Where’s Asia’s ring? Is it outside? Did King eat it?

King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Library Book

Ah, a missing library book. All young readers can relate. This time, Kayla is missing her library book. When Jillian comes by for their weekly library trek, Kayla can’t go. After all, if she doesn’t turn in her library books, she can’t check out any new ones! Thankfully, library books smell like, well, library books, and King is on the case. A sweet sub-plot in this book is the way Jillian and Kayla help care for Jillian’s younger brother.

King & Kayla and the Case of the Cat Hunt

By this point in this fun series, readers know Cat with No Name. In this latest volume, King and Kayla are recruited to help their new friend Raj find his missing cat named Bluey. Together they begin the hunt. Are Bluey and Cat with No Name the same cat? If so, they’ll have solved two mysteries!

King & Kayla and the Case of the Downstairs Ghost

King & Kayla are headed to Kayla’s friend Jillian’s house. As soon as they arrive, Jillian declares there’s a ghost in the basement! Illustrations show Jillian’s mom caring for a toddler in this book (i.e., feeding him in a high chair) which is such a lovely note: real family life happens all around Kayla. And of course, she and King solve the mystery of the “ghost.”

King and Kayla Series as a Whole

A winner in the early reader category! Not only has the series won actual awards (such as the Geisel Award for early readers), but it’s a winner with its target audience. Each volume proffers a mystery that kids might actually experience followed by a straightforward approach to solving it (listing what we know and what we don’t). The series is humorous and King’s antics coupled with things like Kayla’s “mad eyes” when he’s bad will have kids reading the entire series through more than once. Illustrations provide clever expansions on the storyline of the text, and the multi-ethnic cast of characters pictured is excellent. Bonus if you’re a dog owner/lover!

Bottom Line: Be sure to look for the King & Kayla easy readers on your next library trip. If you’re a school librarian or classroom teacher, consider adding these to your library!

Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader

• Book Review: A new Detective is on the case! Check out the Detective Sweet Pea easy reader series, too.
• Book Review: The Found Boys by S. D. Smith — a new chapter book from the author of The Green Ember books!
• Resource: Mysteries for All Ages!

We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.

Explore the King & Kayla Books on Amazon