Our Favourite Children's Books

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will know that it is World Book Day this Thursday. Across the country parents are trying desperately to make/ buy appropriate costumes (Elsa definitely counts, right? I mean, there were books written about the movie surely?!) and bizarrely turn muddy spuds in to favourite book characters. I honestly have no idea what that is all about, but it's quite a fun activity all the same. We somehow managed to turn a tattie in to The Cat in the Hat last year, which you can see here.

I love world book day. I have always been a bit of a book worm, and it's something I'm keen to pass on to my children. Any day dedicated to reading, and encouraging children to really get in to stories gets a massive thumbs up from me. This year, the kids have been asked to make hand puppets. We haven't started on them yet because we only found out about it on Monday. I'm panicking a bit because it's Tuesday, and book day is on Thursday! Meaning we only have tomorrow to complete them..... Oh dear!

In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to share our family favourite books. So here, in no particular order, are our favourite children's stories.

The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson

This is probably the kids favourite. I think they went through a stage where they asked for this every night, and it shows in the condition of the book. It's a bit old looking and the pages are all creased, but that's fine because it just shows that a book has been well loved. The kids particularly love it when Daddy reads this to them, as he does fantastic voices for all of the characters, and they just find it hilarious. I would love to take the children to a Gruffalo trail, but there aren't any here in Northern Ireland which I'm gutted about!

The Princess and the Wizard - Julia Donaldson

This is Caitlin's favourite, because it is filled with sparkles and features a princess, and she loves princesses. It's a story about a princess out smarting a nasty wizard to escape his capture. It's certainly not my favourite from Julia Donaldson but it is a sweet story, and there is glitter all over the pages, and who doesn't love glitter?

The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss

Dr Seuss is my absolute favourite, I don't think I have read anything from him that I haven't loved. The Cat in the Hat seems to be the kids favourite. Neil used to ask for this most days, along with watching the film version (which people seemed to slate, but I thought it was good!). It is such a fun book, and you can't help but smile as you read it. Can you believe this was first published 1957!?

Oh The Places You'll Go - Dr Seuss

Oh The Places You'll Go was the last book to be published in his lifetime, and it is probably my favourite of all of his books. This isn't necessarily a favourite of my children, but I have thrown this in to my list because me and my husband like it so much. It's a story about life, and all of the challenges you may face on your journey. I read this to the kids regularly, and hope that the message stays with them as they get older... That sometimes things don't go so well but if you keep going you will be alright, and that you can take on the world if you want!

As you can see, there is a pattern to our favourite family books. I couldn't think of any that we really love that were not written by either Julia Donaldson or Dr Seuss! My personal favourite children's books are the Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton, but the kids haven't had experience of those books yet so I didn't think it would be right to include them. I do have the collection ready to read to the,me hen they see the right age though!

What book do you and your children love reading together? I would love to find some more family classics that we may not yet have read!

 

 

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9 comments:

  1. Our favourite has to be the Gruffalo. My brother-in-law works for the company that did the TV show so we get Gruffalo bits for free now and again. I think it was nieces favourite book as well for a while and she new it off by heart.
    There is a book my husband got at Christmas which is a bit unusual and I had never heard of it called Hug Me by Simona Ciraolo, about a cactus that wants a hug. :-) x

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  2. I've just started to collect a Dr Seuss collection for Aidan - love them already.. And of course The Gruffalo, which is a staple in most houses by now :) xx

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  3. Lovely collection, The Gruffalo is read a lot in our house but we seem to go through stages, sometimes it is all we read then it is put away for a bit. I need some more Dr.Suess I think, children always seem to love them xx #sharewithme

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  4. My daughter has most of the books on your list (we love them too), except for the Princess and the Wizard. Must check that one out :)

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  5. All three of our kids adore both the Julia Donaldson and Dr Seuss books - the boys can pretty much recite many of them word-for-word. They're such wonderful and timeless stories that have played a big part in fuelling their love of books.

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  6. We love the books you have mentioned - we have a lot of Julia Donaldson, I think I could recite the whole of Stick Man in my sleep! One current favourite is Dear Tooth Fairy by Alan Durant - it has lovely illustrations and both girls are desperate to start loosing their teeth now !

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  7. We love books in this house and I am loving all the post on world book day for recommendations of new books to buy. We are constantly trying to rotate our reading material for the kids. lol Lovely post. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme

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  8. We love these books too, think we have most of Julia Donaldson's stories. My eldest went to school dressed as Rapunzel on Thursday, thankfully she had the costume already.

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  9. thanks for sharing the list, will checkout these. My kids favorite one is "An Elephant & Piggie Book" by Mo Willems

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