Mumsnet Talk

We have decided to buy our relatives children classic book collections for their christmas presents, hard back, well illustrated, books they can keep forever.

They are from america, with strong UK roots so I would like something traditional, or with some history to them, especially for the teenager (almost), and it would be fitting as they are all coming over for christmas with us, so we want something that will be good memory of their trip and we will write something special in them.

12 year old girl - very bright academically, in advanced year at school in california, into typical young girl things, but also likes european history, stuff about kings and legends.

7 year old girl, not into typical girly things, likes computers, academic stuff (but not sure if not into girly things due to lack of opp or lack of interest!)
2 x 3 year old boys. Into typical boy things I think!

I have a brain fart so I just cannot think of any good classic collections to buy them, any suggestions would be welcome

TIA

Narnia series, Swallows and Amazons, Roald Dahl, Winnie the Pooh, Little Women...there are loads more, but I can't think of them at the moment...

Everyman's Library Children's Classics are lovely - just do a search on Amazon and lots of titles will come up.

You might like this too...'Our Island Story' by H.E. Marshall
link

This is also good - particularly for younger children - Geraldine McCaughrean's 'Brittania - 100 Great Stories from British History' link

Thanks all, Dh read Swallows and Amazons when he was little too! He thinks they might be too young for 12 year old, but ok for 7 year old.

Keep em coming if yo have any more.

I am thinking of Kipling for the two boys - what do you think?

Hi Pavlov,

We've just had a massive clearout of DC's childrens books - the ones THEY chose to keep are:

Narnia
Swallows & Amazons
Just William
Tin Tin
Barbar (the big books, but these were in French)
Winnie the Pooh
Beatrix Potter
Lord of The Rings
Enid Blyton (Famous 5 & Noddy)
What Katy Did
Avonlea series (Anne of Green Gables)
Hairy McLairy

Oh brilliant that is really helpful!

I am thinking definitely swallows and amazons then!
Narnia too I think...

I used to love the Little House on the Prairie books.

They have got some excellent classics packs on the book people website at the moment.

legend of king arthur

shakespeare plays written as stories (I loved these when i was little) - I had both volumes of this

For the 12 year old girl - Rosemary Sutcliff. The Eagle of the Ninth trilogy (The Silver Branch and the Lantern Bearers are the other two) which lead up to her King Arthur book, Sword at Sunset, which is the best retelling of the Arthurian legend of the twentieth century, I think.

The 12yo may be ready for something a bit more grown-up, like Pride and Prejudice or Wives and Daughters.

Oh yes, Rosemary Sutcliff, I used to love them!

In the same vein, I loved The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper when I was about 12. The first one is Over Sea Under Stone

My DP says the Hobbit and 2001 a Space Oddessy.

Also I think I was about 12 when I first read A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I mean THE Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, there is only one!

Watership Down
Wind IN The Willows
the Dark Materials trilogy for the 12 year old
101 Dalmations (the original Dodie Smith, not the Disney version)
THe nice big hardback collection of original Thomas the Tank Engine for the little boys

I had Shakespeare's collected works for my 12th birthday (after reading the Swish of the Curtain and falling in love with the idea of playing Juliet). It saw me through A level, my Eng Lit degree and my first ten years as a teacher. And it is impossible to get more quintessentially English than Bill

dd's favourites to keep are Little House, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and Narnia. The first three are American (and Canadian) though.

Her favourite book at 12 was Black Beauty.

At 13 she has read all of Jane Austin, also Jane Eyre and others like that so I think a "grown-up" collection of children's classics would be great for your 12 year old.

What about The complete Works of Roald Dahl for the boys - not English, but given to my ds2 for his christening, and read and re-read for years. If you want English specifically, Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh (and the other A.A. Milne, When we were Very Young and Now We are 6.

I think the best, lasting books for the little ones by far are Dr. Seuss - classics, but again not English.

I wouldn't pitch it too young for the 12yo. In dd's class it's only the really immature ones who are still reading the children's classics for the first time (as opposed to re-reading their own battered childhood copies); the rest have moved on to adult books. And you'd want a present to last for a good long time.

Hitchhiker's Guide is good: can't get more English than that.

We loved The Father Christmas Letters by J R R Tolkein. It became a bit of family tradition to reread it in the run up to Christmas - also The Box of Delights. They make me feel Christmas-y even now.

Or the Susan Cooper trilogy that starts with Under Sea Over Stone.

I would think of Roald Dahl as English, especially the BFG

For a bright 12 year old girl who is interested in history, I too would suggest Jane Austen. this one looks beautiful or this one is a bit less expensive but still nice

I think you are doing a lovely thing for the children by the way - I would have loved a relative like you when I was 12!