Mumsnet Talk

DD 6 years old loves reading her Charlie and Lola and Winnie the Witch books. She is not really ready for chapter books yet as she still seems to love big bright artwork in reading books. Can anybody recommend any other books with lots of pictures but also a fair bit of text - Thanks

My DD (also six) really loved the Claude books - sort of a halfway house between picture books and chapter books. She also loved Aristotle (Dick King-Smith) and the Ottoline books.

See here: claudebooks.blogspot.co.uk/

and here: chrisriddell.panmacmillan.com/

DD loves Cat in the Hat and also the early reader series of Rainbow Fairies.

Thanks for the suggestions - Claude books look good and Cat in the Hat. We have some Rainbow Fairies but the illustrations are black and white so not so appealing! but hopefully in time she will enjoy them.

Frog and Toad...

They are chapter books but are lovely.

If she can manage Charlie and Lola she should be ok...

Yes, Frog and Toad are lovely books. V gentle and funny but not scary at all and fairly easy reading. The pictures are great - full of character. They are discrete short stories rather than chapters so good for the stage between reading picture book stories and reading longer books.

The Lorax is another good Dr Seuss for that kind of age.

My DD also really enjoyed illustrated poetry at that stage, eg Now We Are Six and illustrated collections of children's poetry - good for introducing some more challenging vocabulary without having to have the stamina to read a whole long book.

Also, Mr Men books are bloody awful if you have to read them out loud, but strangely appealing to children (and a very good match in terms of difficulty for Winnie the Witch etc).

Percy the Park keeper
Usborne first/early readers
Beatrix Potter
Mr Men/Little Miss

Oh, thought of another. Three Little Witches/Princesses/Pirates. Here: www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Little-Witches-Storybook-READER/dp/1444000802

Blackberry Farm. Old fashioned (as in, I read them when I was 6!) but lovely stories and pictures.

The early reader Rainbow fairies have colour pictures. Take a look inside this book
www.amazon.co.uk/Rainbow-Magic-Early-Reader-ebook/dp/B0085NUNQA

I would definitely second the Ottoline books as while the illustrations are black and white they are fantastic and great for sharing together initially.

My DD likes Winnie and Charlie and Lola. She also likes a set of Angelina Ballerina books, books about Daisy (http://www.daisyclub.co.uk/), Shirley Hughes books (e.g Dogger) and loves the Jolly Postman.

I think it is quite hard to find the right level picture books, there seems to be a push towards chapter books but I don't think my dd will be ready for those for while.

I would pretend that Rainbow Fairies don't exist, if I were you. Just in case she ever wants you to read a bit to her because it is both PAINFUL and INCREDIBLY DULL. Just saying.

DD is reading The 3 Little Witches now ( and loving it) she also liked some of the easier Horrid Henry books.

Three Little Witches was one of the first books my DD sat down and actually wanted to read on her own. She loved it and it sort of opened the gate to other longer and harder books.

Try ed vere books, especially mr big and the getaway - they are such brilliant books, also have you got any other Lauren child books - that pesky rat is one of our favourites!

Haberdashery - my DD's was Frog and Toad she is still partial to Topsy and Tim though...

Lauren Child's Princess and the Pea is lovely.

Roodica the Rude (story about a little girl in Roman Britain): www.richardandjudy.co.uk/childrens-books/Roodica-the-Rude-and-The-Famous-Flea-Trick/77

Claude in the City (story about a dog's crazy day): www.richardandjudy.co.uk/childrens-books/Claude-in-the-City/68

Try the Book Trust for ideas: www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/ - use book finder (scroll down a bit for menu on left) - then select age & type of reading.

HTH

Thanks everybody - these are fantastic ideas - I am still checking them all out!!

Some of the other Lauren Child books are good - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book, Clarice Bean, That Pesky Rat for eg.

Some Julia Donaldson stuff is good too, eg The Princess and the Wizard.

What about some poetry? DD has loved some random selections of children's poetry we've picked up at the library - collections that include On the Ning Nang Nong and other stuff like that.

The early reader Horrid Henry, Rainbow Magic type books work well too - very white glossy pages, colour pictures which definitely seems to help!

Dd really enjoys titchy witch books and poppy and max both of which we found at the library.

How about Katie Morag?