What are your favourite kids books? (Not so well known ones)

[somanydevices]

Happy world book day everyone! (DD's school did it today. DS's tomorrow, still one to go...)

I thought it could be nice to share some book recommendations with each other, outside of the classics & really popular books we all know. My kids read loads and I know I can struggle to find decent new stuff online. I'd love to know abotu some more "hard to find" stuff.

What are your family's favourite kid's books that not everyone knows?

Here's some of ours.

Fox and the the Star The illustrations are stunning! This book feels magical!

Journey. The first of 3 books. If you have a young child who likes to get involved this is good. It's not got any words at all, so you make up the words as you go along. DD loved "reading" it to me. Again the pictures are beautiful.

The Problem with Problems Not strictly a favourite as I haven't actually read this yet, I just ordered today as I heard the author talking about it and it looks great.

Morris's Dissappearing Bag
We have a copy of this from when I was little! I loved it, the story's great. Lovely to see they still sell it.

Also I came across this podcast on children's books today, looks good. www.spellboundkids.com

For older kids:

Voyage to Magical North - the Accidental Pirates My eldest loved this chapter book. It's so beautifully written. The main character is a girl, and it's a swashbuckling adventure full of magic. I love that it's good for both girls and boys to have a book with a female main character in this kind of role & setting.

Cogheart A steampunk kids novel featuring a girl and a boy going on adventures to save their dad. The first in the series - DS loves these.

Got it! The Pig Who Never Was!

Doesn't seem to be a modern print of it though.

Ooh, I found some second hand copies! Perfect. Thanks for jogging my memory bookmum08, even if totally unintentional!

www.abebooks.co.uk/9780233971629/Pig-Who-Never-Nanette-Newman-0233971629/plp

Ultramarine
Rainbow and Mr Zed

Both by Jenny Nimmo.

Dragon and warrior cats

eragon not dragon

Olga da Polga - Michael Bond.

For older children: Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster.

The Patchwork Cat. Tabby loves her quilt, which is patchwork, like herself. One day the mother does some snatchwork on her patchwork, throws out the quilt, and will buy her a basket. Tabby does not want a basket: she will do some angry scratchwork on it if it comes. So Tabby sets out to rescue her patchwork quilt from the dustbin.

Old Hat, New Hat. An animal goes to a hat shop, tries on lots of hats, but each one is "too big", "too small", "too flat", "too tall" etc.

Too leafy too lumpy too beady too bumpy too twisty too twirly too wrinkly too curly...

Loved Olga daPolga.
Railway children.
Secret garden.
My son is reading the goosebumps books they are good.
I am a Christian and the Petricia St John books are good. As is Run Baby Run and God Smugler. But they are Christian.

The Enchanted Forest series

The "Peter's Railway" series are excellent for young people interested in trains and engineering. My son loved reading them, time after time. Not only interesting stories, but also lots of facts and explanations.

Goodnight Mister Tom is a fantastic read for 8-10 year olds.

Matildas own special plate
Mrs pepperpot
See you Thursday

A place called perfect

The rabbit and bear series are great. We also love the Claude and Mr. Penguin books too.

The girl in the opposite bed

Your friend, Rebecca

Private, Keep out

The runaway summer

Locked in time

Fat, A love story

All the above ante excellent

All time favourite is the Phoenix and the Carpet. But I cannot get my girls to read it. They say it's too old fashioned to read and don't seem to care that it was just as old fashioned to me in the 80s so they should give it a chance.

For little children owl at home by arnold lobel. I loved this as a child, then sharing it with my children.

For older children night birds on nantucket and the secret of platform 13.

Five Little Fiends by Sarah Dyer.

Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf
Ramona the Pest
Bogwoppit
The Magic Faraway Tree
Jenny and the Cat Club
My Naughty Little Sister

The Stream that stood still... hunted for years to remember the name of this. It's magical.

Clever polly and the Stuipid Wolf. Good book. Mondays child is fairly tough, Tuesdays child is tender enough, Wednesday child is best in pie, Thursdays child is good to fRy, Fridays child makes good meat roll, Saterdays child is casserol, But the child that is born on the Saboth day is delicious when eaten in any way.

The tiger who came to tea, by Judith Kerr. It's maybe 50 years old but recently re released and my kids love it just as much as I did when I was young

The dark is Rising sequence by susan cooper.

The Family From One End Street - Eve Garnett and the rest of the trilogy. Many happy hours spent reading these after a Saturday morning trip to the library.

Elizabeth Enright's Melendy family books, starting with The Saturdays. All out of print, but second hand copies available from Abebooks. Someone upthread mentioned Arthur Lobel; his Frog and Toad books are excellent too. And anything by Rosemary Wells, author of the rightly acclaimed Morris's Disappearing Bag!