Bedtime story books for a reception aged boy

[justthinkingitover]

I've just read James and the Giant peach ( over a couple of weeks) to DS, but I think it was a bit too much and he found it boring he said. He seems to have lost interest in all the Gruffalo type short stories. Only thing he likes is a short Robin Hood we have by Usborne at the moment. Any suggestions for me to read to him please ?

The Treehouse books series.

How about The Faraway Tree? They do picture book style short chapter books if he’s not ready for the whole book yet.

Funny book recommendations so far feature trees @FranklinHot @Avoca76 can you tell me roughly what they are about please. I can see them on some discount book sites, but not the plots.

Is horrid Henry awful ? I think he would prefer some adventure.

I think James abs the Giant Peach is not Dahl’s best and especially for that age group. You could try The Twits, The Enormous Crocodile, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Magic Finger or The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me which would all be more suitable.

With our year R boy I am reading an awful lot of Thomas the Tank Engine books at present. 🙄

The Magic Faraway Tree is an old series of books by Enid Blyton about children who have adventures in various magical lands which appear at the top of a tree. My son loved them when he was younger.

Came here to recommend the magic far away tree too!! When I'm short on time or it's a late night we make up our own version featuring our kids and they get to pick what's up the top of the tree and what they get up to

The Bad Guys is our new favourite here, short comic book style stories that have me laughing as well as my son.

Jill Tomlinson - The Owl who was afraid of the dark.
Alison Uttley - Little Grey Rabbit books

I’ve been meaning to ask the same thing for ages, thank you, OP! Our bedtime stories are still focused on picture books - they’re all really excellent ones, but I have been thinking that it’s time to move DD up a level.

For those of you who read the more text heavy books at bedtime, how long do you spend? I’m finding lockdown with the DC so challenging that I’ve got very little left in the tank at bedtime and I admit that I’ve been rushing through it a bit.

My reception child loves the Mr Men books and (weirdly I think!) the Noddy series.

@OppsUpsSide yes he does like Mr Men, but I find them really dull, mainly about getting up and having breakfast, although there are a few gems in there. We have the whole massive set of something like 54 books 😂

I have a 7 year old as well as a reception child so probably started earlier than I would as I often read to them together, but she loves Harry Potter (first two only so far) and Famous five/secret seven.

I read my elder one all the Roald Dahl books apart from the witches when she was in reception/early year 1 too.

I think the Treehouse books above might be the magic treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne. They are early chapter books which still have black and white drawings every few pages, about children going on adventures in a time traveling treehouse.

My DS enjoyed them. We also got on well with the Faraway Tree colour short books mentioned above - they are excerpts from the Faraway Tree with colour illustrations on each page. When I bought them you could get a set of something like 8 for about 15 pounds on eBay. It works as a format because the original books is a series of pretty self contained adventures each a few chapters long. We tried the original version but DS was much more enthusiastic about the version with pictures.

We also have had a lot of success with Winnie the Witch. You can get picture books by Valerie Thomas and early chapter books by Laura Owen, which still have black and white drawings every couple of pages. There are 4 stories in a book and each is a separate story so they are great for bedtime.

I've tried a few other series I've seen strongly recommended here and they haven't grabbed DS - so it's definitely worth trying before buying lots although that's harder if your local library is shut.

Meant to say, james and the giant peach I thought was quite boring too! Prefer Charlie and the Chocolate factory/matilda for example!

Claude series by Alex Smith
The Wishing Chair series by Enid Blyton
The Twits by Roald Dahl
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson
The Pirates Next Door chapter books by Jonny Duddle

Some of them are painful! MR Clumsy still makes me laugh though.
To be honest, at that age, I wouldn’t be reading chapter books (Noddy aside, that is entirely down to DD!) I would continue with shorter stories along the lines of Julia Donaldson length, DS Charlie Cooks Favourite Book, The Highway Rat and Poo and the Zoo for Christmas which he loved, we just read 2-3 at bedtime. I will caveat that by saying I teach Reception so have an eye to how the majority of children in YR are currently engaging with stories.
Oh, The Lion who wanted to Love is a very popular book in school. And any of the books by Tom Fletcher.
Hold off on Horrid Henry, Diary of a Wimpy Kid etc, for now at least.

Mine loved the Twits
The Enormous crocodile
Pinocchio, Aladinn etc - usbourne
We also still like all of the younger books and fairytales. but they love stuff like Usbourne book on Sharks and My first encyclopedia etc.

Must get the books mentioned above.

My kids all loved the Heroes Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy it’s one of three books - I think it’s the first. They are HILARIOUS! They take the traditional fairytales and mess them up. (The audiobook version on Audible is undoubtedly the best narration I have ever come across if you want to try that way, too.) My kids are 16, 14 & 14 and still recommend these books to anyone.

Sorry - it’s the Hero’s Guide series.... it’s not plural

I think at this age it's good to read then simple chapter books if they have the attention span. Winnie the witch is good, also thumbs up for the owl who was afraid of the dark.

My 6 year old has loved the dog man books. Cartoon ones, and he likes that he can read bits himself. Also liked a set of books about pirate dinosaurs. And the day the crayons left and the day the crayons came back (I think)

There is an adventure series of chapter books by Bear Grylls that DS likes.

Second the recommendation for the Pirate Next Door books.

Agree with the Jonny Duddle books. There is also the Rabbit and Bear series by Julian Gough which are funny.

Books that my, now Y1 son has enjoyed over the last couple of years:

• The Magic Faraway Tree books
• RSPCA stories (box set - all based on real-life rescues)
• Jonny Duddle’s pirate books
• Flat Stanley
• The 13 Storey Treehouse (plus all the other titles in this series)
• Dragons at Crumbling Castle

He still loves the shorter stories and picture books alongside these, mind. We usually have a chapter or two and then a picture book of his choice.

We’re reading the original Faraway Tree books at the moment tour reception boy, who has just turned 5. It is perfect for him and has really captured his imagination. He often chats about “what if...” or acts it out in play.
I aimed for 1-2 chapters per night but in reality he always begs for a third. He was rolling around laughing with the saucepan man character.
I’m going to order the Hero’s one above it sounds fantastic.