Good books as presents eg recommended but unlikely to have already

[Yellowflowers]

I like buying books as presents - for the newborn baby and for birthdays and Christmas. Obviously lots of children already have The Gruffalo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar etc, so just wondered which books you recommend as presents that are good but not so popular so they are unlikely to have it already. Thanks

Once There Were Giants?

Classics to save for a bit later?

Girls = Alice In Wonderland, Ballet Shoes, Charlotte's Web, The Secret Garden, Black Beauty for eg.

My sister buys my children lots of books as used to be a book buyer for a retailer.She always buys good stories and we love receiving them as presents.

Here are a few (looking at bookcase) we like:
George and the Dragon with good illustrations,
Pumpkin Soup with lovely repetition,Goodnight Gorilla great picture story,The owl and the pussycat classic poem,A dark dark tale unusual but my ds loves it,5 little ducks good for rhyme,counting and flaps,Two frogs another favourite,Dig dig digging all boys like this,the odd egg unusual but good.

Must stop but hope those are some good ideas.

Good suggestions thank you. Any others?

My Many Coloured Days is lovely - by Dr Seuss, but illustrated by other people (and very different from his usual style) - doesn't seem that well known at all.

Penguin by Polly Dunbar is very simple but both beautiful & very funny.

For slightly older children Anna Hibiscus is good as a read out loud (from say age 5 or so) as well as for children to read themselves.

A classic, but not so ubiquitous these days - Teddy Robinson is something I'd think of if I wanted to give a book to say a 3 or 4 year old. The edition I've linked to I'm pretty sure is hardback (at least we have the same cover/copy & its hardback) which makes it good as a gift.

The Night Journey - got a second hand copy of this at NCT sale and my almost-2yo loves it. Lots of pull tabs and 'moving' pictures, but quite a peaceful read.

Miaow Said The Cow - great illustrations, rhythmic text that is funny no matter how many times you read it (and I've read it a lot). Definitely helped my DS to recognise which sounds go with which animals.

Yes - My Many Coloured Days is gorgeous.

Would second the Emily Gravett recommendation above- Monkey and Me is lovely for young toddlers.

My DS (2.8) loves anything by Emma Chichester Clarke- particularly Blue Kangaroo and Melrose and Croc books.

Eddie's Garden is another popular one- there is another called Eddie's Kitchen but we haven't got that yet.

So Much is an absolutely gorgeous book.

Floras Blanket by Debi Gilroy is a beautiful beautiful book. My DD1 was bought it for her 1st Xmas and I had to read it to her every night it has now been passed down to each of her new siblings (4 of them!) and is a bit dog eared but they all ask for "Flora" when they are sleepy.

www.amazon.co.uk/Floras-Blanket-Orchard-Picturebooks-Gliori/dp/184121096X

Flora's .

Brambly Hedge books - pics are wonderful
Michael Bond - Paddington
Both are good for box sets or bigger gifts

Shirley Hughes - Dogger especially
The Tiger who came to tea
Garth Pig and the Ice Cream truck
Each Peach Pear Plum or any Ahlbergs- a musthave
The Great Blueness
Dear Zoo

I love the Dr Xargle books and remember finding them hilarious as an older sibling. My 3yo loves them now and new parents may find them funny.

Nice keepsake editions of classics - Wind in the Willows, any E Nesbit, Alices, Jungle Book, AA Milne, CS Lewis, Blyton. They don't have to be reading them now - lots of new baby gifts are to keep forever.

I find the hungry caterpillar tedious in the extreme and the illustrations remind me of toe paintings.Have to say I don't get the attraction of that one.

You Choose is fab for 2 year olds- pages covered in things to look at and chat about, still use it with my 3 and 5 year old together- they like to have a big debate on who would have what etc.

I also like some of the less well know Dr Seuss. The Sneetches is fab (includes a very marvellous story about spooky green pants) and I also like Yertle the Turtle.

So Much is fabbo. And The Pale green Pants story in The Sneetches is one of the best things ever! When dd1 was just turned two she could recite the entire story by heart because it is so great!

Hairy Maclary

My Cat Just Sleeps

Calm down Boris

Joe's Dog

I love The Baby Catalogue for small babies and for toddlers. DS is 3 and has adored this book since he was around 18mths. He will pore over it on his own for ages, or go through pointing out all the items - he also 'reads' it to his little sister now. The illustrations are lovely and provide loads of opportunities for chatting about what's going on.

when we were very young A A Milne

A child's garden of verse (illustrated) Robert Louis Stevenson

both classics to save though I read them both to my dc before they could read for themselves, they insisted on having them read over and over again and learned their favourites off by heart Can't go wrong in my opinion

Buy the hardback editions and write an inscription.

Zoo-ology by Joelle Jolivet.

It is a beautiful book full of illustrations of hundreds of different animals, categorized into things such as big, small, hot, cold etc etc.

My DS, 3 loves looking at it, but so do older children too.

It is a really tall book though - so doesn't fit on a standard bookshelf, but that is part of the charm of it I think!

he Baby Catalogue and Peepbo (or poss Peepo? Peepbo surely), both Ahlbergs, both brilliant. They're dated but children look at the pics forever.

I also found the Usbourne books such as Everyday Words good: they're A4 size pages of model towns or houses or farms with loads going on, lots of humour if you hunt for it and a cute duck to find on every page.The models are made of plasticine and very clever, children just love them. We can kill hours with one of those books

Harold and the Purple Crayon is great and an unusual choice

big mum plum

Teddy Robinson books

ds is a big fan of nick butterworth.. he has written loads about percy the park keeper but a particular favourite is Albert le Blanc about Mr Jolly's toyshop and the follow up albert le blanc to the rescue

where the wild things are

the paper bag princess

room on a broom

here we go round the mulberry bush

the animal bop

the paper bag princess - my mum's absolute favourite when I was little

the quangle wangle's hat (helen oxenbury's illustrations are my favourite)

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