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Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Longer books for smaller children

19 replies

Laugs · 03/08/2010 14:59

Any ideas for books with chapters for my DD, 3.8?

We've just read one of those Rainbow Fairy ones, which she enjoyed. She has made herself a bookmark which she is very proud of, and we have some long train journeys coming up, so it would be great to have some longer books that aren't too grown up to keep her going.

Thanks!

OP posts:
kingfix · 03/08/2010 15:02

DD (3.10) liked the Twits.

Laugs · 03/08/2010 15:04

Thanks kingfix. She didn't find it scary, no? I suppose it is more disgusting than anything.

OP posts:
domesticsluttery · 03/08/2010 15:05

DD is 4.5 and she likes Winnie the Witch

AuntieBulgaria · 03/08/2010 15:12

Winnie the Pooh? Little Grey Rabbit? The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me.

Aitch · 03/08/2010 15:13

we've done the dahls, all vg. noticed a lot of text on the katie morag books, desp being pic books. do not get little house on prairie, fooking boring and racist.

kingfix · 03/08/2010 20:40

No Dd thought the twits was hilarious. Also done winnie the pooh (although I confess to finding it a bit boring so I hide it at the bottom of the pile).
DH reads her the moomin stories. She likes it but I think it's more because they are long and she gets to snuggle up to him for ages with his undivided attention - I don't think she really 'gets' the stories.
Big yes also to katie morag.
As for passing the time on the train, we do lots of long train journeys, and find that activity books like Usborne's 1001 things to spot and puzzle farm etc books keep her attention longer than stories. Also great are really busy picture books, where you can talk about what's going on and make up your own stories.
Oh this has got me all excited - I love reading stories with the dc, hope they want to carry on for ages so I get some of the older children's stories too

kingfix · 03/08/2010 20:41

oh and allan ahlberg ones like it was a dark and stormy night are good and still have quite a lot of pictures

scrappydappydoo · 03/08/2010 20:52

I'm reading enid blytons enchanted wood books to dd at the moment - really enjoying it so far (5 chapters in!) each chapter is like a story in itself so its easy to read as much or as little as we like.

DidEinsteinsMum · 03/08/2010 20:53

Winnie the witch is very good. Especially as there are 2 levels the picture book level and then the 5-7age group ignore this though story book level which uses delightful phrases which are terrible expressive and very suitable for little boys and girls who love making mud pies and being yucky in the garden. Missing them to be honest, ds has got to the stage where he only has a short story by mummy and mostly reads to himself.

alittleteapot · 03/08/2010 21:05

interested to read this thread, keen to find simple chapter books for dd aged 3.

Takver · 03/08/2010 22:27

Go back to the old favourites from your childhood? These are all a bit old fashioned, but lovely all the same:

Teddy Robinson (ideal to read to this age group)
Milly Molly Mandy
Clever Polly & the Stupid Wolf
Gobbolino the Witches Cat
The Little Wooden Horse

A lot of people like My Naughty Little Sister though I don't myself & therefore didn't read them much to dd (oh for the days of such control )

InmyheadIminParis · 03/08/2010 22:43

I'd really recommend Plop, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark... perfect for little ones.

alittleteapot · 04/08/2010 21:41

great to read these recommendations - have just ordered some!

Laugs · 05/08/2010 07:36

Thanks so much for these suggestions. Plop! I remember loving that as a child. And all the Dahl, although I was much older and read them myself. I guess they can be read to you young and then you rediscover them for yourself when you're older.

Kingfix, I'm sure a part of DD's enjoyment is that she gets a longer cuddle with me/ DH, but that's fine too. After all our 8 month old is often listening to the stories as well, and they'll mean much less to him.

I might try My Naughty Little Sister, Takver, as I love Shirley Hughes' illustrations. Also we used to go to Naughty Little Sister exhibition all the time, which DD loved.

Has anyone read the Judy Moody books? What did you think? I only ask as there is a whole set of them very cheap from The Book People at the moment. It looks like Judy might be a feisty kind of heroine, which is the kind I like! I am still bearing the scars from Tuesday's trip shoe shopping - a whole wall of girl's shoes and not one colour but pink. Gah!

Winnie the Witch sounds fantastic! DD knows the picture book from nursery but I will seek out the longer version. I've taken a Winnie the Pooh collection out of the library, but it's a 'new' one, written by someone else. It looks fairly authentic though...

We are off to my mum and dad's tomorrow so I will raid the book shelves there for past treasures. Enid Blyton wasn't PC when I was little, so will have to discover her for myself.

Oh and, train journeys: we also use the Usbourne Things To Do On a Train. We have a pack of wipe clean cards. Last journey I forgot the pen, so we had to act out our answers. That was 4 hours of fun

I love threads like this too. Great to get inspiration from other book lovers.

OP posts:
InmyheadIminParis · 09/08/2010 09:18

Just re-read this thread and after seeing 'Gobbolino The Witches Cat' and 'The Little Wooden Horse' parts of my childhood have just flashed before my eyes. All very odd. Is The Little Wooden Horse a sad story? I seem to remember crying.

Off to buy them both this week and relive it all...

NoahAndTheWhale · 09/08/2010 10:14

DD is 4.10 and loves Milly Molly Mandy. I find chapter books more satisfying to read than picture ones even if they are longer :)

Takver · 09/08/2010 12:03

Yes, some sad bits Inmyhead. Did you know there is also a sequel bringing the two together - IIRC it is actually called "Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse" :)

neversaydie · 09/08/2010 12:31

One I read to DS at this age was 'Little House in the Big Woods'. Laura is about 4 in this one, and it has lovely detailed descriptions of how they lived, how food was prepared and stored and things like that. He loved it - although the longer cuddle probably also helped!

DandyDan · 16/08/2010 16:35

All the ones mentioned from our own childhoods -

Teddy Robinson stories
Milly-Molly-Mandy stories
My Naughty Little Sister stories
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
The first Laura Ingalls (Little House in Big Woods)

We also enjoyed the Danny Fox stories and All About the Bullerby Children.

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