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Children's books

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Books to read aloud to slightly neglected DC3!

17 replies

ExpectoPatronum · 01/04/2011 12:14

My third child is DS2, who will be 5 at the end of May.

He's doing well with reading at school and can read simple-ish stories to me if I sit and give him lots of encouragement.

However, at bedtime he still wants me to read to him, reasonably enough.

Problem is, as the third child in the family, he's been hearing the same 'Tiger Who Came to Tea' and 'This is the Bear' type stories for ever, and both he and I are bored to tears with them. But at still only 4, he prefers a book with pictures to look at, which can be read in its entirety. I don't think he really has the concentration yet to listen to chapter-a-night type books.

We have the entire Julia Donaldson ouvre, but I'm looking for other, similar type of things. Big colourful pictures but enough text and complexity of language to tell a decent story. He liked Edwina the Dinosaur who Didn't Know she was Extinct, and I've just ordered a couple of the Kes Gray 'Daisy' picture books from Amazon. He doesn't mind a bit of Harry and his Bucket full of Dinosaurs although they make me want to slit my wrists.

So - books with pictures, but not too babyish.

What else might he like?

OP posts:
ExpectoPatronum · 01/04/2011 12:15

oh, and Mick Inkpen - like 'Nothing' and 'We are Wearing Out the Naughty Step'. He liked all those.

OP posts:
lovecheese · 01/04/2011 13:10

Percy the Park Keeper is nice, lovely illustrations, quite unisex; Charlie and Lola?

munstersmum · 01/04/2011 13:16

Anything by Oliver Jeffers - esp. The Incredible Book Eating Boy.
Lauren Child but not Charlie & Lola eg Hubert Horatio....

NorkilyChallenged · 01/04/2011 13:21

Mine love Julia Donaldson and also love Dogs don't do ballet and not too girly at all

We also recently got Atchoo

My 4yo DD is just getting into chapter books though is perplexed by lack of pictures so I get what you mean. 3yo still likes all these though.

wearymum200 · 01/04/2011 20:54

DS1 is 5 and does like chapter books at bedtime, but picture books he still enjoys include "Oi get off our train!", "The Little Train" (Graham Greene), "Bumpus jumpus dinosaurumpus", Alfie (pretty much any of them, when he's in the mood), also "Stories by Firelight" by Shirley Hughes, "Something Else", Dr Seuss and the absolutely gorgeous "Emperor of Absurdia"
Guessing you've done Thomas the Tank to death?

ExpectoPatronum · 02/04/2011 11:09

Thanks for more suggestions. The Emperor of Absurdia looks fantastic. We're going through a big dragon phase at the moment so the cover would definitely draw him in. I've been meaning

My boys were never really sold on Thomas in any form (much to DH's disappointment!). I've read the Fireman Sam tie-in books until my eyes bled, though Grin.

As I type, DS1 (who is 6) is reading The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog aloud to DS2, who is laughing like a drain.

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clayre · 02/04/2011 11:18

My ds 5 loves having the dr suess books read to him, he laughs at them all, he has now started to read them with me we do a page each .

CornishTwinMoominMamma · 02/04/2011 16:31

Some more suggestions:

The Egg by M. P Robertson (about a boy that finds a Dragon Egg)
Guess What I Found in Dragonwood - Timothy Knapman & Gwen Millward
The Bog Baby/ The King of Tiny Things- Jeanne Willis & Gwen Millward
Miki - Stephen Mackey (my twins loved this when they were four - the pictures are beautiful)
Leon and the Place Between - Graham Baker-Smith
Some Judith Kerr - eg Mog
The Large Family - Jill Murphy
Paddington?
The Boy Who Was Followed Home - Margaret Mahy

My children like the Ladybird fairytales as the pictures are on the creepy side - my daughter is a bit obsessed with the picture of Hansel locked in the cage holding out the chicken bone to the witch. The 'classic' ones also have more complex language.

purepurple · 02/04/2011 16:39

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
is a fantastic book

CornishTwinMoominMamma · 02/04/2011 17:20

Some more suggestions:

The Egg by M. P Robertson (about a boy that finds a dragon egg)
Guess What I Found in Dragonwood - Timothy Knapman & Gwen Millward
The Bog Baby/ The King of Tiny Things- Jeanne Willis & Gwen Millward
Miki - Stephen Mackey (my twins loved this when they were four - the pictures are beautiful)
Leon and the Place Between - Graham Baker-Smith
Some Judith Kerr - eg Mog
The Large Family - Jill Murphy
Paddington?
The Boy Who Was Followed Home - Margaret Mahy

My children like the Ladybird fairytales as the pictures are on the creepy side - my daughter is a bit obsessed with the picture of Hansel locked in the cage holding out the chicken bone to the witch. The 'classic' ones also have more complex language.

CornishTwinMoominMamma · 02/04/2011 17:21

sorry - duplicate post!

2and1ontheway · 02/04/2011 19:23

Mr Men books? My 5 and 3 year old both like them from time to time... There is still a pic on every page but the vocabulary is a bit more advanced than a lot of preschool picture books so they get a bit more from it that way - this matters to me because we live overseas and they only hear English at home, but I think it is good anyway!

Takver · 02/04/2011 19:31

Barefoot books have some nice books at that sort of level - Herb the Vegetarian Dragon is nice and much less worthy than it sounds. The various Barefoot books of pirates, knights etc all have plenty of story but lots of lovely pictures.

2and1ontheway · 02/04/2011 19:31

Oh also 'Bad Dog Marley' - not because of advanced vocab at all, just one both 5 and 3 year olds still like. They also both like "You Choose" which is not so much a story but something a bit different - only one sentence per page but the child uses their imagination choosing options from pictures, just makes a bit of a change.

On the chapter book front both 5 year old (girl) and 3 year old (boy) love Pippi Longstocking and my 3 year old boy does listen to the full chapter even though there isn't a picture on every page, and it seems to have unisex appeal as Pippi is hardly girly! 3 year old boy also listens to chapters of Paddington (the original book not a re done picture version). He also loves the traditional unabridged Whinnie the Pooh ('The House at Pooh Corner') and will ask for a chapter of that as his bedtime story from time to time and listen well - I do skip bits of this here and there though as the way it is written as if A A Milne is talking to Christopher Robin at the same time as telling the story can be confusing! Whinnie the Pooh is quite good for having a colour pic on every page.

NorkilyChallenged · 02/04/2011 22:05

Oh yes, Bad Dog Marley is a good one, definitely.

goosiegander · 03/04/2011 07:58

These three are very popular - lots of fun and thought!

How To Teach A Dragon Manners - Hilary Robinson
Would You Rather - John Burningham
The Queen's Knickers

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