BEDTIME STORY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

[mrsmerryberry]

I'm looking for recommendations for a bedtime story book that has a lot of different stories within it and one that also has colour pictures. It is for my 4.5yr old. We have been reading individual library books at bedtime, but as they have to go back we can't read them over again when ever we want. It would be nice to have a large bedtime book that we can read over again, so if anyone has any good recommendations please could you let me know.
Many thanks

Barefoot books do some nice ones - the Barefoot Book of Princesses and Barefoot book of Pirates are both lovely.

the gruffalo
the gruffalo's child
we're going on a bear hunt
bedtime bear
snail on a whale

my ds LOVED the guiness world records...still does.

This www.amazon.co.uk/Puffin-Book-Five-Minute-Stories/dp/0141308796/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316693083&sr=1-1 was given to us and has been a real hit. Lots of variety, some traditional and some new, with illustrations.

Alfie story books (www.amazon.co.uk/Alfie-Doors-Storybook-picture-books/dp/0099258919/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316719950&sr=1-1 or www.amazon.co.uk/Alfie-Annie-Storybook-picture-books/dp/0099750309/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316719977&sr=1-3, or a complete Shirley Hughes www.amazon.co.uk/Shirley-Hughes-Collection/dp/0370326822/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316720059&sr=1-2)
or Katie Morag (some of them have multiple stories and DS likes them as much as DD does)
or an usborne collection eg www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Bedtime-Usborne-Anthologies-Treasuries/dp/074608787X/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316720092&sr=1-6

Gosh, losts of recommendations, thank you!

YY to the Big Alfie and Annie Rose Storybook & the other Alfie collections - they are really lovely, had forgotten them! They even have little poems as well as stories for when you want a very short something to read :)

The Baby who wouldnt go to bed. So lovely.

Leaf Olympics by Matt Northmore, really is such a lovely story. Great fun to read to a toddler, perfect for the Autumn season. A wonderful & uplifting ending to.
www.amazon.co.uk/Leaf-Olympics-ebook/dp/B005MKCEH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1315912491&sr=1-1

Get a proper classic in there - Peter Rabbit !

Lovely simple stories, great colour pictures, long enough for a "proper" bedtime story but short enough so they can start to remember bits like "and they were called Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton tail and Peter" quite quickly. Peter is the naughty "hero" and the villain is Mr McGregor (an old gardener just like Grandpa - so no nightmares there - unlike the Grugffalo etc which can backfire) !
They're vaguely 'moral' stories too teaching that although Peter always gets away - he suffers for his bad behaviour (he's sent to bed with medicine while his well beghaved siblings get cake). Old style honest to goodness excellent kids book.

Read a different story each night then just repeat them (which they love and soon demand). It's comforting to hear the same story again and again for a while. When they get fed up, go on to Winnie the pooh and in a couple of years start a "chapter" book like Peter Pan (although some kids do find PP a bit scary - the original is not Spielberg...). Magic far away tree is great though.

I'm a big believer in the classics and my DD of almost 8 has just finished Lucy Coates' 100 greek myths as a long time bedtime book (we went through it three times at her insistence from almost 7 to slmost 8) she now knows all the stories and if I ask her who stole fire from the Gods she fires straight back with "Prometheus". If I ask where the Oracle was she knows it's Delphi. I SOOOOOO wish I'd had that kind of knowledge at my fingertips as I went through education !

I've just started reading a book called 'Buddha at Bedtime' with my 6 year old and it's fantastic. The illustrations within it are really beautiful, and the stories are wonderful. I'm not Buddhist, but the morals of each tale are really gently put across, and my DD is just loving it. I'm looking at getting the other books associated with this book, as I'm so impressed with it.