'The book I'd give to my 10-year-old self' Join our competition to celebrate the announcement of the 10th Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist.

[RachelMumsnet]

The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is 10 years old this year. To celebrate this and the announcement of the shortlists for the Waterstones Children's Books Prize 2014 this morning, we're asking you to tell us

The book I'd give to my 10-year-old self

Post your choice and reason on this thread. Everyone who joins will be entered into a draw to win the FULL SET of SHORTLISTED BOOKS - that's 18 books altogether. Here's a list of the shortlist:

Best Picture Book:
Open Very Carefully by Nick Bromley and Nicola O'Byrne (Nosy Crow)
Harold Finds a Voice by Courtney Dicmas (Child's Play International)
Weasels by Elys Dolan (Nosy Crow)
Penguin in Peril by Helen Hancocks (Templar)
Time for Bed, Fred! by Yasmeen Ismail (Bloomsbury)
The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water by Gemma Merino (Macmillan Children's Books)

Best Fiction for 5-12s:
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (HarperCollins Children's Books)
Darcy Burdock by Laura Dockrill (Random House Children's Books)
Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell (Bloomsbury)
The Skull in the Wood by Sandra Greaves (Chicken House)
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell (Faber and Faber)
The Last Wild by Piers Torday (Quercus)

Best Book for Teens:
The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale (Faber and Faber)
Butter by Erin Lange (Faber and Faber)
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch (Orion)
Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter (Hot Key Books)
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin)
Geek Girl by Holly Smale (HarperCollins Children's Books)

To kick off: I'd give my ten year old self Wonder by RJ Palacio - as well as it being a wonderful, moving and uplifting story, I'd hope I would pick up on the lesson it manages to teach without begin too preachy about being non-judgemental and kind to others.

This competition has now closed.

Charlotte's Web. Because it stopped me being scared of spiders and introduced me to the word 'humble'.

Anne of Green Gables. I loved this book, and the sequels, and read them over and over.
I can't wait until my daughter is a little older so we can read them together.

famous five - just bought my 9 year old son the annual we both love it ,who could not love a book that allows you to say dick and fanny out loud at the age of 9 :)

My book would be "From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler." Or maybe "My Side of the Mountain." I was no longer fearful of adulthood after those books-- I thought that I could rule the world.

I have tried giving my 3 dds quite a few of my childhood favourite books. With mixed success. I would give my 10 year old self the books I liked best at that age - Ballet Shoes, Swallows and Amazons, Charlotte Sometimes, Narnia series, The talking parcel, Tree that sat down/stream that stood still.

All books about opinionated girls doing interesting or adventurous things (at least that's the way I read them).

Ooh, I'm so chuffed to see someone else mention The Talking Parcel as I loved that book and so did both my DDs (7 & 4) when I shared it with them recently.

However, the book I'd give to my 10 year old self, because at that age I was still obsessed with fairy tales and happy endings, was The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye. It was the first book I remember reading which subverted the clichéd fairy tale idea: the protagonist was a princess but didn't have long blonde hair or blue eyes (as a brown-eyed brunette, that was particularly refreshing). She wasn't always elegant and graceful, but was kind, intelligent and worked hard - and that brought its own reward. What a great message for children.

Now that I have daughters of my own, I'm very pleased that there are so many more books like this (and I'll stop there before this turns into a feminist rant!) but I'll always be hugely grateful that I was able to read The Ordinary Princess.

Oh, and What Katy Did. (I know I'm not allowed too but still...)

I would give my 10 year old self "Nicobobinus" by Terry Jones. This is from a time before the one with the lighting scar and he-who-shall-not-be-named existed, and for me is one of the original fantasy book. The book focuses on Nicobobinus and his friend Rosie who set out on a quest to the land of dragons, but as the story progresses poor Nicobobinus is gradually turned to gold.

Unfortunately it's now out of print so hoping mine is safely stored in my parents loft for our children.

A Little History of the World by EH Gombrich. I am
reading it to dd now and am learning so much (as is she). If I'd had it when I was ten I think I would have been inspired to carry on with history rather than dropping it as soon as I could and I wouldn't now be an ignoramus about the past. It's so well thought out and tells you the why and how as well as the what and the who. It's a wonderful book...

I would introduce myself to Terry Prattchett - didn't discover him until I was given "Lords and Ladies" as an 18th birthday present. If books could time travel then my 10 year old self would have loved Harry Potter. My teacher tried to get me to read "Little Women" but I hated it! Read it when I was a bit older and really loved it, I guess I wasn't ready for it at 10.

I am David by Ann Holm. Because it's a wonderful adventure story but also a story about how a sad and lonely boy can find his way back to happiness.

Red Sky at Night by Elizabeth Laird.
I think this was actually one of my favourite books as a 10yr old, so doesn't really answer the question as my 10yr old self already had it, but I would really recommend it to other 10 year olds.
I still have the same copy I had when I was 10 despite rereading many times. It is a about a girl and her disabled baby brother and her grief when he dies. Unfortunately, bits of the story were all too familiar to me. Someone earlier in the thread said their choice was the first book to have made them cry, and this may be the same for me and my choice. It still makes me cry when I read it now, but it is a wonderful book.

What a hard question - I was an absolute bookworm as a kid, reading under the duvet, reading under the table at dinner (thinking my parents wouldn't notice!), reading in the car - can't do that anymore!

I love books already mentioned: Ballet Shoes, The Folk of the Faraway Tree, Alanna - Song of the Lionness quartet (my friends and I fought over who got to take those out of the school library first).

I might add The Magicians of Caprona, part of the Chrestomanci series to the list. I love Diana Wynne-Jones novels.

My absolute best friend growing up was Anne of Green Gables - I would give 10 year old me the entire set as she was certainly everything I wanted to aspire towards - a free thinker, outspoken, eventually ambitious for career and family and achieving a happy medium ... Certainly made a teenage me feel lots more kindly toward mum when Anne became one!

I agree with the poster earlier who suggested The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. It's brilliant. However, I think I should choose a book no one else has and that book is The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily it is written and illustrated by Dino Buzzati and it is an amazing book. I don't know why it's not more famous. INFO HERE

Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell

I'd give Tomorrow When The War Began by John marsden.

Its the first of a fantastic series set in modern day Australia, but an Australia which has been invaded and taken over by a foreign country. All natives are sent to concentration type camps but on the day of the invasion a group of teens were camping in the bush. So they've escaped capture and over the next couple of years set up a guerrilla/resistance network. Its wonderfully written, a gripping story and has a really strong female lead character.

Mine would be Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It links modern fantasy with myths and legends and the book is 100 times better than the movie. It is so descriptive and action packed. I was exhausted reading it aloud to my class! They just wanted more and more.

The Blue Sword/The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. Along with Alanna stories, which have already been mentioned, they were adventure stories WITH GIRLS - how exciting. But the McKinley stuff is beautifully written and I reread it constantly as a grown-up.

I discovered Diana Wynne Jones around that age and all her books are still on my shelf. You can get completely lost in her stories. Howls Moving Castle is a superb example, planning on reading them to my daughter once she is old enough.

i am not sure i can choose .. there are so many amazing books - I think my family and other animals I would go for but hey if I ever was stuck on a desert island I would cheat and take my kindle with a trillion books on it. but then I think what about swallows and amazons and I loved the pendlewicks that my girls have read and Eva Iborston books - sigh I would be a rubbish book critic

I think the "excuse" to read kids books is ons of the the best reasons for having kids.

had forgotten all about My Family and Other Animals. Lovely book.

The Compleet Molesworth: a cheat as I read "How to be Topp" at 10, but it took me a while to find "Back in jug agane". Fantastic send-up of every school story ever written and has a beautifully anarchic sense about it. Molesworth and his "grate frend Peason", Grabber "head of the skool captain of everything and winer of the mrs joyful prize for rafia work" taught me about philosophy, grammar and literature (and spelling) without my suspecting a thing, and taught me it was ok to find things a little ridiculous sometimes.
Above all, I'd love to see the look of glee on my own face when I opened it. I was quite a serious child and read a huge amount of quite factual books then; Molesworth would have reminded me to be mischeivous occasionally. (Still does cheers cheers cheers.)

The Death-defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean - it has it all: adventure, fantasy, and a moral. I read with my then 10 year old and we both absolutely loved it, I think I would have been mesmerised by it as a child. It inspires you to be anything you want to be! It shows you that you can change the course of your life if you want it enough, and that you can change other people's lives with your actions! Brilliant book.

Oh and (I don't know how to add this to my message above ) the book has the BEST metaphors and similes that I remember reading EVER (and I am a real bookworm!) I loved this author and went on reading loads of her books even without the children! lol