'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.

My choice would be Luke and Jon by Robert Williams. It is a beautiful story about the friendship of two teenage boys.
Such an honest and sensitive book ..... I like it now but as a 10year old it would have been so much more interesting than the Enid Blyton that I read then!

I would choose Treasure Island. I only read it recently, and
found out it is a brilliant, exciting adventure story.
I read masses of books when I was a child, and still do.
It was the thing I most wanted my children to inherit from me, a love of books and reading... Luckily they both do.
In my career as a nursery worker and working in primary schools too, I always really encouraged children to have a love of books and stories.

l would give myself The Skull in the Wood by Sandra Greaves. The idea of birds and animals turning bad because of a curse and how it would be solved would have grabbed my attention.

I'd give my self a copy of Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone! When I read it as an adult I couldn't shake the feeling that I would have loved it as a child. My children have adored the Harry Potter books too.

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. A book I'll always remember. A wonderful tale of freedom and adventure and the joy of being a child.

Harry potter on a kindle. When I was 10 I loved reading and I think I'd have loved e-readers.

I would give my 10 year old self "Gangsta Granny" by David Walliams. David Walliams was probably less than 10 himself when I was 10, but thanks to my book-hungry 8 and 10 year olds, I have had the opportunity to enjoy David Walliams' exceptional talent to address childhood fantasies and fears delivered with his characteristic warmth and humour.

I loved The Worst Witch series. If they'd been written back then, I'm sure I'd have loved Harry Potter too.

I'd give my 10 year old self Harry Potter - abundant imagination, magic, friendship, courage and doing the right thing even if it's really difficult and seems scary - as a 10 year old this would have really captured me.

If given ten year old self 'Floodland' by Marcus Sedgwick. Have just finished reading with my class of 11 year olds and felt the book is so thought provoking about relationships and the big issue of global warming and what could happen.

I would give my 10 year old any from the Famous Five by Enid Blyton! Just love the imaginative afternoons i had spent reading them.

I'd give myself 'The Dark is Rising' by Susan Cooper. It's the second on a sequence of 5 books, and when I got them for some reason I was given this one first. It's stuck with me over the years and I still think of it around Christmas time. (when much of it is set) I've just begun reading it with my nearly nine year old, who is just as gripped as I was. I can't wait to read the other four with hero ver the next few months!

I'd give myself "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", by J.K. Rowling.

As an only child at that age, and a shy, awkward child, I loved to read and would have really enjoyed the Harry Potter series. It's filled with magic and wonder, and contains some good messages, too. "The Philosopher's Stone", and the books that follow it, teach you that it's okay to be different. That you, too, can be accepted. That friendship, loyalty and courage are valuable. And that you should never, ever give up.

I'd give myself The Paper Bag Princess even though it's a tiny, little, fairytale of a book.

I read voraciously as a child but sometimes struggled with the passiveness of the female characters. The Paperbag Princess is a brave and daring character. She rescues a prince, refuses to be defined by what she's wearing and is quite happy to be on her own. She's a brilliant heroine, a great female role model and I'd have loved to have discovered her when I was still a child. Plus she says 'bum' at the end!

You didn't say it had to be a novel, so I would give my 10 year old self The Art of Fiction by John Gardner.

I used to write all the time but I only recently discovered books on the craft of creative writing, and I'd love to see what I'd have written if I'd learnt more earlier on.

I would give myself Anne Frank's Diary. I did not read it until later, but it really speaks to all the things that became important to me in my life| understanding racism and oppression, the vicissitudes of history, the horrors of the 20th century. But it also shows the ability of a child to think, reflect, analyse, dream and to create....which is the positive side of it.

Wow so many of my favourite children's books in this list, but my all time favourite (which has already been mentioned) is Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster, I love the main character who is a fantastic, strong, funny and independent main female character, I've loved the really gentle love story too which never overwhelmed the story or the characters. I'm so glad someone else mentioned it because I don't think it's very well known although it definitely should be.

This is followed very closely by Goodnight Mister Tom which still makes me cry every time I read it.

Definitely Stig of the Dump by Clive King. Absolutely brilliant and not a wasted word. I still remember it vividly and I spent a lot of time looking for Stig at the bottom of our garden! I can't wait until I can read it with my boys.

I would give Howls moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa by
Robert M Sapolsky- smart and witty! I loved reading it when I was 11, wish I had read it when I was 10!

The Magicians nephew, definitely the most inventive of all Lewis's Narna tales.

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan

It's not a novel, it's a picture book (but suitable for older readers). His illustrations are really powerful, depicting all the negative emotions that we all experience- self-doubt, worry, loneliness, fear- but the story shows the reader that beauty flourishes in the most unexpected places- so we should never give up hope.

It's a real gem of a book.

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

This for the series that got me into reading; such absorbing characters and the storyline just drew me in; I think I managed to read the trilogy in about a week which was very fast for someone who didn't read.

The relationn ships between the children and their Daemons was lovely and I remember my heart pumping when I thought Lyra and Pan would be seperated.

Love these books!

Carbonel. A wonderful book about a magic cat. Beautifully written.

Carrie's War was good too. But Carbonel was excellent.

The Story Giant by Brian Pattern, illustrated by Chris Riddell - The Story Giant is a master illusionist and storyteller. In his memory exists every tale ever told in the world – except for one, which has eluded him for millennia.

Fifty tales are told within this magical story, an adventure story about 4 very different children.