'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.

I would give myself "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The lead character is Sara Crewe, whose kindness, morality and vivid imagination make her a charming role model.

Sara becomes an orphan aged eleven, changing her status at school from being the rich, star pupil to becoming a drudge in the seminary. Throughout everything Sara treats others equally - politely and with respect - believing that inside she is a princess and must behave accordingly.

When she is finally at breaking point and her self belief fading, she makes a magical new friend, and things start looking up again...

Given the book was written well over one hundred years ago, it truly is a timeless classic!

As a child I had no guidance for reading but I had a library ticket which led to some weird choices . I found Elizabeth Goudge when I was older and gave the Little White Horse to my DD . I wished I had read it as a child.

I'd give my ten-year-old self pretty much anything by Joan Aiken, who is really unjustly neglected nowadays. Her books are full of fantastic adventurers, strong heroines, alternate history and exotic vocabulary: I was highly entertained by the threat of being "lambasted with the slamander". If I had to pick just one of her books, I'd probably go for her own favourite, Midnight is a Place. It's darker than some, and more of a stand-alone work.

Susan Cooper the dark is rising series. I read this book so often from about aged 8 onwards I had to Sellotape it together when I was 10, and many times since then, I still read it occasionally!

I loved the escapism from what felt an ordinary, normal world.

My 9yr old is currently immersed in The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordian - he's already read all the Percy Jackson series about 3 times

It's clearly a fabulous set of books as his journey to being a reader has been a really tough one

Lovely suggestions so far. Maybe some CS Lewis. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe if it hasn't been suggested yet. I think I read it at this stage

Watership Down by Richard Adams. I read the book for the first time at 10ish and it provided a very intense, magical reading experience. You find yourself immersed in a fully realised rabbit-o-centric world - just don't expect fluffy bunnies or 'prettiness'.

I was given a huge bag of enid blyton paperbacks when I was about 10 & devoured the lot. Mallory Towers, secret seven & famous five. Those books gave me my first sense of excitement and suspense in a book, and the adventures took me away from what felt like a very ordinary life.

I also loved roald dahl, particularly the dark characters who are always trumped by children, rwal good over evil in a darkly comic way!

Redwall by Brian Jaques. Amazing descriptions (the food made my mouth water every time I read about what they were eating), fantastic story and the triumph of good over evil - wonderful!

Jane Eyre.

My mum tried to get me to read it when I was 7, and it became a point of feud where I refused to. I finally read it aged 18, when she died.

I wish I'd been a bit less stubborn and enjoyed it earlier.

Varjak Paw SF Said

I would give myself Skallagrigg by William Horwood, lots of thought about people with cerebral palsy.

Already been said but I am David by A Holm .Our 4th year juniors (Year 6) teacher read it to us in storytime chunks. I just thought it was a gripping adventure story at the time .Not long after, I learned about what was going on behind the story and its connection to my own background - my parents were thewartime generation. Still an exciting and moving adventure story.

The book i would give to my ten year old self would be a good nancy drew mystery as it inspires imagination, creativity and problem solving. Also takes you away to an imagimary place away from childhood loneliness.

On the first page of this thread alone are the three I would choose - when Hitler stole pink rabbit, goodnight mr Tom and back home. All three amazing books.

I think back home affected me the most though. My mum bought me a new copy for my 18th birthday. I love that book still even now. Every ten year old should read one of those books, to be humbled by a life so far from todays.

The book I wish I had been given as a ten year old but actually first read last year (at 38) is The Dolls House by Rumer Godden. That book has the most evilly villainous villain and I know I would have loved it as a child.

I also wish I had been given a copy of Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon, the story he wrote for his daughter Naomi.

Books I did read as a ten year old and think every ten year old should read are:

The Great Ghost Rescue by Iva Ibbotson, because on the surface it's a great story that really gets your imagination going, but it also has some very good ethics to teach without seeming to do so.

Also Grinny by Nicholas Fisk, which was my first proper 'horror' book as a child. I actually stole this one from my brother and denied it for years. He actually had a ten year old daughter himself before I finally admitted to the theft and bought her a copy of her own. I still have his copy though, he's not getting that back

Ballet Shoes is a wonderful story and I loved the Fossil sisters as a child.

The Amazing Mr Blunden, which was about ghosts and time travel and was absolutely gripping to me as a child.

And Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, which is a classic that fully deserves the name. I read and reread that book over and over as a child and have made sure it's on DS's bookshelves ready for him to discover too.

I had a book of poetry called A Light In The Attic by Shel Silverstein that I still buy and give as gifts to children now. And I still have my copy. Great poems and illustrations.

Someone Might Hear You by Robin Klein was a great book that I read when I was ten but then tracked down to reread as an adult and I think it still holds up very well. I can remember being frightened and angry with the story and getting very involved in it.

I was also given a copy of Susan Coopers The Dark is Rising first, even though it is the second book of the series, and I still love it today.

And I stole a copy of Animal Farm from the same brother I stole Grinny from. I think ten is a great age to read that book and I still have it and still read it.

I loved Roald Dahl as a child, so I'm sure that had they been writing then I would have loved David Walliams, Guy Bass and Andy Stanton as well. DS is loving the Stitch Head books by Guy Bass and I have to admit that I am too.

Of the books in the shortlist, I would give my ten year old self a copy of The Skull in the Wood by Sandra Greaves as it sounds just my sort of book (then and now).

I would give 10 year old self the book "Uncle" by JP Morgan. Absolutely hilarious escapism about an elephant who wears a purple dressing gown - brilliant use of language and so much fun! I was a very serious 10 year old, and I needed to lighten up!

Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell, because it was a joy to read, and I always wished I'd discovered it when I was younger.

I would like to give myself 'What Katy Did' by Susan Coolidge but because I already loved it and owned a copy it would have to be 'Thursday's Child' by Sonya Hartnett which is fascinating, intriguing and would have definately made a change from my usual reading choices at that age.

I would give my ten year old self The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. As Maria Merryweather and Miss Heliotrope pass through the tunnel in the rock into Moonacre, Goudge transports the reader into a enchanted world of magic and beauty where Maria has to display courage, loyalty and perseverance to bring peace to the valley. Once read, never forgotten.

Back in the days when I was ten
I read Enid Blyton again and again.
I loved the adventure and fantasy
But those stories were getting too young for me.
I wanted something to sweep me away
To a different world or a different day.
A realm that was different from my own;
A place I could visit without leaving home.

I found the world and the author when
I was in my late twenties - much older than ten!
Yet these novels were written in such a way
That I get much pleasure when I read them today.
These books about trolls, dwarfs and magicians,
Witches and werewolves, a shrewd Patrician,
Are brim-full of adventure and empathy
And a sense of humour which speaks to me.
And I love that, somewhere, on a world that's a disc
This mixture of species can co-exist.
So the book that I'd give to myself, aged ten
Is Sir Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men.

Warhorse, great story, emotional and an introduction to a fabulous author, Michael Morpurgo.

Hard to pick just one, so I'd give the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. As an only child I loved them for the wonderful detail of another world. Looking back I can see they helped shape my character and honed my strong family values and appreciation of the small things in life which we can easily take for granted - medicine, shop bought clothes and toys. Laura and her sisters were adept at making their own fun together from what they had, lots of good lessons to be gently learned from these stories.

You stole my recommendation of Wonder - because I love books which are both adult-books-for-children and children's-books-for-adults. In the absence of that, I would recommend The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, and Oscar Wilde's stories for children. Both relatively short reads which convey so much food for thought - about (to generalise) what it means to be human and the impact we have. I now love - and think I would have loved then - stories which don't give a clear or obvious conclusion and which leave you asking questions.

Oh, this is such a hard question. I loved, and re-read constantly, the Anne of green gables and little house in the big woods series. They both feel like a glimpse into another time. I also loved Pollyanna, still makes me smile, and remember that you (sometimes) can actually make yourself feel better by looking for a bright side.