Tell us what books you read with your Grandparents to WIN a full set of The Owl and the Pussy-cat picture edition books

[ChrissieMumsnet]

To coincide with National Grandparents Day on Sunday 5 October we’re giving away ten sets of the treasured children’s bedtime story book, The Owl and the Pussy-cat as well as the follow-up title, The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-cat, which has a companion CD.

The new picture edition of Edward Lear’s classic poem features illustrations by Charlotte Voake while The Further Adventures of The Owl and the Pussy-cat creates a wonderful new story penned by The Gruffalo author, Julie Donaldson.

To enter our competition, we’d like to hear about the stories you read once upon a time with your grandparents. Whether old literary favourites or less well-known gems, we want to know the books that help generations of families unite. Share your stories on this thread before 10am Thursday 9 October. The publication of The Owl and the Pussy-cat and The Further Adventures of The Owl and the Pussy-cat is 2 October 2014.

This competition is sponsored by Puffin Books.

I didn't see my grandparents especially frequently, as they lived in the States, but one book I remember reading with my grandmother was Anne of Green Gables. I don't think I would have chosen it myself, but she bought me a beautiful hardback edition with lovely colour plate illustrations of particular scenes from the book. One that imprinted itself on my brain was an illustration of a contrite Anne apologising to the stern neighbour Mrs Lynde, with the caption (a quote from the book): 'Oh Mrs Lynde, please, please forgive me!' Not sure why that made such an impression, but it did!

I was told that the author, A M Montgomery, was a distant cousin of my grandmother. I have no idea whether this is true, but it certainly made me feel very important and connected to the book somehow!

I still return to it as a comfort read, and most recently re-read it when laid up recovering from surgery.

On another note (and this will out me to anyone who knows this), The Owl and the Pussycat is my favourite poem, and my husband proposed to me by giving me an illustrated edition of it in which he had cut a hole and placed the engagement ring on the end of the pig's nose. I maintain that the following lines are the most delightful in English poetry: 'Dear Pig, are you willing/ To sell for one shilling / Your ring? Said the Piggy / I will.'

Edward Lear's poetry, especially his limericks, is just so much fun. Another great poem is 'The Pobble Who has No Toes.'

Oh yes, his Aunt Jobiska.

Now, there's a name which should turn up in an MN baby name thread.

My Grannie read the full chronicles of Narnia over my childhood - and recorded the tv series into video for me!

My Grandad was amazing at making up his own stories off the top of his head, they were our favourites!

The Magic Porridge Pot. Over and over and over and over again apparently!

My Grannie used to read the Little Grey Rabbit books by Alison Uttley, Winnie the Pooh and Babar.
There are lots of pictures of grandparents or uncles or aunts with a whole pile of cousins on one lap, all looking at some Babar story or other. The fact that the books are A3 size even when shut meant we could all see the illustrations!
Must fish out some Little Grey Rabbit for my daughter (she has the others). Those books got me out of a tight plant identifying spot decades later when doing my Mountain Leader assessment. Turns out hare bells are real!

I only remember Struwwelpeter. and something about Round the Ragged Rock the Ragged Rascal Ran.

and If this Book should ever roam, smack its bum and send it home, was written on my mum's books when she was a child

The Enormous Turnip! My Grandad would always liken my nan to the old woman with the large bottom - it was our whispered private joke :)

Mr Gumpy's outing is one I remember reading lots with my grandad!

all of my family on that side are avid readers and I am so glad they took time to read with me
The Owl and the Pussy Cat was a huge part of my childhood, also ladybird's traditional tales, and Peter Rabbit and co.
What they did do, though was encourage us to read from newspapers out loud; helped me realise words were everywhere

This is my favourite childhood book!!!

My 3 grandparents had unfortunately passed away before I was born, and the one granny I did have was blind. So no grandparents reading to me unfortunately.

I do however still have a very old Owl and Pussycat book from when I was a child. It's called The Owl and the Pussy-Cat and other Nonsense. It also includes The Two Old Bachelors. I can recite the Owl and Pussy-Cat off by heart as my Mother and I read it over and over as a child, and I get great enjoyment reading this to my children.

I didn't know it was grandparents' day today, so I better get on the phone to my Mum.

Thank you for the reminder.

From reading everyone else's comments I can see that the girl with matches book must have been Struwwelpeter. Amazed so many people remember that book, it must be good if it made a lasting impression on so many people so I am ordering a copy for DD.

It's old enough to be available online with Project Gutenberg - Struwwelpeter.

Matilda (who told lies and was burned to death) by Hilaire Belloc is a similar tale.

Strewwelpeter is horrific though - read it properly yourself before you read it to your kids, unless you want to lose a lot of sleep to soothing nightmares (or have unimaginative or hard as nails children!).

I used to go to the library with Mum when I was 2 or 3 & take out a book called Kermit the Hermit, about a greedy crab. I knew it off by heart.

I used to like Poppa (Dad's father) to read it to me when he was visiting. Once Dad was taking photos & passed us the book to pose for a picture - it was upside-down & remained upside-down on the photo

Good old fashioned fairytales like Little Red Riding Hood, The Elves & the Shoemaker, and The Enormous Turnip.

I also loved Where's Spot, Mr Men and Enid Blyton books.

Me and my sisters used to read a lot with our grandparents. At their house we only had a few books, one called "The Apple Party" and one called "Draw draw with your crayon". I can't find them online now, they must be quite old!

We loved that we had a few special books that we could only read when we were visiting grandma and grandpa. :)

My granny shared a book of Persian poetry with me at bedtimes. She read it in Farsi, then translated it to me in puktho.
I loved it.

I have not RTFT but there seems to be a few posts already by people whose grandparents who did not read to them. Same here. We did baking, knitting and other practical skill based activities, and this was our special quality time.

Lets acknowledge that children's literature underwent a revolution in the 1960's. there were more picture books, books for all ages, and just a lot more variety and quantity of books produced.

Therefore grandparents who parented before this time were not always familiar with the richness of this resource as a bonding activity with children.

Grandparents who had this rich resource to use with their children are also enjoying it (perhaps more so) with their grandchildren.

But there's nothing wrong with those grandparents who didn't read to us; some of them belonged to a different generation.

My grandparents didn't read to me either Benzalkonium - the last of them died 4 years ago aged 99! My kids' grandparents (the ones they see regularly) don't read to them either, even though I have asked them to for language reasons, but they get read to every day at home, and their grandparents take them mushrooming in the forest, and have taught them to tell edible from poisonous mushrooms to the point where I'd almost rely on my 9 year old's opinion now... almost...) which is something special I would have no idea how to go about!

The Magic Far Away Tree and What Katy Did were what my darling Granma helped me learn to read forty years ago. Happy memories.

My maternal grandparents lived a long way away so only saw them occasionally -they were very religious and read me Bible stories. We lived with my paternal grandmother and she mainly told me stories about her childhood but I do remember her reading me Strewwelpeter, Little Black Sambo (this was in the days when it was considered acceptable!) and Little Grey Rabbit.

My grandmother wasn't much of a reader but she had collections of Fred Bassett & The Gambols cartoons in the dining room. She was an avid reader of Woman & Woman's Own & I used to sit on the sofa reading them as a small child.

All the Winnie the Pooh stories and Babar stories. Not much else but the repetition was very satisfying.

I only had one living gran and she wasn't the least bit grandmotherly and definitely didn't read to me. I'm not entirely sure whether she could read all that well, tbh.