What are your must have children's books?

[shitebag]

My 2 year old absolutely loves her books and we have lots from when my 9 year old was younger but think we could maybe be doing with a few different ones to add to the collection for her.

Favourite books at the moment are:
The Naughty Bus
Chicka Chicka boom boom
Elmer & friends

There are some 'classics' I think every child needs on their bookshelf (Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You, Dear Zoo, Hungry Caterpillar, Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, etc), but the ones that DD has been really into recently are: Thomas the Tank Engine books (going through a big Thomas phase at the moment), Emily Brown and Winnie the Witch, but she goes through massive phases of just wanting to read the same book/ characters for weeks on end and then switching to something else.

We are in a big topsy and Tim and jolly postman phase!

Also just had a Percy the park keeper phase.

Rediscovered the elephant and the bad baby the other day.

We currently love if I read them one more time I'm going to cry the "Dinosaur that pooped a ....." series.

they have been on roataion for 3 weeks now, ok I liked them at first but now I could quite happily have them dissapear for a while. However they are great for funny voices and making the story exciting, plus toilet humour which backfires a bit when 3 yr old DD shouts "POOO" at the top of her lungs.

The Chris Haughton picture books are an absolute must.

Zog by Julia Donaldson is lovely. My two love it (now 3 and 7). And it fits in nicely as an attempt to stem the tide of princessy stuff.

There was another one by Julia Donaldson that was a massive hit when DD2 was just turned 3. We got it out of the library and I can't remember the name of it. Back in a second, will see if Google can help.

Dr Seuss. Amazing. And anything by Peter Bentley.

Ah, got it.

"Jack and the Flum Flum tree"

Caused great hilarity and shouting of "blow yer nose" at the end. Not ideal for bedtime reading, but really appealed to her.

Oliver Jeffers books - Lost & Found, How to Catch a Star.
Albie books - how to grow a dinosaur, how to win a monster race (there are others - think they're written by Caryl Hart)
Other Julia Donaldson books we love are 'Tiddler' and 'the snail and the whale'

Each peach pear plum - even my 16 year old is still word perfect
Rod Campbell Oh dear, farm book
All Julia Donaldson but esp room on the broom and squash and a squeeze
Robert Munsch - lots!
Enid Blyton Far Away Tree books -from 2!
SleepingDragons all around
Oh I could list lots .....

Watching with interest.

Love your username OP btw!

The tiger that came to tea- Judith Kerr.
What the ladybird heard- Julia Donaldson. Especially good for 1-3 year olds with all the farm noises.
Dear Zoo.
The Spot Books.
I like Peepo but I'm not sure my kids like it as much as me
Owl babies and Father Duck by Martin Waddell.
The busy bear books- not much text but they're indestructible!
Aliens love Underpants.
The hungry caterpillar and Brown Bear.
The Maisie books.

On second DC now and these books are the ones I've had to read to both children the point of nausea!

Everything Shirley Hughes has ever written.
You Choose by Nick Sharatt
The Jolly Postman
Blueberry Girl
Zog

Oh gosh, yes to Robert Munsch! We have two (Paperbag Princess and The Mud Puddle) as audio books. Utter silence in the car when we put them on (until the giggling starts).

Reminds me, I must get a few more!

Splash Joshua Splash
Dogger
Tiger who came to tea
Giant Jam Sandwich
All Dr Seuss
Edward Lear's the Jumblies

And yes Jack and the Flum Flum tree is the only Julia Donaldson I really like

At that age:
Shark in the Park
One ted falls out of bed
Green eggs and Ham
Little Princess books
The Last Train

Older ones:
Mystery at Witchend
The White Riders
Swallows and Amazons
Cue for Treason
They Players boy/The player and the Rebel
Little House books
The House of the Paladin
Famous Five
Ballet Shoes
The Box of Delights

I'm trying to only list ones that I haven't seen yet, if I didn't the list would be endless:

All the Hairy Maclary books
The worst princess (my 3 year old LOVES Princess Sue)
Where's my darling daughter (we give this one to friends who have girls)
Aliens love underpants
Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs
The very busy spider

Would agree with The Elephant And The Bad Baby ("He never once said please! - shock horror!!) also The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Owl Babies.
The Church Mice series by Graham Oakley are wonderful, gently humorous text and illustrations full of amusing detail.
Older ones - Pippi Longstocking, Malorie Blackman's Betsey Biggalow series, Annie Dalton's The Afterdark Princess, virtually anything by Diana Wynne Jones, to put some magic in their reading!

Oh, how could I forget the My Naughty Little Sister books!! by Dorothy Edwards. And Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.