Share your FAVOURITE CHILDREN'S BOOK for a chance to win £100 to spend at Wordery

[UrsulaMumsnet]

The books you love as a child stay with you forever, they live inside your imagination and shape the way you see the world. There's nothing quite like sharing these stories with a new generation. Watching as their imaginations are captured by the very same tales of giants, magical lands and adventures that once enthralled us.

That's why this year we want to put together the ultimate children's reading list; the comprehensive guide to stories you think no child should grow up without. We'd like you to share your favourites, old or new, and tell us all the reasons why you think they deserve a place on this list.

We'll take the recommendations from this thread and scour the boards for more, to create the ultimate list of children's books. Then we'll put it to vote in attempt to find the best children's book ever written. Because well, who doesn't love a poll?

So, tell us why you think the books you love should make the list, and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win £100 to spend at online book retailer Wordery

I have always loved the very hungry caterpillar, the tiger who came to tea, paddington and the ant & bee books.
It has been wonderful to share them with my own DC.
New favourites include the snail and the whale, monkey puzzle, Whiffy Wilson and how to hide a lion.

I love Peepo - the illustrations are so beautiful and the story so lovely. Ours is in bits but I might get some extra copiesAlso we have The Dark by Lemony Snickett, it is such a beautiful poetic tory, I think I'll buy two spare copies to keep for the children when they grow up

My favourite book as a child was Milly Molly Mandy. I so longed to live in that "nice white cottage with the thatched roof " instead of a little terraced house in Longsight with an outside loo! Would have loved friends like Billy Blunt and Little-Friend-Susan too. Not too sure about the striped dress though........

Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree books. I loved them as a little girl and now my DD is enjoying them just as much.

The Worst Witch, I read the book so many times! I live the fact that my niece has now read the book as well!

As a child, I loved The Secret Garden (lurrvved the idea of a secret garden and the evolution of Mary's character), Huckleberry Finn (cracking adventure) Heidi (the setting - such an amazing comfort read - the descriptions of warm milk and bread(!) used to made me drool), The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (incredible story telling).

As an adult I still love children's books - my favourite books for children: all of the Harry Potters, Holes by Louis Sachar, and any Anne Fine or Penelope Lively books.

How do you narrow it down to one? I loved Charlottes Web - just a beautifully told story. Same goes for Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. Both books can still make me cry. Also loved the Heidi books and all the Little House on the Prairie series.

Winnie the Pooh is an absolute classic and never dates. My DDs loved the Alfie and Annie Rose series by Shirley Hughes - beautifully illustrated and gorgeous stories of childhood.

Big favourites with my two (aged 2 and 4) are The Gruffalo (2 year old obsessed with it at the moment), Monkey Puzzle, Oliver Jeffers books, We're going on a bear hunt. As a child I remember being obsessed with Enid Bluton mystery books (Five Find-Outers and Dog) to the extent that I searched our home until I found where my mum had hidden two of the mystery books bought for me to read on holiday Also loved lots of others already mentioned: anything by Noel Streatfield, Anne of Green Gables series, Chalet School, Malory Towers (also had notions of being a boarder ). Have a lovely memory of being read aloud the first of the Little House books by a friend's mum during sleepovers.

The book I read over and over again as a child was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It sparked my imagination like no other beginning in a far off land and the magical revealing of a hidden garden. Mary Lennox fascinated me with her sad story that finished in quite a miraculous way. I know my daughter was equally enthralled when I found a copy for her to read too many years later.

I loved all the Faraway Tree and Wishing Chair books and then went on to the St Clares series. I also loved the story of the Willow Pattern and still have the book my mum bought me as a child.

It was Enid Blyton's Famous Five for me. I read and re read them again and again.

For younger children, lots of the ones already mentioned (especially "we're going on a bear hunt"), plus "Monkey and Me", "There's no such thing as a Dragon" and "Pigs Might Fly" (Jonathan Emmett)

As they have got older, both DC have loved the HTTYD series and I have loved reading it to/with them. Enid Blyton was never part of my childhood and hasn't been part of theirs, but 9yo DD is very into "books that you liked when you were little" and has enjoyed lots of Noel Streatfield books as well as Milly Molly Mandy and My Naughty Little Sister.

There are so many others on this thread that make me go "ooh. That too..."

..but especially The Night Pirates. I love that book, and so did both DS and DD.

Burglar Bill
Any of the Monster and Frog books

First one because it's such a unique story and doing the voices when you read is a pleasure. 'That's a nice ... I'll have that' has become a catchphrase in our house whenever we see something nice, even for the 17 year old. It's a happy ending, cute, funny - everything you need.

Monster and frog are brilliant characters, poor long suffering Monster and the irritating Frog. They make us laugh reading them and remind us of real people.

I don't know what my 4 y/o DD's favourite is. I shall have to ask her! I suspect it might be 'My Big Shouting Day'. We both like 'Rosie Revere, Engineer'.

I was a big reader when I was a child and it's hard to pick favourites. I think the love really took off when I discovered the fantasy genre. Right now I am in the middle of reading The Dark Is Rising sequence which I wish I had read when I was young.

I really love books, I was a keen reader as a child, so much so that I out read our local library and they had to start ordering books in for me!

I love reading with my children and one of the books my 3 year old really
enjoys at the moment is The Jolly Postman, he loves the rhyming story and the post to open! He loved to talk about what the postman is getting up to everyday, we got him the Jolly Christmas Postman for Christmas and he was overjoyed to continue reading and sharing the story whilst still being able to interact with the book and open the post.

'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. It's beautifully written and illustrated.

Also Dr Seuss' "Oh The Places You'll Go". The rhythm and pace are brilliant and the message of it is really affirming.

My mum used to read Peace At Last to us nearly every night and it has a big place in my heart next to Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman.

As an older child Carrie's War moved me quite a lot. Hearing about the war evacuees and then a mystery unfolding. Lovely book.

Emil and the Detectives - by Erich Kaestner. beautifully written in clear prose (even in translation). It is a story about a child gang who act autonomously and on the side of right in a almost still recognisable Berlin.

Oh yes ^^, Emil is wonderful.
Came back on to mention Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf by Catherine Storr. So well-written and such a strong and cool-headed heroine.

Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse by Ursula Moray Williams is another classic that I read over and over again.

We love Mr Betts & Mr Potts by Rod Hull. It's written in rhyme and DD loved joining in (she's 6yo now and still loves me reading it, in fact we know a fair bit by heart now!). Just a really lovely story with some smart rhymes.

I can't wait to read it to DS (only 5mo).

As a child I loved the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. It was one of the first independent reading I did and I was just drawn into the worlds at the top of the tree.

As a child I loved Enid Blyton - particularly Malory Towers and the twins at St Clare's. Also really loved the animals of farthing wood. My DC are both still quite young so we're still on Julia Donaldson type books, love Stick Man and Monkey Puzzle. I have just started introducing them to my naughty little sister. I love the conversations the books can provoke as quite a lot of the ideas in the book (eg a small child travelling alone on a train) are really quite alien nowadays.

My favourite as a child was The Famous Five series. I loved the sense of freedom and adventure. I can't wait to start reading them with my DC.

As a teacher of 8 to 9 year old children who love to be read to I recommend Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach.
I discovered a fairly new author lately and the children love these books too. Tillie and the Golden Phanton, Tillie and the Voodo Kid and Tillie and the Weird Christmas Tree by Heather B Moon.