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

The book I read over and over when I was little was 'The owl who was afraid of the dark'. I too was afraid and my mum bought me the book to help. Dear fluffy Plop, with his knobbly knees and incessant curiosity (and appetite!) my favourite chapter was the one with the fireworks and him telling his mum he was a Catherine wheel. I still have my copy.

One of my old favourites which is now a favourite of my DS is Funnybones. He has my old battered copy and even now at 7 still reads it now and then. He actually dressed up as a skeleton from the book for world book day which was a massive thing as he never takes part in fancy dress anything.

I also love The Velveteen Rabbit, and from my own childhood, the Brer Rabbit stories - best Enid Blyton books by far in my opinion...
My kids' all-time favourite was a book their Grandma brought back from Oz about a sausage that went for a walk to avoid being eaten for breakfast, whereupon everything else on the plate followed. I also read that book repeatedly to my Reception class many years ago; they loved it too so I left the book there and have been searching for another copy ever since - not easy since I can't remember the exact title and don't know the name of the author!

Ballet Shoes. Rereading it to DD reminded me how much I love it and how well I know it. The characters are flawed but loveable, none more so than Winifred whose outburst at the unfairness of life feels very real. The detail of the dresses, using the necklaces for security on a loan and going to County Hall to get their performing licences all felt like a window into another world.

I loved a lot of classics that I know have already been mentioned such as Meg and Mog and Funnybones.

I also really enjoyed a book called The Nickle Nackle Tree by Lynley Dodd when I was younger. I can really remember the excitement at looking at all the strange creatures in the lovely illustrations. Lots of alliteration was used in the writing with many made up words that were fantastic to sound out as a child.

I've not read the whole thread so don't know if anyone has already mentioned it. I just did an online search as it was one I used to constantly get out of the library but would like to own a copy as I now have a young daughter...it looks as if it's out of print and on sale for prices into the hundreds of pounds!

Anyway, in summary, I think The Nickle Nackle Tree deserves a place on the list because of its originality and ability to capture my imagination countless times as a child.

R.L Stines Goosebumps series are memorable from my childhood. I think they influenced me to steer away from other traditional children's books and into the path of writers like Stephen King

The Velveteen Rabbit - such a magic book - so sad and moving - I was convinced my bear was going to become real - even now at the age of 50 I think there is still hope for him. I loved that when my mum read it to me she would talk about her time in a TB hospital as a child and share her stories with me.

My children's favourite book was Not Now Bernard (or Nernad as me eldest called it - she's walk up to me shouting 'Nernad Nernad' and waving it aloft! I think the lazy parents resonated with them

My favourite book from childhood was Charlotte's Web. I still love it now and can't wait to read it to my little girl when she's a bit older!

Monica Edwards "Black Hunting Whip" was captivated and it's still my favourite book 30+ years later.

and the rest of the series plus the "Tamsin" ones are good to.

and I now live about 2 miles from the real farm it was based on

The Phoenix and the Carpet was one of my favourites when I was younger.

I also loved, and have recently bought again for myself, The Thirteen Days of Christmas by Jenny Overton.

The Captain Ketchup books by Simon Stern. We lived next door to his mother in law in the 1970s so we knew him and his family well.

My parents were at Manchester Poly during the late 1960s and they were (and still are) friends with Viv Allbright. She did a book called 'ladybird on a bicycle' - apparently I influenced this book - the ladybird wore red wellies just like the ones I had!

I loved reading the Silver Brumby books by Elyne Mitchell, it always made me curious about Australia and the strange place names.

I read Under Plum Lake in one go, reading under the bed covers until 9pm! That was past my bedtime then

Dick King Smith, especially The Fox Busters - I liked that the girls were the heroes.

My favourite childhood book is 'A Traveller in Time' by Alison Uttley. Not only is it a fabulous, atmospheric and exciting story, but I would go so far as to say that reading it changed the whole course of my life. My current job (which I love and derive enormous satisfaction from) I owe to this book. I work in the heritage sector and get to go to all sorts of fabulous historic sites and properties. I wanted to do this role because I firmly believe, because of this book, that one day, I will round a corner whilst on a site visit and find myself back in Elizabethan England. It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive......!

"A Traveller in Time" by Allison Uttley - this book fulfilled all my dreams and wishes as a young teenager. I will never forget how I felt as I read it :)

Wow! I can't believe the last post before me was also "A Traveller in Time"! I'd only seen the first page before posting! Great taste, heritage warrior!

And you CE0D!

I've just looked through the whole thread and no-one else has mentioned it - and then its in two consecutive posts! So funny!
I also loved "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper - it was just so different from anything I'd read before and the Anne of Green Gables series, and the Chalet School series and the Famous Five and Secret Seven and Mallory Towers and Noel Streatfield. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on! As a younger child I loved the Medici books - I don't know if anyone will remember them? The Molly Brett Picture Book and the Margaret Tempest Picture Book and The Runaway Fairy and all this really fantastical and magical stuff! Lots with little animals in clothes too! Little Grey Rabbit of course!

Oh and the Canongate Kelpies! Kathleen Fidler and Mollie Hunter. I loved Kate Crackernuts because I was a Kate too! All historical fiction - I just thrived on it as a child!

My favourite book as a child was Mervin mouse. I learned all the verses before I could read.
Years later I was reminiscing with my dm about how good it was and she managed to find a copy for me to read to my children.

Their favourite book is
Dd - the night before Christmas
Ds - stick man (which I think is very sad!)

Loving this thread. Loads of books I loved have been mentioned, and I now want to read A Traveller in Time!

I love reading old faves to my DD. We still have all our old Topsy and Tims, and we get her to sleep on When We Were Very Young poems. They transport me back to being four or five every time.

I am currently reading to her the Teddy Robinson and Mary Mary books by Joan G Roberts. They make my DD howl with laughter and I chuckle along, almost knowing every next paragraph. Like me she just wants to read and re-read them.

We are also reading Ramona and Aurora. I love how ahead of its time Aurora is, Daddy staying at home etc, and it has a dry humour which makes me chuckle a lot. Plus it is set in sixties Norway so pure escapism. I can vividly remember reading Ramona. I love passing on books which defined me.

When DD is older I will introduce her to Charlotte Sometimes and The Children of Green Knowe, both of which used to send shivers down my spine, as did The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy when I was older. The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden and A Little Love Song I thought the most fantastic love stories. Also loved The Outsiders when I was about 14. although can only read it in a welsh accent thanks to my English teacher

Love discovering new children's books -and reading them myself!

With DS1, my favourite book has been Dr Seuss 'Green Eggs and Ham', with DS2, its 'Stick Man' by Julia Donaldson and with DD, probably Peepo.

As a child, I loved Milly Molly Mandy, anything Enid Blyton, Ian Serralier's 'The Silver Sword', Roald Dahl, The Borrowers and the little house on the prairie series.

To Catch A Star by Oliver Jeffers

One of our favourite books is 5 minutes peace. As much as I would love 5 minutes it's become a game where I pretend to moan but then we all pile in for hugs :)

The BFG was my fav and i read it over and over

The magic faraway tree books by Enid blyton - am now reading them with my kids.

the mr men series