Reading Aloud - Old favourites or Brightest New Literature?

[YesILikeItToo]

Now that I am starting to read longer books to dd, I've noticed that I'm choosing my childhood favourites. What's your experience of choosing and reading new or unfamiliar quality books with your children? How would you compare it to reading books that you know? I'm using quality here to mean books you might hope that you'll both get something from. There's also a place for novelisations of Star Wars and such, but that's not the stuff I'm thinking about.

I've found some lovely new ones such as Some Dogs Do. Also, I never read any of the Mog the cat books as a child.

I also didn't read My Naughty Little Sister...so I loved that when I found it. I like reading my old fave Enid Blytons too.

That does loo great, I've just reserved that from the library, Violet! But with picture books, there's less of a risk I suppose, if it's rubbish then you've only spent ten minutes on it. So I've read loads of new picture books to dd. Now, I'm starting to invest a number of hours in reading something, and I haven't come out of my comfort zone. In fact, there was a new book ("The Letter for the King" by Tonke Dragt) that looked so good I bought it. But I read it by myself, not aloud.

I volunteer in a primary school library, Yes!, and won a copy of Letter For The King on MN. Have recommended it to lots of the pupils, and they all bring it back unread!!

I like the Humphrey the Hamster books by Betty Birney, which are perhaps more modern than the traditional classics.

Also like Iggy & Me by Jenny Valentine which is the modern day equivalent of My Naughty Little Sister.

I'd go for a mixture. By reading some old favourites you will enhance her vocabulary - new books tend to be from a narrow vocabulary by comparison. I'll make an exception for Morpurgo's Mudpuddle Farm for younger children.