'Investment' book - vouchers

[yellowgecko]

Hi readers

DD3 has a £25 book voucher. I want to buy or at least put it towards a more grown up book / start of a series, something she will read / cherish later in life rather than another kid book that will last 5 minutes.

She was given the Complete Works of Shakespeare as a christening present and she's got a keepsake Bible. I'm not keen on Beatrix Potter or Mr Men...any thoughts?

DS is getting the large format illustrated Harry Potter books every birthday as an example.

My DD got one of these each birthday from a family member. They are incredible. www.robertsabuda.com

The complete set of Winnie the Pooh books is £30.99 at Amazon at the moment. As literature they’re wonderfully accessible for small children but contain so much gentle philosophy that she’d still be reading them as a student.

Winnie-the-Pooh: The Complete Collection
https://amzn.eu/d/gkkc8VH

The Folio Society do some beautiful books and have some great children's books, like Diana Wynne Jones or Michael Ende.

Hard back editions of the Winnie the Pooh books would be a must in our home. My DS treasures his Shirley Hughes Alfie and Annie Rose stories and his Mog books. We have a beautifully illustrated version of The Hobbit and the Narnia books.

They were about to be my next suggestion, @Honnomushi! Although most will require a bigger additional contribution from the OP. ‘A Christmas Carol’ might have been nice - but it’s sold out. And perhaps less accessible - though great for reading aloud to a child.

An atlas

I’d assume any house with children already has one, @CheersToAMerryChristmas! Good idea if not.

I'm sceptical of the value of "investment books" personally because so few of them have really worked with my DC.
But Winnie the Pooh (including the poems) is a good shout, because you'll be able to start reading the poems to a 3 year old immediately and the stories very soon.

I also got a lovely set of Beatrix Potter books from a book club and they did work well for bedtime stories, but only for quite a short period of time.

If you want books that they'll be reading themselves then a set of Horrible Histories could be a good investment.

However, now I think about it, Horrible Histories won't be the best use of a book token because there are so many good bundle deals on Amazon etc that you'd be paying over the odds to buy them one at a time in a book shop.

But the thing is, you don’t know which books are a good investment for any child until they’ve read them. It’s not an argument for not buying books, obviously, nor for only buying throwaway easy reading. (Not suggesting Horrible Histories is in that category.)

(I’m reminded of the occasional parent on MN who’s reluctant to let their child start ballet, or learning an instrument, ‘because they might not stick to it’.)

Another suggestion would be a book of poetry from poets across the world - not just England or Europe. Can’t think of a title at the moment but they’re in the shops.

Very true. That's the case for picking classics that you'll be reading to them immediately like Milne/B Potter.

What about a decent poetry treasury? We adore 'A Whale of a Time' which was released this year. The premise is a poem a day but really you can dip in and out however you please. Be warned though, it's very heavy!

Alternatively, the Roald Dahl colour illustrated books make for lovely keepsakes. Larger than the original paperbacks with glossy pages and coloured illustrations. We have a few of these and would highly recommend.

In all honesty the best investment would be to let your child have the sheer excitement of being able to let loose in the shop and buy what they want.

"Investment" books, no matter how hard you might try to avoid it, are led by you and your thoughts on what she should read when she's older. It might work, she might value the lovely edition. Or it might well just get left on the shelf gathering dust because it has been in her room for ever and it isn't exciting.

I kept a lot of my childhood books for my dc and while some have been read, others that I adored have never been touched.

If you really want to then you can get beautifully illustrated versions of things like Heidi or The Secret Garden which she may enjoy having you read to her.

In all honesty the best investment would be to let your child have the sheer excitement of being able to let loose in the shop and buy what they want.

It’s only £25. The OP sounds like someone whose child will have lots of opportunities to run wild in bookshops - but it’s likely that whatever she chooses at 3 (?) won’t hold her interest for much more than a year. There’s no harm in adding some potentially longer lasting choices.

Thanks so much for all these suggestions!!
@BoleynMemories13 I hadn't really thought of poetry, there were a few suggestions for that and that would be a good shout.

The Robert Sabuda books looks amazing @punypower - I'd have to wait til she's 19 to avoid her ruining them!! 😂

I like the idea of the atlas, but I've still got my childhood ones and lots of out-of-date encyclopaedias that never get looked at. I will check out the Folio Society @Honnomushi

We've got some of the larger illustrated Roald Dahl books for DS, he loves them.

Thinking about it I have got some paper back classic Pooh books that sit on our bookshelves rather than the kids...I should move them to somewhere more accessible!

@YoullCatchYourDeathInTheFog I get what you're saying, but my house is overrun with picture books / Julia Donaldson type books and I don't want any more!! I'd rather use the £25 for something she'll read (and I hope treasure, but maybe that's not so important) later in life.

Really appreciate everyone's input, thank you for widening my horizons!!

Just wanted to update with what I actually went for - looking forward to reading it with DD! Thanks so much for the suggestions

Hope you’re both enjoying your reading, @yellowgecko!