book recommendation for four-year-old (and one-year-old in same room). realistically i'm looking to bore the pants off the wee one here... oh, and no illustrations.

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

the whole point is that dd1 is in bed with her eyes closed using her 'magination. (although the poor girl exclaimed tonight 'but mama it is quite BROKE' while begging to see the quentin blakes in esio trot.
can anyone help? naughty little sister, does that have illos?

I used to read my DD 'The Little House in the Big Woods' at that sort of age. It's the first of the Little House on the Prairie books, and Laura is about 4 years old in the book so it was the right sort of level.

There's maybe one picture in each chapter, which tell stories from the different seasons of the year - so although they all fit together you don't need to remember what happened in the chapter before to make sense of the current one (in fact DD used to hop around all over the shop and ask me to read her the 'best' chapter again and again.

the old winnie the pooh books don't have many illustrations and are very soothing for bedtimes

oh good idea re the little house on prairie.
colditz, yyy on the pooh front EXCEPT that they're so fookin' boring i was starting to nod off myself. i found them unbelievably hard to read, for some reason, i was always stumbling over the... er, thingybob. (whatever that thing is in english, you know, the flow of words... the pedants will know).

i wondered if it came from my not being plummy enough?

I'd also suggest getting some audio books and a cheap CD player. DD listens to hers on her own after we've read her main story to her.
We've got the complete Roald Dahl collection, Kipling's Just So Stories, some Enid Blyton, some Julia Donaldson etc. etc.

Best bit - no pictures and she can drift off when she's ready.

Libraries often stock children's audio books.

another good thought there, you are on FIRE tonight/ weirdly have just looked for that book you mentioned on amazon but it's saying something about pre-ordering. must be a new edition.

Ooh yes, very exciting, I'm glad they keep publishing these books I loved them and feel the need to be a bit evangelical (blush).

Still, you'll only have to wait until 2nd Nov .

Ssh - don't tell anyone, but I had a bit of a crush on Pa in the TV series .

who, michael landon? we were all madly in love with him, weren't we? he's still my dream man.

imo the Winnie the Pooh stories are beautifully done- but really only work for much older children; I'd say age 9-adolescence is perfect, for enjoying the subtle humour and the nostalgia trip

for young children, something like The Owl Who Was Afraid Of the Dark is good.

How about Olga Da Polga or Teddy Robinson ? They are lovely stories that aren't too long

am putting all of these on amazon wish list, thank you both.

The Paddington Bear books?

cheers, are they not illustrated?

Only a few line drawings, like Winnie The Pooh. Lovely stories.

brill, i certainly loved the wee shows.

Wombles? Although DD1 keeps telling me that she is too young for them yet.

But she does like Teddy Robnson.

right, thanks, she does love the wombles (although not in their newer incarnation). these are great, thanks. dd has, much to my surprise, demanded that i read the witches and my throat is sore from doing the grand high witch accent (and i'm surprised dd's not getting nightmares) so it'll be good to have something a little more benign.

Stumbled across Mrs Pepperpot in our local charity shop and bought it. Not tried it out yet but might work for the magination?

oh my GOD i loved mrs pepperpot when i was a wee girl. great idea.

oh my GOD i loved mrs pepperpot when i was a wee girl. great idea.

Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf (with traditional cover illustration or more newfangled)?

BRILLIANT. these are all great, thanks, and your link came up with gobbolino the witch's cat and the owl who was afraid of the dark as well. from memory they're not illustrated either. thanks so much for all these suggestions, we need something more benign than dahl at the moment, i think. although i am loving seeing dd getting excited about the next chapter etc, it's great. we read dd2's stories and then 'Witches, mum, The Witches!"