Classic books

[HolyDrinker]

I know this has probably been done to death buuuut....

My house is full to the brim with plastic tat, so this year I'd like to get my kids some classic books/collections.

DS is 3 and likes reading most things (although is vehicle mad). He won't really understand the concept of buying things for the future so any book will need to be age appropriate.

DD is 1 so won't know what she's opening, think this gives me more scope to get her some real investment pieces. I'm thinking the Brambly Hedge set, Beatrix Potter, maybe some Enid Blyton.

Any other ideas?

It's awkward unless you are actually going to put the books away- at their age, children tend to be pretty hard on books physically.

There are lots of recommendations I could make for classic books (stuff like Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies etc), but for books which have stood the test of time that your children could actually experience with you now, I'd suggest things like Shirley Hughes' Dogger; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Dear Zoo; Guess How Much I Love You etc.

Excuse my terrible formatting, sorry!

Full set of Tintin volumes?

For 3yos, the Julia Donaldson books are all beautifully illustrated- Tiddler and The Troll are my favourites. You can get many of them in board book versions, which is great for small people that are tough on their books.

Anything by Allan Ahlberg, but Peepo and Each peach Pear Plum in particular- again they come in board book versions.

Thanks. Yes, I agree books tend to get a bit trashed at this age!

I'd like to get some for DD that I could put away/display on a bookcase until she's old enough to enjoy them. She won't have a clue what's going on so I'll be able to get away with it this year and I'd rather invest in those than spunk money on yet another, nerve shredding, singing vtech toy! Will have a look at Water Babies thanks, I seem to remember having that as a child. I also want to find a good poetry compendium as I had one and adored it.

I don't think I'll be able to get away with it with DS, he'll want to use/play with his gifts as soon as he opens them. Was thinking maybe a Dr Seuss collection for him...

Dr Seuss are great, yes.

Yes, thumbs up for Dr Seuss!

On those big sets, I'm not so sure - there are loads of them, and they take up a lot of space. This is probably a bit heretical, but whispers I think there may be better books out there.

IMO, the language in the Beatrix Potter books can be a bit dated and hard for DC to follow. So we have enjoyed one or two with DS, but not the full box set.

I bought my favourite Enid Blyton book (Wishing Chair) and started reading it myself. I really didn't like the language at all - the way she describes the goblin is very much in the if you look bad, you must be bad model, which isn't what we want to teach DS. But he has ASD and is very literal.

I think Debi Gliori is lovely - No Matter What and the Mr Bear books.

And we enjoyed the Jill Tomlinson animal stories.

My DD has Beatrix Potter, Alice in Wonderland, original Thomas, Mr Men and Little Miss box sets.

They're all wonderful and we they're kept in her bedroom away from her (dozens) of everyday stories and books. She loves them and treats them very carefully. We pick one of them to read every night as bedtime story. I would recommend any of them.

She's 2.4 so they can be gentle with books! Though it's been drummed in from a very young age that we look after books.

My 4yo loves her Beatrix Potter box collection. We bought this for the nursery before she was born and started to have them read to her when she was about 18months - 2y.

The language is old fashioned, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be exposed to it. She now knows most of them almost by memory and can read them to herself.

And my 2yo DS loves his Thomas & Friends collection. These aren't quite as 'special' as the Beatrix Potter ones so we've started to collect the original hardback books too.

I think having special books for young children is a lovely habit to get in to. You just keep them on a high shelf and save them for bedtime.

BTW. The Book People do both Thomas and Beatrix Potter collections really cheap - when they've got them in.

We have a hardback of the Beatrix Potter tales, which DD loved being read for years. She's now 8.5.

I treated myself to a hardback Narnia compilation a few years back (I had the full set in soft covers and different versions so not matching - but DSis had ruined a couple and DBro lost one, so I had never taken them from home). DD is starting to read that now.

The Richard Scarry books are great. We had a few over the years at home, which DF had brought back from his travels to the US and UK, including a big hard back one which my DBro had (and when the leaves came apart after a couple of years hard use, all 6 of us used to slide down the stairs on different pages!!). But they were still very readable. DD has a softback compilation of 3 and loves it.

Dr Suess are also great, have different levels as the DCs develop and some are hard backed/hard board pages for younger readers.

The Book People also do Mr Men and Little Miss collections cheap(ish) at times. We got a box set of Roald Dahl books from the Book People when DD was about 2-3. We read lots of those aloud for years at bedtime (we're currently down to 2 nights reading per week (from all 7 up to last year) and on 5th Harry Potter book, she has loved chapter books for years) - and she has just started "The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me" in reading group in school! Lots of RD have been re-read umpteen times (and were well loved favourites of DH and I also).

Santa is bringing DD a box set of 3 HB Harry Potter companion books this year (rules of quidditch, a Hogwarts textbook and a book by Dumbledore??).

DD loved the Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton (even dressed up as Elizabeth Allen for World Book Day in school in Senior infants - to the hilarity of the teachers given DD's propensity to be quite like EA in chaos-causing but generally well meaning as a result of aspergers/ADHD which had just recently been diagnosed at the time). She also likes the Secret 7, and Famous Five, and wants to start both Malory Towers and St Clare's series, but had no time for the Magic Faraway Tree, Noddy, or Mrs Tiggywinkles and other EB's aimed at very young children.

Also if you are thinking of Christmas books, there are plenty of lovely ones that would last for years. I know we have a collection of Mr Men seasonal ones, one with a bell (about a cat chasing mice), Tiger in the Snow, "24 Petits souris" (the daily adventures all through December of 24 child mice, their parents and grandparents preparing for Christmas - it's in French), the Polar Express, and a couple of Usbourne stories and others, filling 1 magazine rack that comes out in December. I keep "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with the Christmas decorations, as I don't read that until Christmas Eve every year (the others are all through December) - all those get put away in mid January.