Book recommendations please!

[marialuisa]

Can anyone recommend any short children's books with "chapters" (thinking of something along the lines of Fantastic Mr Fox) suitable for a 3 year old (i.e. nothing scary)? My taste in books as a child was a little on the weird side so I need guidance.

Thanks

Teddy Robinson? Author is Joan G Robinson. 1950s classics, but still available on Amazon and recomended for 3 yr olds. I remember loving them. Will think a bit more

You can't go wrong with Winnie the Pooh.

You can't go wrong with Winnie the Pooh.

Definitely Teddy Robinson. Also My Naughty Little Sister and Milly-Molly-Mandy. None of these have chapters that lead on from one another though, just on a "theme", so maybe not what you want. All much loved by my dd from the age of 2-3 though!

Hi ML - this is a tricky age, and I know exactly what you mean ... but my brain's turned to mush tonight I can't think back to 3 yrs ... Will think on it and get back to you.

The only thing that's springing to mind at the moment are the Enid Blyton Magic Faraway Tree and Wishing Chair stories. DS1 loved these at this age ... but you do have to do a bit of 'live editing' to omit the sexist/racist bits.

I second My Naughty Little Sister - it's fab.

Btw it's a great idea to read them this sort of material at this age - great for concentration and imagination and increasing vocabulary.

The Mog books are good at this age, but not chapters.

Kids are both in bed now, so my brain is cranking back into action ... but I'm still not coming up with much.

Paddington Bear is good, as is Ursula Moray Williams: Gobbolino the Witch's cat.

Did I second Milly Molly Mandy ... I definitely meant to. Beautiful books - so innocent and gentle. Ds2 loves them.

The other things I just flicked through are just a little too complex IME - grammatically and descriptively - to hold a child of this age: Next year maybe. (Dick King-Smith: Sophie Stories; The Worst Witch; the lighter Roal Dahl ones - though many of them are a bit scary too.)

Most of the material suitable for this age is in series of connected stories: Beatrix Potter, Thomas the TankEngine, Percy the Park-keeper, Apple Tree Farm stories, etc.

HTH

ooh i loved milly molly mandy when i was a child and i read them to my dd too!

loved mrs pepperpot too

Also The Ten Tales of Shellover by Ruth Ainsworth and The Tales of Olga da Polga by Michael Bond

I loved all the moomin books by Tove Jansson too

I'll shut up in a minute - promise! Children's books, it's my favourite subject

Of course Fantastic Mr Fox is an early reader, so a good route to follow would be similar books =- 40-100 pp. They tend to be simple plots and simple language, so dd will be able to follow them no problem. And in a little while they will be great for her when her reading begins to take off.

I have stacks of them, but right now it's exactly the stage ds2 is at in his read-alone books! The Book People often do sets of these books, but I can't see anything suitable on their site this month.

A good start is your local library - in the 'L' - Learner reader section, (series like Blue Bananas and Sprinters). There is some utter rubbish out there, but many top authors also write for this level ... look out for Sandy Toksvig, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Dick King-Smith, Jenny Nimmo, and Tony Bradman.

SM - now you've made me sad. I got Olga da Polga out of the library this week to read to ds2 (based on very fond childhood memories) ... he tolerated a couple of chapters, then said he didn't want to hear any more Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I won't let them have pets, and actively discourage any active interest they might express in house animals!

sorry roisin

My kids have loved My Naughty Little Sister books. Enid Blyton books esp Faraway tree. Alfie and Annie Rose books although not chapters.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Can't believe I didn't t5hink of Milly-molly-Mandy, I was given a book and tape set for my 4th b'day and fell in love! Can't quite bring myself to get Enid Blyton, much as I loved the stories as a child I'm really uncomfortable with her tone etc. Will wait for DD to ask for those herself!

Mine liked Horrid Henry - but they are a bit gruesome! underpants/nits/that sort of subject!

Message withdrawn

Would Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf be OK for this age group or is it older? Might be worth a look? There's one scaryish one where she is locked in the house with the wolf but otherwise OK, and I was a v scared child.

loved milly molly mandy loads, especially when she gets a new stripy dress just like the old one

I wondered that acnebride, but I tried it with my kids at that age and they weren't that keen. I think a lot of the humour was just a bit too subtle. However, they're now 9 and 6 and just loving it- we've just finished the third of the 3 P+W books I managed to get. There's one other I must go in search of.....

We've just come back from a very trad seaside break where we rediscovered Orlando the Marmalade Cat - not chapters, but easily broken down - don't have to read all the story at one go. Very gentle, lovely pictures.

Do you know (as my son would say), I sense a business opportunity: the Mumsnet republishing house of good children's books. Ant & Bee has been out of print for 15 years.