Birthday books for four-year-olds

[motherinferior]

My nephew will be four in December and I'd like to give him some books. I'm not particularly good on books for this age range. Any particular suggestions - especially books in which new baby brothers are featured in relatively tolerant manner? I was wondering about Horrid Henry...

MI, I know it sounds odd but my ds loved (and still loves) Beatrix Potter books and did at that age too. He's not a particularly girly boy either. He also likes Dr Seuss now and I think would have done if I'd have thought of them at 4. There's a fab dinosaur book with holograms in it too if he like dinosaurs, details here

That's a lovely idea. I wondered about a first Moomintroll book as well.

Should have asked you directly but wasn't sure if you were out giving birth!

Any other suggestions? Ooooh, I LOVE children's books. Love them. Even did an MA thesis on them.

I love children's books too. No baby yet, so I'll go on a bit! The Large family books (Jill Murphy IIRC) are good, they're about a family of elephants though you might find them a bit twee. Hmm, maybe not though, my son has always liked them. I like 'five minutes peace' which is about a mother elephant trying to get 5 minutes peace in the bath but being followed and hassled by her children. She ends up with 3 and a half minutes peace or something. Or what about 'I am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed'? by Lauren Child, I like most of her books and my ds loves 'em. Plus this one is about a boy looking after his little sister so might fit the sibling bill. I Will Not Ever Eat a Tomato (same author) is also good, or what about The Gruffalo? Good rhymes and pictures and it won an award so has a gold sticker on the front which appealed to my ds - he likes the fact that it's won an award. As a friend said, "blimey, intellectual snobbery so young!" Those magic torch books are great too if he likes dinosaurs/animals - good novelty factor so they don't just pick it up and say "oh, it's a book" in disgusted manner while moving swiftly on to the next present. Or is it just mine that does that? Will post more if I think of anything else that might appeal to 4yo boy. I must say I'm thrilled that my son is now 6 and is therefore newly appreciative of Roald Dahl, Charlotte's Web etc. Re-reading these to him is almost a good enough reason to have children!

We've got the Gruffalo and dd1 loves it. You can get her out of a huff by asking her if she wants Roasted Fox or Scrambled Snake for tea.