What books do you read TO your 5 year old?

[Greta84]

So my 5 year old in reception is doing great on her personal reading (I think) they put stickers over the levels but she's on Level 3 and seems fairly confident having started reading in September and teachers have said she loves school etc. She's outgrown although I still read to her the Julia Donaldson books BUT I know she still loves picture books. Any ideas of any lovely books to read to her? She quite likes non-fiction too so we're currently doing a pop-up book on London which is fab!

[Prettybaffled]

Forgot brambley hedge and noggin the nog

[minipie]

shameless place marking sorry! We have quite a few of the above but always looking for more.

Has Dick King Smith been mentioned?
Beatrix Potter is pretty grown up language and stories.
Allan Allberg (sp?) has some more grown up stuff, though I've found it a bit odd.
Lighthouse Keeper series (picture books but a bit more grown up than JD)

[ameliesfabulousdestiny1]

That's true, seafood! There's also an Usborne Norse Myths, wonder if that's next...

[catkind]

Re the growing out of books thing - DD refuses to grow out of ANYTHING. She still happily reads baby board books as well as chapter books. She seems unusual in that though, most of her friends without younger siblings have passed on those books as they weren't getting read.

DS at 7 often picks up and reads the picture books DD brings home from reception, where he refuses to even bring home a reading book from his own class.

But even so they rarely choose to read books they've memorised at age 2. Occasionally for nostalgia value, but as routine bedtime stories they generally prefer something new and something with a bit more meat to it. A toddler picture book may be beautifully illustrated and use good vocabularly (I love the Hairy Maclary books for vocab!), but it's still not going to last DC more than a minute.

[annaiclc2015]

Ronald Dahl is my fave author. Want my two (4 and 2) to grow up loving him too so will continue with picture books and some of his too x

[arista]

4 year old in Reception like book about the 5 senses and spot the difference books about different kind of flowers, dinosaurs, leaves, birds, shapes around you name it.www.booktrust.co.uk you can find different books for age interest.

[seafoodeatit]

amelies likewise! they're good that they last so long too, although he only wants chapter style books for bed now I have to constantly be on the lookout for the next replacement!

The usborne look inside science books are brilliant too.

[ameliesfabulousdestiny1]

Another one for Usborne's Greek Myths and Legends. Ditto re: pictures and bookmark. Thought we were the only ones, but I could have written your post, seafoodeatit!
That and lots of science related books.

[seafoodeatit]

We read usborne illustrated stories at bedtime with dc now 6 but have done since he was 5. We've almost finished Greek myths, DC loves that there's an illustration on every page and that it has chapters that he can put his bookmark on every night.

[RatOnnaStick]

DS is 6 and we're doing Dinosaur Cove for the third time He can't read them himself yet, not found a non-school-phonics book that he can read yet, but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy the story. He also liked The Faraway Tree, Magic Treehouse and he's been ok with Flat Stanley and the Jeremy Strong books. Totally bored with Horrid Henry though.

But when he's listening to DS2's story at bedtime before his own chapter, he's just as interested in all those. Mr Wolf's Pancakes, The Bumblebear, Hairy McClary and Slinky Malinki are all favourites with both boys. If he sneaks his torch on before morning he can be found looking at the pictures of all different books and he gleans the story from the simple words he can get and the pictures together.

Room for both at this age I think.

[Roomba]

DS1 loved the Railway Rabbits series at that age (so much so he wrote to Georgie Adams to say so, bless him). We also enjoyed all the Enid Blyton ones suggested above, Mr Men/Little Miss, and Roald Dahl.

DS2 is 4.5 and still loves the Julia Donaldson type books, but has also become interested in chapter books (think he wants to be like his big brother). So far we've read The Twits and the first Faraway Tree books, and he loved them.

[Caroian]

I'm pretty sure he did understand the plot Katherina He also had a lot of fun reciting all of the associated nursery rhymes, so it is a book that gave us a lot. But it's still an awful lot simpler than Roald Dahl etc

I think we're all in agreement that picture book still have lots of value at almost any age!

[jamdonut]

If you like Greek Mythology tales, Enid Blyton's Tales of Long Ago is a good book!
I read these for myself when I was about 8, but they are told in a much gentler way than usual, ie the violence of such stories is very underplayed.(although still there...You might want to read each story first, to check whether your child would be worried by it.)
I don't even know if this book is still in print, actually! I bought this copy from a second hand bookshop, because I was so delighted to see it, as I loved the stories so much!

[MrPoppersPenguins]

Ps swallows and amazons was a big hit. Maybe the borrowers?

[MrPoppersPenguins]

My son is the same. Wanted longer, more complex story books from about 4. We have read Enid blyton- famous5/secret7/faraway tree etc. He loves the usborne books- particularly Wild West/pirates/d day stories. We have also read all the Harry Potter books (which I know is controversial on here at such a young age but he loved them and wasn't scared). You can get some good box sets of books from the works at the moment.

[KatherinaMinola]

But did he understand the 'plot' at that age, Caroian? I doubt it - I think it's too tricky for young children to understand. It works on different levels - a young child will enjoy the rhyme, enjoy picking out the characters in the pictures, and perhaps recognize some of the characters from other storybooks, but older children and adults will enjoy it on other levels.

[Caroian]

I know what you mean about Each, Peach, Pear Plum. However, it was one of the first stories that my son memorised and he started pointing out the bits in the pictures - I think Cinderella's arm was the first one he noted - from a fairly young age too, so perhaps I don't view it quite like you. All the Janet and Allen Ahlberg ones are great though. We've recently been reading their poems - specifically Please, Mrs Butler. That one is great fro children, but also has a very adult subtext, so it really spans across the generation divide!

[KatherinaMinola]

The books I mentioned have some pretty complex vocabulary and story construction. If you're not Scottish, Katie Morag is wonderful for introducing new words - it's full of dialect words, some of which were new to me (and the illustrations are top drawer).

Julia Donaldson is also complex - I think she's a fantastic writer (technically as well as story-wise). Room on the Broom has a sophisticated rhyming scheme, and The Highway Rat (admittedly not one of her best) uses the rhyme scheme and cadence of Noyes's The Highwayman.

I personally think that Each, Peach, Pear Plum is a very complex book, too - story and illustrations work very much in tandem (in fact I only really understood the book as an adult).

[Greta84]

I want to read the originals rather than the abridged ones available online.

[Greta84]

Have got the Beatrix Potter and ordered some suggestions. I wonder what happened to my old Enid Blyton books that were given to me by my neighbour when I was little in the 80s. She was born early 20th Century and had bought them for her daughter in the 40s. Her only child who never had her own children so she gave me her daughters books and introduced me to Enid Blyton. I will have to track them down.

[SolomanDaisy]

New stories!

[SolomanDaisy]

My DS does still enjoy picture books, but he tends to pick stuff like Flat Stanley more now. I think it's partly just something new, by 5 lots of kids have been read The Gruffalo etc. a million times and it's always nice to have stories as well as old favourites.

[Caroian]

mrz That's really interesting - genuinely. Do you have a link?

I still think the ability to follow a longer plot with multiple threads is a good one to develop. A Roald Dahl is more complex in storyline than, say, Flat Stanley, which in turn is more complex than, say, The Gruffalo, which is more complex again then Each, Peach, Plum. The latter two are still fantastic books (that we read regularly) for rhyme, rhythm and interest, but they offer different things.

By the age of 5 I think there is room for a really wide variety - and it's a stage we're both enjoying, which - when it comes to reading and developing a love of books - is surely the most important thing of all!

[Itwasthenandstillis]

Magic tree house series - Mary pope Osborne.
We have a huge book of Beatrix Potter stories with her beautiful illustrations whicheck my kids loved at that age.
Magic faraway tree - Enid Blyton is great for helping kids develop their own imagination from stories.
Usbourne books does lovely fairy tale books for children of different ages.

[mrz]

A comparison of picture books and children's chapter books shows that picture books often feature more complex language