Mumsnet users share with Scottish Friendly their favourite books to read to their children

[EllieMumsnet]

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Reading to your DCs can be a great source of not only downtime and bonding but it can also help your children learn and develop. Many of our most nostalgic memories contain at least one recollection of our parents reading our favourite book to us, therefore Scottish Friendly would love to know which your favourite books are to read to your children and why? Plus what are your favourite childhood books?

Do you love reading the classic Winnie the Pooh because you get to do all the voices? Perhaps your DC loves adventure books and you’re not one to shy away from acting out the scenes? Or do you love a books that your child can read along with you? Maybe you and your DC love to get all cosy with some pillows and blankets and read their favourite Roald Dahl book together?

Here’s what Scottish Friendly have to say: “With just two weeks left of summer, perhaps it’s getting to that time when you’re looking for new ideas to keep your little darlings amused. Even if it’s just to give yourself the chance of a well-deserved cuppa and to put your feet up for longer than 5 minutes!

Scottish Friendly is celebrating 20 years of supporting children’s literacy with a game your kids can play called ‘Letterfall’. It’s fun and educational too, and to celebrate this milestone anniversary we’ve added an extra twist! Now kids all over the UK can play to try to beat the current high score for a chance to win a fantastic prize for their school – an iPad Pro, iPad and an iPad Mini are all up for grabs! Visit the site to play (terms apply, more details on the website.)”

Whatever your favourite book to read to your child is and why, share it on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Lots of old ones.
Goodnight Mr Tom. My kids love it but would make me skip the part about William and his baby sister Trudy.
The Saturdays. Set in the household of a rich upper class family in New York around the 50s. The children all pool their pocket money and each Saturday one goes on an adventure.
The Cuckoo Sister. This one petrified me as a child but my 12 year old dd loves it.
A pair of jesus boots and A pair of desert wellies. They're about a young Scouse boy from impoverished circumstances trying not to get drawn into dangerous criminal activities. Did anyone else read these at school?

We like "How Deep is the Sea?", because I do all the voices for the salty sea dog, and the whale's deep singing, and the seal... My daughter is almost 1 and she thinks my whale voice is hilarious 😂

My DD loves David Walliams' book at the moment. I snuggling up at bedtime to read them to her, we have a lot of laugh out loud moments

I adore the snail and the whale to read to my daughter - not only does the rhyming make it fun but also highlights however small we may feel, each and every one of us CAN make a difference!

I also love all of oliver jeffers books with my all time fave being the heart and the bottle - but i end up crying each time i read it - just so poignant and meaningful to anyone who has lost a loved one and yet done in a way that even youngsters can appreciate.

Loved the Magic Faraway Tree as a child and my children love being read it now :)

We love the Harry Potter series because my son and I get lost in the wizarding world taking it in turns to read a page, often we've read three or more chapters and gone way over bedtime because we can't put it down.

Anything by Julia Donaldson for any age from teeny tots to grandparents! We all love them, their sing song rhyme makes them such fun to read, they are funny and encourage kids to enjoy having fun with language. Two of our faves are Tiddler and the one about the Flum Flum tree and granny having the moozles 😂. There is 6 years between my boys (7&13) and that one still brings us all together with choruses of "Don't get your knickers in a twist said Jack, let's have a look in the patchwork sack!!! With my DS's changing several key words for mildly inappropriate ones 😂 Love em ❤️

My children have a catalog of books in their room and take it in turns to pick. The most popular book chosen again and again is the Dr. Seuss collection. They absolutely love the stories! I get tongue tied sometimes a lot which makes them laugh

Dr Seuss are always a winner. I have 2 DSs and they have both loved those books. The pictures along with the tongue twisting words mean they enjoyable to read as well.
Julia Donaldson ones are always a winner.
The books I have really enjoyed reading with my DS aged 7 are the Captain Underpants books. They are funny with lots of jokes and funny pictures that capture his attention and are a good bridge between reading children's books and junior novels. These were also the first books he would read alone, which also made them a favourite.

One of my favourite books to read to my children has been Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson as I can really go to town on character voices and the poetry of the story, which my children seem to enjoy as much as me

Gosh 'Not now Bernard' was my sons favourite, he's 45 !!!!

...its a book my parents bought me in the 1970s. The Fabulous Hat by Joan Hickson. The most beautiful 1960s design and such a beautiful story of a girl who goes on a fabulous shopping day in London with her Big sister. It makes me cry thinking about it as it being back such happy memories and my DD who is now 8 loves to hear the story and repeat the same lines as I did around 40 years ago.

It's rare that I read to DS (10) any more but when he was little we both used to really like the Alfie stories by Shirley Hughes. They are perfect for bedtime as they are nice, gentle stories about everyday life. Very nostalgic and the illustrations are brilliant.

We love all of the sue hendra books but are starting to begin some chapter books now. Currently reading The Twits. We always go back to Zog lately, that’s a current favourite

My DD is 11 and I'm still insisting on reading to her! We're currently reading my absolute favourite childhood book Anne of Green Gables which I'm probably enjoying more than she is

When she was young we both absolutely loved The Runaway Dinner by Alan Ahlberg - so funny!

I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar - so colourful and interactive for my girl!

The Singing Mermaid is my 3 year old’s favourite, followed by The Rainbow Fish and The Snail & the Whale. There’s a real sea side theme since we went in our summer holiday! I love that she finds the beach/the sea so magical. That’s what makes reading with young children enjoyable for me; they see the world as a thrilling, enchanting place where anything is possible, which reminds me not to be such an old cynic!

I like to read my daughter the Beatrix Potter books - Pigling Bland, Mrs Tiggywinkle, Tom Kitten, The Pie and the Patty Pan, etc... I grew up being read those books, my Dad has a set from the 60's, and when my daughter was born he brought her her very own set of Beatrix Potters.

My kids love reading anything by Julia Donaldson. Currently Zog and the Flying Doctors is the favourite.

we love the Usborne That's not my books and anything by Rod Campbell

ds1is 22. ds 2 is 8. fortunately.and when it comes to luck-none is my usual...ds1 loved books,reading,if he asked for a toy he treated it like it precious.im a hoarder so..tho never had reason other than reluctant to dispose..ds2 has been gifted re-runs of pristeen items,some collectable...books are,,and ocd thing. my attic is boxes..by catagory..out of them all the rhoald dahl ones-are my favourite both kids round. there are nights(the twits)when i cant even say what im reading and we lay on the bed crying with laughter..we're on fantastic mr fox..my ds2 is age perfect for the pace,the language,the subtle ease of the example of how words used wisely can have a lifelong impact.i read james and giant peach-possibly too soon.chapter 13 before anything pleasant happened to the boy.particularly difficult on a personal scale-as we were in a living hell.we stuck with it..and he loved that one too by the end. there were lessons that we both learned from a outrageous never gonna happen tale-and applied to our...time. my oldest ds is doing english at uni and about to start final year.

Got to be Alice in Wonderland.

We read the biff, chip and kipper books classics! Also a throw back from my childhood!

I remember being enthralled by the magic faraway tree series when I was young. It has been so special to read it again with DS1 (7) and DS2 (5), especially as they have loved it just as much as I did.

Winnie the Pooh is another firm favourite among all of us, re-reading the books I had as a child (with brown crispy pages all falling out!)

My children are 9 and 7 and read by themselves but still have a chapter of a story read to them each night. They love Harry Potter and Roald Dahl and the Johnny Duddle pirate books were a great favourite. They still have a few (far too young for them now) that we like to read together and my top choice is 'Shh We Have A Plan' by Chris Haughton which is great.