Young bookworm - need book/reading suggestions for dd (age 6)

[Earlybird]

DD is 6, and quite verbal/mature for her age, with a vivid imagination and insatiable curiosity. She loves reading and being read to.

Please can you suggest titles of books that would be suitable bedtime story fare, and also books she might enjoy reading on her own?

Thank you.

DS is a bit younger but we have started reading some of the Enid Blyton books - not very pc I know and some of it is very old fashioned. DS (4) loves the Faraway Tree and it comes in hand bite sized chapters.

Thanks Goosey - that is a good suggestion. DD loved those stories.

What else is on your future reading list for ds?

Dimanche Diller

the hard back Dr Who books

non-fiction stuff like some of the Usborne series

dd adores Horrible Histories and Horrible Sciences and books from the library about Kings and Queens

Then all sorts of twee books like Animal Ark and anything to do with Unicorns, Fairies and Ponies (Rainbow Fairies arrghh, Secret Unicorn)

Some of the Roald Dahl

Any of the Jeremy Strong and some of the younger Michael Morpurgo

Hi Earlybird!! This is of course my pet subject (as if you didn't know!)

Go to the Book People website - (I have just spent £85 for £500+ worth of books) - and especially the "Kids' fiction collections" section.

From there I would recommend:

• the Moomintroll set
• the Enid Blyton Twins at St Clares set
• I got dd the "Animal Ark" batch - it says 8+, but really those sort of things are written very simply nowadays - a verbal 6 would I think be fine
• if you can bear it, some of that "Rainbow Fairies"/"Naughty Fairies"/"Pony Mad Princess" franchise stuff - it gets read over & over in our house (including by ds, furtively)
• the "mixed fiction" set, which includes some Pippi Longstocking, some Olga da Polga & some Ramona Quimby
• Roald Dahl collection - do you have those already?

dd also loves Gobbolino, Little Miss Pepperpot - etc.

rhoal dhal (sp?)
famous five/secret seven/malory towers/st clare's etc
harry potter
felicity wishes stories (with lift-the-flaps)
anything by cornelia funke
pure dead brilliant by debi gliori

also, my dd (6) loves story tapes by ladybird classic series and rhoal dhal book being read.

ohhh, rainbow faires - how could i forget those!

One of my DDs favourite bedtime readers is A poetry book - Quick Lets Get Out of Here! - Micheal Rosen. It is fantastic, though I can never read it without crying.

Oooh - I'm getting all excited now. I buy books the way some people shop for shoes/handbags though I've had to slow down significantly because we're running out of room to keep them all!

Foxinsocks - those look good, and I shall make a point to look for them instore and read online reviews to see if dd would like.

Hi Bink - great list, thanks. I know you are a big fan of the Book People, so must allow myself to be lured there. Those collections sound just the ticket. Must confess I have a desire to park myself in front of the bookshelves in your flat - both ones for children and adults - because I know it would be an enlightening and enjoyable experience.

casbie - there are a couple of new names on your list, so will explore further.

spudmasher - Michael Rosen definitely on the list here. In fact, I see that he is due to speak (or is it perform?) in London in early July, so am considering that as an outing that will enchant both dd and me!

there are some great older threads on just this thing - Ive written down a bunch of books that others have recommended here
Little House on the Prairie books
Anne of Green Gables

just 2 others that no one else has mentioned, old faves of mine

and never never pay for postage from the bookpeople, have a look at some of the threads on moneysavingexpert.com before you do, there are always free codes for the bookpeople (regardless of amount bought!)
hth

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Michael Rosen is FABULOUS to see perform (so fabulous, that I live in mortal fear of someone saying, actually, I know him & he's not that nice ...)

We saw him at Jewish Book Week - his performance was built around a little riff on What If the Mr. Men Were a Jewish Series - so lots of those inimitable Yiddish words for "a person whose socks can't stay up" and "a person who is excessively greedy but doesn't want you to think so" (done in a way which obviously didn't need you to know Yiddish to enjoy). (If you search I did a little appreciation of it on here at the time.)

Michael Rosen is amazing.
He came to my DDs school to do some stuff.
DD1 got to hear some poetry and dd12 who was in nursery than, got to have him for story time. He did We're going on a bear hunt. She has a signed copy.DD2 has a signed copy of Quick... He is great....see him if at all possible...

DD2 sorry. I do not have 12 children.

Ok Bink and spudmasher - you've convinced me that we should go to see/hear Michael Rosen. Any 'must reads' of his that we should be familiar with before we go?

Where is he performing Earlybird? We are in London too....wanna go wanna go wanna go

Purcell Room, July 1. I'm hopeless at links, but maybe with the new system...

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/festivals-series/llf-children-s-literature

My personal favourite is "The Bathroom Twiddler", which is about a boy [basically it is EXACTLY about ds] spacily messing about when he's meant to be doing his teeth etc. Dd and ds read it to each other in bursts (between breathless screeches of hysteria) & can just about not speak when they get to the end.

Libraries usually have lots of his solo collections, as well as anthologies with his things in. He collaborates with Quentin Blake quite a lot.

(PS: if you find his "Sad Book", that's not really for children unless in circs like bereavement. It's about his son who died of meningitis as a late teenager, and it's beautiful and heart-rending but to be treated very carefully. Don't read it yourself in a bookshop.)

noo, it's Bathroom Fiddler, not Twiddler. (It begins "I am the bathroom fiddler/the bathroom twiddler" or like that.)

I've booked tickets! We are going!!

I've booked Michael Rosen tickets too, so will have to arrange a rendezvous point spudmasher!

Bink - thanks for tip about the Bathroom Fiddler...I feel a big order from Amazon and the Book People is on the horizon. (Thanks hana for money saving tips).

yorkshirepudding - tell me more about the Borrowers books and why you like them.

Fantastic Earlybird! Will see you there!
I will return to the thread late June to see if you are around and we can sort out a place to meet and say Hi!!

My dd who is almost 6 adores the Rainbow Magic series - I am aware that some people hate them! but the thing is they are kind of repetitive (the stories are very similar) and so easy for young children to grasp. DD reads them to herself really well.

we also enjoy Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo. DD also likes trad ones like Milly Molly Mandy and My Naughty Little Sister - language can be a bit dated but she seems to like it!

Clary - is Rainbow Magic the same series as Rainbow Fairies? DD likes to read those on her own - think I'd tip over if I had to listen to them all myself, but she loves them.

Spudmasher - yes, let's touch base in a few weeks. I'll be there with dd (my only). Who will you come with?

Tobias and Tim - Magic In The Wind
Mrs Frisby and The Rats of Nimh
Gobbolino The Witches Cat
The Silver Brumby
Paddington Bear books
Roldh Dahl books
Milly Molly Mandy books
Pippi Longstocking

are all ones that my 6yo dd loves for bedtime stories. She can't readthemself though (I wish).