What books did your parents read to you?

[OneUmberJoker]

Mr men books

The Narnia books

None

Probably quite a few, but for some reason the one I really remember (read frequently to me) was Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. God knows why this was considered suitable bedtime material for a young child, we weren't an intellectual family and it must have made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever - I vaguely recall boats and rivers!

Also Enid Blyton's Famous Five series. I remember loving that, but a few years ago read from one of the books to a friend's children at bedtime and was absolutely amazed to see that absolutely NOTHING of interest happened. Incredibly dull. Maybe ideal for sending kids to sleep? They seemed to like it, though.

https://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=296

Avocado baby, core memory

None. We read to her, that's how we learnt.

Aw I loved famous five when I was small.

Lots! My dad regularly read to us on holiday; a chapter a night.

The Hound of the Baskervilles
Treasure Island
The 39 Steps
The Island of Dr Moreau

are ones I particularly remember.

He was great at reading - made it all very exciting.

My favourite was The 39 Steps but I found Thd Island of Dr Moreau terrifying.

One year mum read us The Wheels of Chance on holiday but she was the one to read to us when we were little on a day to day basis.

Aesops (?) fables and the Bible.

Brer Rabbit

We were the ones doing the reading. I had a mix of Beatrix Potter, Meg & Mog, Brothers Grimm and Le Petit Nicolas (in French). Like a PP, Aesop's fables too - I remember the pictures in that one.

Ladybird books; favourite was The Ugly Duckling

My Dad did the reading. I remember the Hobbit, and a few attempts to read us The Lord of the Rings but we never got past Rivendell. Mostly Famous Five, Secret Seven and Enid Blyton's Adventure series.

I could read at quite a young age and got impatient with being read to so from the age of around seven, when I got my own bedroom, I opted out of bedtime reading. I also used to read ahead and insist we started where I had got to which must have been a bit frustrating for Dad (unless he hated the books and was happy to get through them more quickly!)

None. DM could barely read. Dyslexic probably,As am I.
DF never read to us, wasn’t his job.

Loads! Little House on the Prairie - all the various books, Little Wooden Horse, Gobbolino The Witches Cat, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

I loved my parents reading to me

My parents had to confiscate Gobbolino the Witch's Cat once I got to reading for myself. I used to cry rivers of tears reading it!

I'd forgotten Brer Rabbit (per PP) 🥰

Ladybird books, all in one piece books, bump in the night, the rainbow fish. Postman book with envelopes

I can't remember, being read to specifically (I have younger siblings) but as there were books and comics about the place before I'd grasped the technicalities myself, I think my parents must have read to me. What I can remember is being in the liminal space between 'beginner reader' and 'independent reader' and being sent home from school with a primer to find that my DM had been to the library and got me Naughty Amelia Jane by Enid Blyton and Dorothy Edwards My Naughty Little Sister With those on offer, it didn't take me long to get through the designated reading practice.

I can also remember Eileen Colwell's Tell Me A Story, a nice little Penguin anthology. It was bought for my siblings, but I think I got to it first. 😁

DF read to us in one language and DM in another. There were lots and lots of books.

We also had "audio" books to play on an old reel-reel tape player. We didn't have a TV or a radio so it was books or nothing.

We were encouraged to read any of their books too and they had a big collection covering just about any subject.

I don't remember being read to. I had two older brothers and I taught myself to read using the speech bubbles in their Eagle comics. I got a library card as soon as I could and would trot off to explore the wonders in the local library. It was a few streets away and was a converted corner shop. The children's section was a half wall of books next to the old shop window. Bare floorboards - I still love that dusty wood/paper smell! I was allowed to walk there by myself from early primary school age.

I do remember being taught the alphabet from a young age, and my Mum would tell us stories like Cinderella etc., but not from a book. In fact I never saw her read a book. I don't think she was dyslexic as she had perfect handwriting and spelling. Some people just don't like reading.

The Ugly Duckling
Brer Rabbit
The Saggy Baggy Elephant
The Discontented Pony
The Robin Family, which was a series in Woman's Weekly.
I think there were some Aesop's Fables and bible stories in the mix too.

Having said all that, I learned to read quite young (well before I went to school), so they didn't read to me so much once I could read for myself.

The headteacher of our primary for some reason read the silver sword to our class, loved it, although I did get told off for fiddling with a book at some point 😂

Same as this but I can remember I had an Uncle who used to visit and made up the most amazing stories.

Winnie the Pooh, the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Yes, my mother wasn’t fluently literate, either, and nor was my dad. But I was reading at three, probably not unrelatedly, because no one could read to me!

The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird and Hamlet stick in the memory, my Mum was studying English when we were young so she would usually read to us what she was studying herself and would make it work for us.