Sunday, July 8, 2012

Baby Talk

I've been thinking about children's stories a lot lately (and the reason for that is Another Story, a very long one, for Another Time).

If you were starting from scratch, filling a bookcase for a little one, what books would you get them?

I can't remember many special truly young books in my childhood.  I had a freakishly high reading age, so I just about remember making the leap from Famous Five to Alistair MacLean.  Then there were the 'family' books, stories read together or read to us - Watership Down and the Narnia stories. 

I have fleeting memories of Ladybird books, though, strangely visual ones, so I can remember the exact shade of the golden ball the princess played with, before she lost it in the Frog Prince's pool.  I seem to remember Mister Men books - my favourite was Mr Tickle, I think.  But there was no Beatrix Potter in my childhood, and I don't think there was Winnie the Pooh, either (sacrilege!).

So building my imaginary children's library is a bit of a challenge.

What do you recommend?

7 comments:

  1. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss. Best book ever written.

    Fact.

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  2. Definitely the Potter books and Dr Seuss. Also Dick King Smith features in my mind along with the Mr Men books and Ladybird. I have a great one called Cat and Fish that i bought as an adult for the illustrations. Is an Australian book but beautiful.

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  3. Definitely Green Eggs and Ham, would add in some of my kids favourites The Wish Who Could Wish, The Gruffalo, The Hungry Caterpiller....from my own childhood - Make Way Fro The Ducklings...and all the EB White books

    lx

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  4. Madeline by Ludwig Bertelmans - lovely story, brilliant for reading aloud and gorgeous illustrations of Paris. Oh, and a more recent one, Dogs Don't Do Ballet by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie.

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  5. I also had freakishly high reading age because my mother, a hard woman, hated reading aloud.

    1Agree Dr Seuss and E B White

    2Winnie the Pooh and Babar;

    3The Hobbit, Where the Wild Things Are;

    4 The Sword in the Stone, T H White; The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones (well, anything she wrote, really); Eva Ibbotson, likewise; Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryatt(Victorian but a cracking story; I read it again and again until it fell apart); The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett,see previous. Skellig by David Almond

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  6. I'm sitting here beaming a wide smile. Fantastic suggestions!

    Now I want to collect them all and read them myself...

    Anna

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  7. I agree about Dick King Smith - I read all his stories to my children. Also a wonderful book called "The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark" by Jill Tomlinson & Paul Howard, it's brilliant! From my own childhood I remember a Ladybird book called something like "The Party" where the little girls wore beautiful, vividly coloured dresses which I never tired of looking at. And of course, I have to vote for the Pippi Longstocking books :)

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