I have always surrounded my kids with books and read to them as much as possible. Most of these books I find in libraries, at the homes of friends, at bookstores, school fetes, you name it, wherever they can be found. When relatives ask me what they can buy my kids as gifts, my first choice is always books.
Today it gives me huge pleasure to watch them escape into this world of the imagination, of stories. As I write this my son is lying in bed starting the third book in a fantastic series for older kids ( from11yrs) by Rick Riordan about a character called Percy Jackson set against the background of Greek Mythology. He is captivated, can’t stop and could easily read for hours. Luckily its Saturday, so the chances are good.
I want to share some of our best reads with you and invite you to do the same. Lets create a wonderful list , one we can all use to instill a love of reading in our children.
The books Marvin could not put down:
Kids books from 10yrs
– The Lion boy trilogy by Zizou Corder ( incredible, for parents too)
– Eva Ibbotson’s books, especially The Dragonfly Pool.
– Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Kids books for 6-9yrs
-The Diary of Wimpy Kids series
– Roald Dahl kids stories
– Sally Gardner’s Magical kids series ( fabulous!)
Kids books for 2-5yrs
– So Much! by Trish Cooke and Helen Oxenbury ( one of my all time favourites – written like a rap song)
– Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
– The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. ( all his books are great)
– Ezra Jack Keats : A letter to Amy or Whistle for Willie
I could go on and on but maybe this is enough to start with. I will add to this list as I remember. Please help us grow it.
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5 Responses
Dear book lovers. I’m one of those professional moms who decided to try something different. I went for what I love, which is creating with my kids and reading to them. I started a small publishing company. I’ve published an arts and crafts book as well as a series of children’s story books. I’ve realised that the publishing industry is a very tough one. Most bookstores only buy from the large publishers and prices are competitive. I’m selling my books online. PLEASE check it out at http://www.bigbookpublishing.co.za and http://www.momsbigbook.co.za.
The Hairy Maclary books by Lynley Dodd are fabulous for 2 -5 year olds, as are the books by Julia Donaldson (A squash and a squeeze, The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, etc https://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/bigbooks.htm – all in Exclusive Books, I think.
Sticker books are also really popular in our house – great for matching up things to silhouettes.
Merle – have you had a squizz at the audio book “The Adventures of Tee, Timothy and Tiger – listen to the trailer on the home page http://www.teeandtim.co.za then listen to the adult interviews – they’re podcasting at the moment
Age 10 & up:
Terry Pratchett’s Johnny stories: “Johnny and the bomb”, “Only You Can Save Mankind” and “Johnny and the Dead”
Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching stories: “The Wee Free Men”, “A Hat Full Of Sky” and “Wintersmith”
Terry Pratchett’s “The Carpet People”, “Truckers”, “Diggers”, “Wings” and “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents”
Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”
Age 2-5:
Terry Pratchett’s “Where’s My Cow”
THANK YOU, If you had to choose one of the above as a gift for your 12 year old son, which one would it be?