Favourite Books

I   L.O.V.E.  children’s books. I loved them when I was a child, I loved them as a teacher and I love them as a parent. There is something comforting in reading a book designed for children and oh the romance of the words and ideas, and the stories that dance around in your head long after the book is put down. Love, love, LOVE them.

I hope Immy one day will read some of my old childhood novels that I have packed away. (I don’t think my taste in literature will be as appealing to the boys.) The Little Women books, Anne of Green Gables, delightful Enid Blyton stories, gazillions of books from the Trixie Belden series, antique copies of my great aunt’s What Katie Did and What Katie Did Next books. There is one series that I hope all my children will love as passionately as I did. The Chronicles of Narnia. I have lost count the number of times I have read those books.

I thought it may interest you to know the favourite reading material in our household right now. If you have children with corresponding ages, perhaps you may even pick up a few new books to keep in your radar.

Last year, Jonty developed a love for espionage, which is why he had a Spy Party for his sixth birthday. It was no surprise then, when he was introduced to the Zac Powers series, he loved them. Zac Power is young boy who is a spy. He gets whisked away on secret missions, equipped with a wealth of spy gadgets and machinery to help him on his adventures. Every little boys dream. There is a huge amount of these books, written for differing literacy levels. Jonty isn’t quite at the level where he can independently read them, but I look forward to seeing his nose stuck in a book when he can, and I think these books will remain favourites for quite some time.

Jonty really loves non-fiction books. He is most enthusiastic about obtaining information of poisonous or dangerous animals as well as machinery and cars. The Eye Spy or Where’s ____ books are also popular choices. I personally get bored to tears trying to find inconsequential characters in a jungle of illustrations, to the point that I now say these books are to be read with Daddy.

I actually have no idea why he likes this book. I’m quite pleased he does, because there is so much humour within the text that amuses me. But I don’t think he picks it up at all. It would appear that perhaps to have a crocodile who eats people maybe all you need to keep a three year old entertained, regardless of the additional content within the book.

It’s all about a story of a crocodile who invites himself to a dinner party at Peggy’s house with the Dawson family, all wearing sea blue gumboots. Over the course of the evening, but before dessert, the crocodile eat the guests.

“Do you always eat the guests?” asked Peggy’s mother. “It’s a terrible habit.”
The crocodile shrugged. “Not usually, but tonight I had a dreadful craving for Dawsons. It must be the weather.”

One of the reasons this story amuses me so much is that it highlights the ludicrous tendency of parents to try to copy, compare and compete with one another. To the extent that Peggy’s mother ends up being jealous that the crocodile didn’t choose to eat Peggy.

“What’s so special about the Dawsons?” Peggy’s mother asked. “Peggy’s a much stronger swimmer, and she always hangs up her goggles. It’s terribly puzzling.”
“Perhaps it was the gumboots?” suggested Peggy.
“They were a nice shade of blue,” said Peggy’s mother. “I’ll nip down and get us some in the morning.
And she did.

This could be a very useful book for those who follow the trend to use their children (and what they wear) as status symbols. Although for the lesson to be learned, it would be dependent on hoity toity parents being humble enough to learn from a man eating crocodile. The man in question being eaten being Mr. Dawson, who remarked after the croc consumed his wife:

“Now look here, that wasn’t sporting of you,” said Mr. Dawson.
“Look at the time!” said the crocodile and he ate Mr Dawson too.

Trent still adores Good Night, Sleep Tight. It is a big favourite for multiple readings. The Gruffalo is another popular choice in this house.

Typical of children of their age, it can be hard to get the triplets to sit still and listen to stories. They do love books though, especially Immy. Unfortunately the boys preferred interaction with books is still to rip them out of the bookshelf and leave them in a huge pile.

However, the top favourite is always the touch and feel board books. The “That’s Not My …” has always been a perennial favourite for my five kiddos. They are also are really starting to get into the word plus picture books, which is great for not only developing a love of literacy, but is invaluable speech development also.

So, are you familiar with any of these books? What are your child’s current favourite books?

Today I’m linking with Kelly’s Korner