Classic books for under 5's

[sillywoman]

Having misunderstood the title of the 'Baby Book Club' thread, it got me thinking; What would you say are the classic titles on your bookshelves for your under 5's, you know - the books you can repeat verbatim because they've been read so often, with language &/or graphics that just catch the littlies imagination. My recommendations on first thoughts are;

Almost anything by the Ahlbergs, but especially 'Here's a little Baby' & 'The baby catalogue'

Clara Vulliamy; 'Wide Awake' & 'Goodnight baby'

Eric Carle; 'The Hungry Caterpillar'

Helen Cooper 'The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed' (3-5yrs tho)

Michael Rosen 'Going On A Bear Hunt'

I know there's loads more, but it's all fading into the distance for me now that my youngest is 6. Anyone else got any tried & trusted favorites?

[candj]

My kids love all Dr Seuss (must be the yank in me). They are fun to read and some of them even have a moral to the story and not just silly rhyming words, eg, The Lorax, Oh the Places You Will Go, etc.

Good thread, I didn't see your other one about the book club.

[Ko]

yes i misunderstood the book club thing as well!!

i love 'the tiger who came to tea'.

my other half loves 'where the wild things are' and 'harry the dirty dog'.

[blainiac]

We love all those you mention sillywoman plus Snore & Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen

Alexis Deacon - Beegu

The Night Pirates - not sure who by

Anything by Richard Scarry - What Do People Do All Day / Busiest People Ever

Lost & Found - Oliver Jeffers

The Runaway Dinner & The Pencil - Allan Ahlberg & Bruce Ingman

[sillywoman]

Oooh, good books! But Blaniac, have never heard of any of yours (except the brilliant Scarry books) will go & seek them out in the library to see what I've missed.

Candj - not my thread about baby book club - someone else's. I loved Dr Seuss, but my kids were a bit 'meh' about it, except the Lorax - they loved that for some reason, and the Grinch of course.

Ko, I'm with you on 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea' - a real classic.

[Fuschia]

Mog

The Gruffalo and others by the same author

[number 2]

hairy maclary books are great.

anything by nick sharatt

anything by mick inkpen

guess how much i love you (if you want a good weep!)

i'm a primary school teacher, and the list is endless! soooo many beautiful books out there!

[Ko]

how could i forget the wonderful 'Mog'!!!

[Fuschia]

number 2 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> anything by mick inkpen

>

Ah yes, Wibbly Pig!!

[ClareC]

The Jolly Postman is a great one :-)

[Fuschia]

Room on the broom, squash and a squueze, sharing a shell, all Julia Donaldson, lovely to read aloud.

[nunheadmum]

For us, there have been so many. But my favourites (of the kids' favourites) have been...

Each Peach Pear Plum - Ahlberg

Dear Zoo

No Bed Without Ted

Giraffe's Can't Dance - Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

Any of the Alfie books / Dogger - Shirley Hughes

Marvin Wants More - Joseph Theobald

Hop Into Bedtime - Clara Vulliamy

My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes - Eve Sutton

I'm just thinking of getting some more books so will be keeping an eye on this thread!

[snowboarder]

Would be good to know what has been successful for the really small ones - we're just getting into books now really with my 1-in-3-weeks old! So far he's not interested unless each page has something to do - so the That's not my Lion/Puppy etc and Where's Spot with lift up flaps are going down well. No flaps/things to touch = thrown away in disgust!

[Ondine]

Goodnight Moon

Any Dr Seuss

tiny bit older 101 dalmations - my 4 yr old could quote huge chunks of it from her tape

In the night kitchen

where the wild things are

the gruffalo

the bear hunt

[Fuschia]

How do dinosaurs eat their food..

how do dinosaurs go to bed

[ludoscotts]

hi snowboarder the thats not my..... range by fiona watt is great for little ones of that age as they are really touchy feely and my little one loved them at that age also the busy book range i.e busy book at the beach, busy book at the park etc lots of bits to turn and pull instead of just lifting the flaps great for about 12-18 months old.

[DaveR]

"Not now Bernard!" by David McKee. Bernard gets eaten by a monster, but his mum and dad don't notice.

[Gubodge]

Mine have particularly loved:

That's not my...

Peepo

Tiger who Came to Tea

Meg and Mog

Seuss

Put me in the Zoo

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

Meet Wild Boars

Snail and the Whale

and at the moment the three year old adores my old Topsy and Tim books.

[The Nappy Lady]

Number2 - Guess how much I love you, ALWAYS makes me get emotional...and now my 5 year old reads it to her baby sister that sets me off even more...nightmare. Thank goodness it isn't just me!

Has anyone else come across "Dirty Birty", a very funny good.

"Pants" by Giles Andrea is fab too.

"Stan and his Gran", which I have read so many times I don't have to look any more.

"When Mummy turned into a Monster" is hilarious, and good for helping them to understand how their actions can affect us grown ups.

"Captain Flynn and the Pirate Dinosaurs", and further books in the series are popular too - Pirates and Dinosaurs in one book, what more could any child ask for?

I have just started reading the "Magic Faraway Tree" books by Enid Blyton to my nearly 6 year old and she is loving them, we do 2 chapters a night but she is always begging for more. It is great to have moved on to 'chapter' books I have to say as it opens up a whole new world.

Molly

[Belle]

Molly - is that the same giles andrea who was interviewed on the david cameron programme with trevor mcdonald last night?! how random if so!

[The Nappy Lady]

Hmmm, didn't see it Belle so don't know, but he has written a lot of children's books, so probably was him.

He did one called "You can't eat a Princess too" which I think is quite recent.

Molly

[Keef]

Our daughter currently loves "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell, and the "That's not my dog / robot / baby" books (Usborne Touchy Feely Books).

Oh, and "Shark in the Park" by Nick Sharratt.

I can still remember loving "Where the wild things are" when I was a kid. Think it's a shame they've made a film of it.

[crystal7]

Snowboarder my LO loves Dorling Kinderslep Peekaboo books- Baby Says Peekaboo, Beep Beep Peekaboo, Noisy Peekaboo. Gorgeous photos, flaps to lift, textures to feel.

Agree with the above plus Helen Oxenbury- 10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes, Tickle, Tickle, We all fall Down.

Tony Ross- I Want a Sister!

[SarahMcIntyre]

That was Gillian Rogerson who wrote 'You Can't Eat a Princess!', not Giles (same illustrator). It's about a space princess, chocolate and alien abduction, whereas the book I did with Giles ('Morris the Mankiest Monster') is about a very disgusting little swamp thing who collects bogeys and has potatoes growing out of his pants.

(Hello, East Dulwich Forum! I'm making a picture book with someone whose partner is always on this site so I thought I'd come have a peek.)

[Belle]

Keef - i really want to see the film of WTWTA - the trailer was amazing I thought. Agree it's an all-time classic, my brother's called Max so we especially loved it in our house.