Bedtime Story Books

[Queenie]

I'm sick of buying toys and dresses for toddlers and have decided to buy books for babies/toddlers/kids of varying ages this Christmas. They range from 8mth old,15-mth, 2 and 4 years old. Any popular ones I should be looking out for? Will probably head down to Borders & Forum Galleria this weekend.

P.S. At what age do babies become toddlers / kids?

[cromasaig]

Great idea.

I've always assumed they become toddlers when they start to walk - you know that glorious stagger that makes young kids look like Glaswegians on a Saturday night. But the age range seems to vary, so I don't think it's written in stone.

In terms of books, some of the ones that have worked particularly well in our house include:

For babies: Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you See? Good big pictures, parents can make the animal sounds and it's a simple introduction to animals and colours. The Very Hungry Catepillar is universally popular - but that might mean that they already have it.

At nearly two, mine love Goodnight Gorilla, which has a gorilla nicking the zookeeper's keys and letting all the animals out so that they all end up in bed with the zookeeper and his wife. Before you call Social Services, the zookeeper's wife takes them all back to bed again.

Guess How Much I Love You is a lovely book, and not quite as twee as it sounds.

And the Dr Seuss books are fantastic fun to read and the kids love them. Anywhere from 18months on, I think. They have different levels colour coded for different ages - it tells you which stage they're best for on the back of the book, but I wouldn't worry about sticking to it too rigidly.

For four year olds and over, especially boys, Aliens Love Underpants is a giggle for anyone who's discovered the universal humour of pants.

[expat yorkshire]

The Gruffalo is a book great

[BFG]

Tell me something happy before I go to sleep.
Edward the Emu.
The Blackberry Mouse.
Thomas the Tank Engine.

I used to make up stories for the beans - silly voices, sound effects, the lot. Jolly good fun it was too!

Bye the bye - 13 days and counting. Yay.

[Pinklepurr]

We are big fans of Colin McNaughton in our house.

"Suddenly" is still a favourite even though they have both outgrown it, and if toddlers or younger kids come to stay then the boys have great fun reading it to them.

Julia Donaldson is another favourite with Room on the Broom being top of the list.

[azzam]

It was Dr Seuss in our house. And W.A. Milne cos I'm a traditionalist. Then Roald Dahl as he got older. Then Tin Tin and Asterix...and it was all downhill from there.

Voices and sound effects, yes!! I loved our reading sessions, they lasted right up until about 12 years old.

[skank-la]

Dr Seuss is all around best for toddlers

Now the Skankster at 8 years old still likes to pick them up & read them by himself. The illustrations & the rythm may be some of the best stuff ever written for youngsters in my mind

Kids enjoy them & gets them interested in reading as an activity

[BFG]

Hairy Maclary for young toddlers - also can...

12 to go...yay.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Oh, this is one of my favorite subjects, and I think that giving books as gifts is fab.

As a baby, Wolfie's favorite bedtime stories were Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, and Big Red Barn also by the same author.

The Maisy series of books has also gone over well in our home. Guess How Much I Love You - what a wonderful bedtime story!

At 2.5 years, we stick to picture books that only have about 1 or 2 sentences on each page. Anything more and it's too wordy for his attention span.

I agree with everything said about Dr Seuss. Brilliant, and I've given many as gifts.

I'm also a huge fan of children's book illustration, the artwork in some of these books is sometimes more exciting than the stories. I can browse for hours!

[Scrummy Mummy]

Agree about "The Gruffalo". Also "Room on the broom" by the same author (Julia Donaldson). They have a little moral too, which I like.

[baloo]

In my experience, for an 18month old, any book made of a material that a) can't be ripped to shreds b) can't be chewed and c) wont hurt you when it gets thrown at you.

[azzam]

Doesn't he love listening to your voice reading to him at bedtime though, Baloo? Very soothing.

[sundaymorningstaple]

He probably is getting tired of the computer books and that's why he's throwing them!

[Pinklepurr]

I still have 5 of my old Dr Seuss books from when I was a kid. I love them, so do my boys who have a lot more than just my originals.

(Sadly Mr Purr hates Dr Seuss with a passion...poor thing he obviously had a deprived childhood...and he won't even stay in the room when we read them, never mind watch the old cartoon of The Grinch who stole Christmas with Boris Karloff doing the narrating, which is one of my faves...hmmm, must go pack it)

[slinky]

Agree about "The Gruffalo". Also "Room on the broom" by the same author (Julia Donaldson). They have a little moral too, which I like.

There are lots of Julia Donaldson books and they are all nice -- we have quite a few. The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child are very cute -- would be good for 4 year olds for sure.

Agree with the Dr. Seuss books - some of them come in 'board book' style for little ones. We have 'The Foot Book' and 'Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?' in little board books.

For girls in particular there are the Angelina Ballerina books or the Olivia books -- I just bought one of each for class Christmas party book exchanges and they were very cute.

Little Boy Slink seems to like anything by Robert Munsch -- they read them in his class and he often picks them out from the library.

In my opinion, you can never go wrong with nice storybooks for kids

[Queenie]

DId some damage to my liver this weekend but will definitely check out alll the books recommended. Thanks all for the recommendations.

[Aliya]

Awww and I thought you were going to read to HoD in bed

Ms A loves books that she can interact with ie lift the flaps on things in the books. She is getting books books and moving games for Xmas so I am really looking forward to our Borders shop I LOVE having kids, from here on it is fun fun fun. MsAII will be 1 year old in 5 months and will be walking by then, cant wait. She LOVES books too. Thank you God for my girls, we have so much fun!

[azzam]

Shall we tell her?

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Shall we tell her?

Az, we may not have to. When does her prescription run out?

[Kooky]

Glad it wasn't just me that had that thought.

[Tas]

oo er handy thread. about to be first time auntie, and figured would take up pile of books this trip as wouldn't be around much and sending by post bit of PItheA. And nice to unwrap at Xmas and ready on the shelf. Going to get range from the cloth chewy ones, cardboard picture ones, and some border line toddler one with a story for mum to read.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

The one drawback about books is they don't travel well - cloth books will be a better bet, but by in large books add up to a ton of extra weight.

[Tas]

I have up to 20kg for a 2day visit, think I'll find some room - paid the ticket and hire car, might as well make use of it with the books, no one else is getting much

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Excellent! Have a great time!