Santa's reading

An email was sent to me asking for ideas for children's books for Christmas - I'm always looking for good recommendations (and quirky books) so thought it was a great idea. From memory - these are some of the books that have been read and loved in our house. There were a LOT more picture books over the years, but that time of my life was dominated by sleep deprivation so I can't remember any of them......

Also these books will mostly appeal to boys aged 5-11 as that's the only experience I have! These first recommendations are however the exception as I've either given as gifts or read myself:

• Fancy Nancy books by Jane O'Connor- hilarious girls books with beautiful illustrations (age 5-7)


• Winnie the Pooh - a classic, loved by all who read it or have it read to them


• The Chronicles of Narnia - another classic


• Magic Faraway Tree and Enchanted Forest - loved by both my boys, me and little girls I know (age 5-11)

The next lot are picture books but a bit more advanced and my boys love them all:

• Asterix - how my 9 year old reads the names of these characters is something to behold! Best read to yourself or get someone who is good at ridiculous names


• Tin tin - Daddy reads most characters, SB reads Tin Tin and JB read snowy (he mostly barks!)


• Julia Donaldsons' books: The Gruffalo, Gruffalo's child and Room on a broom - great stories and fantastic illustrations, perfect to read aloud and use silly voices (ages 5-8)


• The Shaggy Gully Times by Jackie French - very clever and even the pictures tell a story (age 7-9)


• Graeme Base books eg: Enigma, The Waterhole - the drawings in these books are what make them so amazing, but there are hidden pictures and cryptic clues throughout the books to keep them looking and trying to work out mysteries. (ages 7-11)

Lastly, but not least, some recent favourites of the boys:

• Flat Stanley books by Jeff Brown - a boy gets flattened by a falling picture board and has great adventures as a result of being so thin - great concept and good adventures for little boys (age 5-8)


• Andy Griffiths series eg: Just crazy, just stupid, just Macbeth, Zombie Bums from Uranuz and The day my bum went psycho - you get the idea.....


• The Cabbage Patch kids by Paul Jennings - lots of stories of farting and adventures - weird combination but predictably the boys love them (age 7-11)


• Big,big book of Gibblewort the Goblin by Victor Kelleher - an irish goblin is sent to Australia and hates it. He has the worst adventures and is miserable - lots of australiana in it and puss and warts and bad smells - hence they love it (age 6-9)


• Astrosaurs Collection books by Steve Cole: Dinosaurs in space - I think - both boys reading them and loving them but must confess I haven't even looked at one - so that must be a good thing?


• You are a bad man Mr Gum (and the follow up books) by Andy Stanton - I loved these - once again a book I bought purely because I loved the cover but it was excellent and well worth hunting down a copy if you can.

Phew - I know there are more but that should do it for now......