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Hello hive mind
I'm in need of new reading material for Little One who is nearly 4. I'm keen to get reading more wordy things with her. We like Dogger and the Alfie/Annie Rose books (I also adore Shirley Hughes' illustrations), also Julia Donaldson (of course) with Favourites being Zog (well, mummy is a Doctor Princess) and Tiddler
Any suggestions for what to progress on to? I know David Walliams writes well and we have a CD of stories for the Very Young (There's a Snake in My School, First Hippo on the Moon, ..) but what books should I looks for? I'm short of time to go actually look in a book shop at present.
Might be time to start on some of the shorter Roald Dahl's.. Twits or Revolting Rhymes
Anything else to look out for?
Thanks in advance
Brief History Of Time
Keep it short, keep it fun.
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy! Short, fun and brilliant use of language.
The whole Oi! series, of course! Silly, funny stuff.
The Ten Little... series are good fun, too.
Usborne do excellent abridged versions of the classics which are superb. Nice short chapters. The Greek myth ones are full on blood and thunder, myths and monsters. Sublime!
We have my wife’s copy of ‘Dogger’ from when she was a girl, oh how language changes, the name still amuses me.
Watching with interest, my daughter is 4 next month and sounds like she’s got similar tastes.
LittleMissHall is the same age and i'm reading A sheepdog called Sky to her at bedtime. She likes the Naughty Amelia Jane stories along with the What the ladybird heard series by Julia Donaldson along with anything else by her.
She has Revolting Rhymes and we just abridge/change some of the words in the stories to be a bit more 4 year old friendly.
Yeah keep it simple
Beware of the Frog
The Hairy Toe
Julia Donaldson
Find the dinosaur type books (where's Wally for younger kids) always popular
Rob Biddulph is going down very well here at the moment with Odd Dog Out, Sunk, etc
" A First Nature Book" by Nicola Davies. I picked it up randomly years ago and we still love to read it from time to time. A mixture of poetry and prose.
It's actually " A First Book of Nature"...
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
Oliver Jeffers books are great fun too
Favourites include: Little Red, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel all by Beth Woollvin (very cool takes on the originals); Secret of Black Rock, and Marcy & The Sphinx by Joe Todd Stanton; Cops and Robbers by J & J Ahlberg; and all the T S Elliot cat stories (McCavity, Skimbleshanks, and Mr. Mistoffelees)
At the ripe old age of 4 3/4, our son has recently been enjoying ‘chapter books’ and is constantly asking if we’ll read another chapter. The favourites so far is The Boy who Grew Dragons and its various sequels.
We’ve also really enjoyed the Enchanted Wood (Enid Blighton) and Cherry Tree Farm books (as an audiobook in the car), although those sound a bit quaint now. The boy doesn’t seem to mind and has been learning a lot about different animals.
Bears in the Night. An all time classic and one that I read and had read to me countless times. I still have the very copy I had when I was 4 and have read it to babybgoode many times too.
Cleverly written as well, very few words and builds up the sentences and then drops them back down. Lovely rhythm to it as well.
I can heartily recommend Rabbit and Bear books:
https://toppsta.com/books/series/12131/rabbit-and-bear
Take about 20 minutes to read through, your challenge is to do each character with a different regional accent.A cockney vole and scouse mouse are my favourites.
Dr Seuss, old but gold.
Frog and Toad and Tales of Oliver Pig are nice gentle stories that double up as early readers too.
The Worst Princess is a fun story - but another picture book, not especially wordy.
My kids liked the Winnie the Witch books, though I found them a bit of a drag - good pictures though. They still read picture books to each other now - at 10 and 12! Their current favourite is The Prince and The Porker.
Lauren Child has load and loads of books that are worth checking out - more than just Charlie and Lola (which are fun).
That's not my...
* Dragon
* Dog
* Dinosaur
* Bunny...
There's hundreds of them. My kids loved them (Usborne books)
That's not my mountain bike... it's too dirty and looks like it's been ridden.
(Edit - maybe books aimed at too young - 4 seems a long time ago now)
Oi Frog. Sit on a log etc...
Makes me chuckle every time
Katie Morag books. My boys loved them. Great for your daughter to have a girl as lead character.
It's not about being comfortable, it's about doing the right thing.
We have most of the Oi! books, but we have had Oi Duckbilled Platypus and Oi Puppies form the library (remember that place???).
I've also been studiously collecting the Hair Maclary (and Slinki Mailinki) books, I don't think we're missing many 😊
And I think we have the full set of What the Ladybird Heard books, including the latest one signed by JD
I remember the Katie Morag books from being little - I think my mum was very keen, what with us growing up on a wee island.
A first book of Nature looks superb and has gone on the list.
Rabbit and Bear looks nice, but I'm looking to stretch her to some more wordy stuff
I don't know the Oliver Pig books, I'll have a look at them.
Thanks all
Knock knock dinosaur or Pirate or Alien are good. As are Bathroom Boogie and Kitchen Disco.
Mine loved the 'Sir Charlie Stinky Socks' series, great how the pages fold out.
Oliver Jeffers books are great fun too
All my kids loved these 👌