Here is a lovely guest post from Jane, enjoy!
Hello, my name is Jane, and I blog at
Is
That You Darling. When I offered to guest blog for
Helen, I wasn’t sure at first what I wanted to write about. But
when I realised that Helen is a fellow book lover, and is of course a
mummy, I thought I’d write about some of my favourite children’s
books.
This seems as though it’s a good fit
for Helen’s blog, as she has her own little Alfie! The Alfie of
Shirley Hughes’ imagination is almost exactly the same age as me,
having first appeared in 1981, but he’ll remain a little boy
forever in the wonderful drawings that Shirley Hughes uses to
illustrate her stories. I love all the Alfie stories, but this one,
where Alfie runs into the house before his mum and accidentally locks
himself in, has to be my favourite.
Even without having a child of my own,
I know how popular the books of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
have become. The Gruffalo is obviously a big favourite, but my own
personal favourite is Monkey Puzzle. I read it to the children when I
worked at a nursery a few years ago, and I fell in love with it. It’s
a joy to read aloud, as it has a lovely rhyming structure, and it’s
a very sweet story. Will Monkey ever find his mum?
This is another wonderful book to read
aloud; I’m a big fan of a rhyme in a children’s book
(particularly for small children) because it gives your voice a
natural rhythm. Janet and Allan Ahlberg are throwbacks to my own
childhood - a long time ago! - with books like Funnybones,
Burglar Bill and Please Mrs Butler. Each Peach Pear
Plum incorporates lots of different nursery rhyme and fairytale
characters in such a clever way.
This is a book for much older children
than those I have mentioned previously, but it’s another old
favourite of mine, so I had to include it! Stanley wakes up one day
and finds that he is as flat as a pancake, having been flattened by a
giant pinboard while he slept. Taking advantage of the situation, he
posts himself to California for a holiday, and helps to foil an art
robbery by posing as a painting in a gallery. This book is such a lot
of fun, and would be great for a seven or eight year old.
Matilda ~ Roald Dahl
Another childhood favourite of mine is
Matilda. The main character being a bookworm is definitely
what appealed to me, but I do think it’s a lovely story with that
old macabre Dahl humour lurking. I could easily recommend any of his
books; they are all so wonderful, but this is number one in my book.
There are a number of other books that
I see as essential childhood reads, including the Harry Potter
series, the Mallory Towers series, and any number of Michael
Morpurgo books. As someone without any children of my own, I am not
exposed to many new children’s books, hence why the majority of my
picks are of the vintage variety!
Aw I used to love Matilda x
ReplyDeleteBeautyqueenuk xx
Me too!!! :-) xx
DeleteFlat Stanley is a book I love!! I still have my copy from when I was little! That and any Roald Dahl book. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI have had 3 lovely guest posts this month :-) I loved Roald Dahl books too! xx
DeleteYou write so nice! And the books you told us about is wonderful and beautiful! I want to buy them for my child! Thank you! You know, my friend showed me this writing service https://essayfactory.uk/ when I told him I have to write a great essay for my University. And they wrote for me a really good work. So, I am going to use this service again.
ReplyDelete