Well this one’s because picture books are one of my favourite things in the world…and I read a lot of them. Also Zeph would like to get in on the action. Ida seems to have favourites that last a week or two and are constantly re read and HAVE to be read at bedtime. Some I like more than others and I’m not above hiding the bad ones under the sofa. It’s funny how 20 consecutive reads quickly weed out the chaff…
Ida is two and Zeph is eight and at the moment the house echoes to the sound of:
24/03/11
Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne
We recently extracted the picture books from Zeph’s bedroom shelves to give him more room and brought them all downstairs. Which meant we unearthed lots of favourites. I was overjoyed when Ida selected this one for her bedtime obsession as I adore the illustrations. It really is a glowing jewel of a book – the pictures hum with vibrancy and a thousand multi faceted gleaming insects. Ida is in complete collusion with the fruit-eating animals and is, after a gazillion reads, still in fits of laughter at Handa’s surprise at the end. Aside from loving it because it’s beautiful I also love it’s conveyance of a functioning, fruitful Africa.
Ten in a Bed by Penny Dale
I love this because you can sing it. Quite fast. There’s lots to look at in the pictures and I defy any parent not to be amused by the irony of the last few animals “falling” out. Falling? toddler hurled more like. Ida is endlessly tickled by the toys raiding the kitchen for milk and biscuits. It’s one that has definitely grown on me.
No Matter What by Debi Gliori
Blimey this is a fantastic book. When it was published I was working as a children’s bookseller. It was my first job after the life changing melt-break down and I was trying to make a good impression on my co-workers. It wasn’t helped by the fact I welled up when looking at this book, selling it to someone or even just shelving it. Even now after a dreadful day Zeph and I will read it together because he’s quite often a grim and grumpy little small. It’s about a big fox reassuring a small fox that he/she is loved, no matter what. It’s ends on a very profound note about love never dying which made it a regular and often read book when Zeph’s adored Granny died when he was four. It’s always a pleasure to read and gives a message that can’t be reiterated too often.
Zeph is re-reading the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo. The first time round we read them to him as bedtime books and thrilling it was too. I think The Snow Spider trilogy by this author is a classic and she’s a fantastic writer. It makes a massive difference compared with some of the “boy” series that publishers like scholastic churn out. I love that Zeph loves them and gobbles them up but it’s also great to alternate that stuff with books with a bit more substance. I am so happy that he wants to go back and read these books himself now he’s a bit older. There’s twelve so I wasn’t sure if he’ll get through them but when tucking him in last night I saw he’s halfway through the third. I feel like rereading them myself.
25/02/11
Ida: Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts
We adore this, Donaldson’s rhythmic prose is always a joy to read and though I really like Axel Schefflers illustrations in her other books I am deeply in love with sleekly rotund Drip and the backgrounds with the volcanos and bones are really pleasing. Ida especially loves the eggs with claws and feet sticking out – she likes to identify them on the newly hatched dinosaurs over the page and the Tyrannosaurs have to be extremely booming and plummy toned, I think it’s the “up with hunting” cry, I just can’t help myself and now if they don’t sound like an aggressive Nancy Mitford character she is devastated. Definitely a good one, I don’t mind how long this run goes on.
Zeph is reading Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh.
It’s always really gratifying when he picks up one of the books from my childhood rather than whatever werewolf series he’s currently enthralled by. This is a cracker about a girl who befriends the disposed king of cats and goes through a series of magical adventures to restore him to his throne. Funny, thrilling and suitably exciting. Zeph seems more impressed that at nine Rosemary is allowed out into London on her own than any of the magic stuff. It must be okay as he’s nagging me to find the other two books in the trilogy…I know they’re here somewhere…hmmm.
oh ‘the kingdom of carbonel’ was my secret childhood love and i didn’t know there were two other books