Children's Picture Books

is that russell hoban the same one that wrote RIDDLEY WALKER??

mo willems' first pigeon book is marvy:

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but he seems to have published like five others which is a bit much sigh

this thread is helpful. i have been trying to work out what to buy my nephew for christmas.

This is an excellent thread.

The Gruffalo books are NOT rubbish!

You're obviously just not getting the scansion / rhythm right when reading them out loud.

Similarly (preens self) Fox in Socks is a BLAST to read out loud. (I do it very well.)

The second Gruffalo book was my special present to Felix last Yule (sniffs).

Our best find was a Dutch book about a rabbit in the clouds that Carolyn picked up in Rotterdam and is fantastic.

My 7 and 8 year olds have just finished the Mr Gum Trilogy - mad stories that involve a biscuit billionaire, a butcher called Billy William The Third, Friday O'Leary and a lauderette owner called ...Martin Lauderette!!!

vastly silly and really rather brilliant.

WOEBOT said:

oh and not forgetting who's mouse are you:

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I can still recite this off by heart, and do occasionally when very, very drunk, without anyone even asking.

My favourites, and also those of my nephew and my ex's daughter, alongside 'Whose Mouse', were

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble


which still makes me cry

The Pig Who Was A Nothing


which pretty much set me up with all of my ethics,

and the story of Ping, which I'd be surprised if Zhao doesn't know as well


For later boy readers it has to be the Captain Cobweb series, and Vicky totally loved the original of Mary Poppins, which is waaaaay creepy but she was a dark child.

Lichen said:

But really, really hard to read..."slow Joe crow sews whose clothes?...slow Jow crow sews Sue's clothes...."
arrrrgghh!

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Which is of course no match for Luke Luck and his licking of lakes (not to mention his duck). I can get a pretty good rhythm going most of the time but that section throws off my mojo without fail.

for some reason i had lots of books about cats when i was little

Fungus the Bogeyman's pop-up book was always a favorite of mine. Really good gross-out stuff!

I have resurrected this thread mainly because I am now having to say goodbye to the picture books that have given me and my kids so much pleasure.

At 8 and 9 they no longer want to have those big beautiful books read to them at night - instead they show an unhealthy obsession with the Secret Seven! Other things they have enjoyed have been: Lemony Snicket, Murpurgo, Allen Alberg's Gaskitt family series, the genius that is Mr Gum (you have got to check him out), C S Lewis and the first Harry Potter (although we tend to agree that the film was better - not something you will generally hear in our house) but maybe the loveliest book we have read is this:


It's a beautifully made book that alternates between pictures and written chapters and had both me and the boys desperate to find out what happens next.

anyway any recommendations for that difficult age when they are not quite entirely independent readers or just when they still want to be read to?

mistersloane said:

For later boy readers it has to be the Captain Cobweb series

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Crikey, I think you're the first person I've ever met who's actually read the Captain Cobweb books. They were brilliant. I seem to remember the last one, Red Transistor, being the best & nastiest although the one with the pirates had that amazing evil captain who'd peck people to death with the cutlass he had in place of a nose

CHAOTROPIC said:

Crikey, I think you're the first person I've ever met who's actually read the Captain Cobweb books. They were brilliant. I seem to remember the last one, Red Transistor, being the best & nastiest although the one with the pirates had that amazing evil captain who'd peck people to death with the cutlass he had in place of a nose

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Serious? I don't think I ever got to that one, just 'Cowboys' and another one, I still want a 'blue spot' tattoo so I can call if I'm in trouble.