The five-year-old received some lovely books this year for her birthday, a combination of ones that we had found and others that she was given as presents. Five is something of a transitional age for reading. She's interested in chapter books and happily listens along to stories by Roald Dahl but she will also look on when her younger sister is read picture books.
The Little Fairy Sister by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite and Grenbry Outhwaite (National Library of Australia)
This book was a gift, and I'm so glad that it is now part of our collection. It is a popular Australian children's book from the 1920s that has been reproduced by the National Library of Australia from an early edition. The illustrations are representative of illustrations of the Art Nouveau era and the text is not dissimilar to books such Alice In Wonderland.
The Hidden Kingdom: Sippy & Sunny - A Great Barrier Reef Adventure by Vicki Wood and Kelly Elsom (Unclebearskin Productions)
As we have all of the Sippy & Sunny books it was too irresistible to add one more to our collection after mother and daughter authors Vicki Wood and Kelly Elsom released their latest book. It follows Sunny on an underwater adventure and is accompanied by the most beautiful illustrations by Brigitte May. Vicki has a real talent for selecting illustrators to really bring her stories to life in a completely unforgettable way. As with all the other books in this series, it flips and has a French translation on the other side.
When We Were Very Young by AA Milne and illustrations by EH Shepard (Egmont)
It's interesting that even though poetry is less read by the general population as a whole, it still has a way of captivating children. Our son has enjoyed many books of poetry, and we thought that this one might appeal to our daughter. Many of the poems are familiar to me from my own childhood, and I look forward to reading them all over again.
Home by Carson Ellis (Walker Books)
This book is perhaps a little young for her now but the illustrations were hard to pass by. But even though the text is quite simplistic, the illustrations are rich and, hopefully, will provide a talking point. Sometimes books like these can actually provide the opportunity to talk about different topics because the images are the strongest thread.
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No matter how busy the day, and noisy the dinner, story time is always our quiet time. Quality time. Generally it is a one-on-one experience between one parent and one child. Although sometimes another child might listen on.
However, because they are at different levels of interest and understanding, they tend to play while someone else's book is being read.
These are some of the books that we're reading at the moment.
8-YEAR-OLD
We had tried to read The Neverending Story a couple of times before and it didn't hold his interest. However, we explained that sometimes you need to stick with a book for number of pages before it gets interesting. This time around, once he got into the main story, he was hooked. The first part is the story of a boy going into a bookshop and finding the book of the same title. Once we got to the part of the land of Fantasica the eight-year-old really engaged with the story.
4-YEAR-OLD
This year she has started to enjoy chapter books. At first we did The Magic Faraway Tree and then Heidi, which were both well enjoyed. Now we have moved onto our Roald Dahl collection. First up was The BFG, as she recently saw the movie, and now we are reading one of my favourite books, Fantastic Mr Fox.
3-YEAR-OLD
Her attention span is getting better with picture books. She enjoys ones that have an element of repetition. Or the illustrations engage her. We go through stages of reading different books every night and then other times we might read the same two books every night for a week or so. At the moment we're reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt, which both my other children loved too (although her older sister went through a stage of being scared of the bear) and How to Hide a Lion. She likes this because it references The Tiger Who Came To Tea, which we have been reading a lot recently too.
It's always good to get other book ideas, so if you're reading something that your little ones love, please share.
Note:
Throw available here.
Cushion available here.
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The four-year-old has recently started to enjoy longer narratives. A couple of months ago she wanted to start listening to chapter books, just like her older brother.
Initially we started with an Enid Blyton book that she had received as a gift - More Wishing-Chair Stories. It seemed perfectly suited to her. She often talks about sliding down rainbows, and this one has characters that get to do this! It's also about fairies and pixies, and having a playroom at the bottom of a garden. The stories held her attention and were a great introduction to longer narratives. With a picture every couple of pages, it's a hybrid between a picture and chapter book.
Once we finished this book, we started to read one that had been on her bookshelf for a little while. It was a second-hand book that I had picked up at a vintage store, attracted to the cover. There is an inscription inside that is dated 1938. For its age, it's in great condition and many of the stories are just as interesting and entertaining as they would have been all those years ago. I did try to find a link to this particular title but was just deluged with "popular story books" rather than the actual book itself. However, it's worth keeping an eye out for second-hand books with short stories.
Her current read is Sophie's Misfortunes - part of The Fleurville Trilogy. This was another gift, and one that she has thumbed through many times over the years. But now we get to enjoy the story. Sophie is four, which of course has its own appeal, and comes up with crazy ideas about what she wants to do. For example, her mother gave her a tea set and she wanted to drink "real" tea when her friends came over. But her mother said, no. Undeterred, Sophie went out and got some water from the dog's bowl and chalk for sugar and mixed it with clover leaves. When her friends came to visit and drank it, they said it was disgusting. These stories hold our four-year-old's attention and she comments on them. To this story she said, "She should listen to her mummy a bit more, shouldn't she." Every night she asks to read two chapters. At the end of them she's quite tired, as there's a lot of listening involved, but she really enjoys the book.
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Recently when our seven-year-old got a wobbly tooth, I started to search for ideas on how to mark this rite of passage. During my research I came across what seemed to be a great book. It arrived just ahead of him losing his tooth a week or so ago and both he and his sister enjoyed reading about the stories and traditions from different parts of the world.
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof is just that - a precis of how different cultures deal with this milestone in a child's life. And it's quite amazing how many cultures do actually throw the tooth on the roof!
The book started when the author was telling her daughter about the Tooth Fairy and a Brazilian friend questioned what this was. This conversation started an interest in finding out what children around the world do with their teeth when they fall out. She asked people everywhere she went and contacted universities, cultural centres and UNICEF offices around the world to find out the answers.
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While Vicki Wood got off to a late start creating children's books, she's certainly made up for time in the past year. After launching the successful Sippy & Sunny book with daughter Kelly Elsom and illustrator Bec Winnel, in the past 12 months she's released a range of new books.
We wrote about the follow-up to Sippy & Sunny, A Poem for Sippy recently. Now there is another title to add to the growing collection - The Viking Boy. This time the book is brought to life by Brigitte May. Vicki has a knack for finding and collaborating with wonderful illustrators who imbue her stories with their own magic touch.
The Viking Boy tells the story of Captain Finn who has a special relationship with the ocean. He is able to communicate with whales, hear tales of the sea from an albatross and learn about a whale's song that makes grown men cry.
It's a story about respecting the ocean, and all who live in it. It's about looking back in history but also considering the legacy that we leave.
Another special story from Unclebearskin Productions.
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Sometimes unexpected books are the best kind. School boy received How to make Stonehenge out of biscuits - a years worth of crazy ideas! by Tracey Turner from a relative living in the UK. It was a Christmas present that we only picked up a few weeks ago from our postal box due to our move.
While he was excited to receive the gift, after a first reading he was a little frustrated that it was written with an emphasis on Northern Hemisphere seasons. This was probably because a few weeks before he had felt the same disappointment when one of his space books only had a map of the night sky showing stars in the Northern Hemisphere too.
But since then, it has become one of his current favourite books. He asks us to read it often, and reads it at random times of the day too. We are told various random pieces of information from it regularly. It's amazing what children absorb, and what they find interesting.
On January 24 he read about the founding of the Boy Scout movement in the UK. The book makes suggestions about various activities, and for this day it said, why not pitch a tent - even if it's indoors. So that's what he wanted to do. The following day we went out and collected some bamboo to make a frame and hung a piece of fabric and he has been sleeping under his "tent" ever since.
It's a book that appeals to his interest in facts, and general knowledge about the world. And he enjoys the suggested activities. And now the Northern Hemisphere references don't seem to bother him at all.
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The last of the books arrived for our advent book calendar a short while ago and the other night I finished wrapping the last of them to put on display as the selection on our mantle was growing smaller and smaller. (You can read about the other books here and here.)
I thought I'd share the last of the books as many of them would make great Christmas gifts even if you aren't or don't plan doing a future advent book calendar.
Paddington and the Christmas Surprise by Michael Bond
Couldn't resist when I saw this in my local bookshop. We read the original book a couple of Christmases ago, and enjoyed the film. I think this should go down nicely.
Dream Snow by Eric Carle
We have many of Eric Carle's books and they always seem to strike a chord. This one was bought with the littlest in mind.
Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown
A book I discovered on my search for festive titles. The story is about a tree that's alone from the others in the forest. It seems to be a story with a soul.
Christmas in Exeter Street by Diana Hendry
This book appealed as it reminded me a little of my Christmas holidays growing up as a child. Each year my mum and her sister rotated who would host Christmas. We all slept all over each other's homes but created such wonderful memories together that are still some of the strongest of my childhood.
A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig
Picture books don't hold as much interest to the first grader (soon to be second grade) and this one was for him. I read many good reviews before purchasing it, and hope it holds his interest and imagination.
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore
A book from last year which will once again be read on Christmas Eve. It had to be the Classic Edition.
Letters from Father Christmas by J R R Tolkein
We are reading The Hobbit with School Boy every night, and he's hooked so thought this book might appeal to him, as its by the same author.
A Christmas Story by Brian Wildsmith
While we already have one Christmas story within our collection I spotted this one after purchasing the first and was captivated by the illustrations.
Interestingly, the book that has been read the most so far is How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss. It's one we've had for years, but the preschooler has wanted to read it every night since it was opened. She's a big fan of Dr Seuss, in general, and recite many of the stories off by heart. It was also popular with her brother when he was younger too.
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I thought I'd share some more of the books that feature in our advent book calendar. I have to admit that the rest are yet to arrive! I had scoured some local bookshops and one had yet to put out Christmas books - this was two weeks ago - and my local second-hand bookshop didn't really have the sort of books I was looking for. So I bought some online and am eagerly awaiting them. However, as it turns out we only really had room on our mantel for about 12 books at a time so we're going to display the books in two acts.
Of course, even if you're not doing a book calendar, you might want to consider some of these for Christmas gifts.
See the previous post for some more Christmas-themed books.
See our advent activity calendar - which is something we definitely want to revisit again.
The Polar Express by Chris Vans Allsburg
A lovely story that I read a few times with my son last year. I seem to remember even getting a little teary.
Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Stories by Andrew Grey
A new book for the advent calendar. All the children enjoy Winnie-the-Pooh stories - although I think this may now appeal most to my preschool daughter.
The Little Christmas Elf by Nikki Shannon Smith
To keep the cost of the calendar overall a little contained (especially as I wasn't able to find second-hand books as I'd hoped), I bought a few Golden Books. There are many with good stories and they're really affordable too.
The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson
This is another book that I suspect will appeal most to the preschooler - as she's a big fan of Peter Rabbit.
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
This is a book that I bought for my son last year as it had fond memories for me as a child. As it has no text, I expect it to appeal to all of the children in some way.
The Christmas ABC by Florence Johnson
Another Golden Book that I bought with the littlest at the forefront of my mind, although I suspect the preschooler will read along too.
The Christmas Story by Jane Werner Watson
A sweet way to share the Christmas story with all of the children.
Tea and Sugar by Jane Jolly
I came across this book in my local bookshop and was glad to have found it. I had a quick read in-store and enjoyed the story and illustrations. Most of the Australian-themed Christmas books I had found up until then were a little heavy on cheesy observations whereas this one presents itself as a thoughtful and important historical read.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
There are fewer books that are specifically for the school boy as the ones I did find are longer, and anticipate we will read together over several nights, including this version of Charles Dickens classic story illustrated by Yelena Bryksenkova.
What Do You Wish For? by Jane Godwin
The illustrations initially pulled me in, but then I read the story and felt it would be one that the preschooler would enjoy. And I've since realised it is by the same illustrator as Dotty Sprinkles, which the littlest loves.
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Last year we created an advent activity calendar that was lots of fun, and I had hoped we would continue this year. However, due to a few factors beyond our control, we have to press pause on this idea for now. Instead, I thought the children might enjoy an advent book calendar.
We have accumulated a few Christmas-themed books over the years and I have gone out and bought some more, and plan to hit a few second-hand bookshops to see if I have any luck there too. (Today I went out and a few of my local bookshops didn't actually have children's Christmas books yet.)
Here are some of the books we mostly bought last Christmas, and I have to say they were all a big hit.
The plan is to wrap all of the books and open one a day. While each book will appeal to different children and different ages, I think (and hope) that the activity will be enjoyable for all.
The Nutcracker by Stephanie Spinner
My daughter fell in love with this book and its accompanying musical CD last year. We are actually going to see a live performance of it, and cannot wait to read the book again.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss
We have had this book for quite a few years and it is always a book that gets read over and over again. It's one of many Dr Seuss books that I can recite almost the whole thing - the children too!
The Jolly Christmas Postman by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg
My son received this as a gift several years ago and it's been well-loved by himself and his sister. Most pages have a little related activity - such as a jigsaw puzzle - that always get played with too.
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jane Ray
Beautifully illustrated and a popular book last year. You can read our review here.
The Christmas Wish by Lori Evert
This was another popular book with my daughter last year. We spoke about it a lot in relation to our trip to Finland.
Madeline's Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans
A beautiful read that was pulled out many times at bedtime over the Christmas period last year.
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This time last year I was feeling a lot more organised for Christmas. But then this time last year we weren't doing lots of building work on the house, and about to undergo some major life changes (more on that later, if the planets align) with a lot of uncertainty hanging over our heads.
Initially I didn't think I was doing too badly as I had session on Pinterest a little while back and picked out some beautiful toys that I thought would make great presents. I'm still going back to this compilation to consult it, as well as go over a list that I've started to compile in my notebook.
Each year there are some categories that I like to cover off:
PJs - This year I've decided to get short-sleeved sets and nighties given that Christmas is in summer, and the children already have lots of long-sleeved pairs. My daughter has also asked me more than once if she can get new star pyjamas (from G Nancy) as she's outgrown her others. Couldn't resist the cat illustration nighties though. I got the short-sleeved version of the white star PJs for my son.
Books - Every year I like to buy each child a new book. My son's school class started reading Charlotte's Web recently but they only read the first few chapters. It's one of my favourite books from childhood so I bought it so we can read it together. The four-year-old has the other Ruby Red Shoes book, and so I thought she might enjoy Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris. And the two-year-old is a big fan of the other Eric Carle books, and The Bad-Tempered Ladybird is one of the few that we don't already own.
Socks - While not perhaps the most exciting presents for them, new socks are required from time to time and it's a great stocking filler. Recently, we were one of the winners in the Smallable birthday prize competition so I've picked out these socks for the girls.
Clothing - I always think it's nice to have some clothes associated with Christmas, especially if they are items that can be then worn on the day. Over the weekend, I'm going to log onto Printebebe and maybe get the girls these dresses.
Games - Overall, I'm not a huge fan of games and toys. I find that they don't get used a whole heap (certainly not at this age with my little ones) - nothing in comparison to our art and craft supplies, which we already have ample. However, I do like the educational element of this Cuisenaire set, and my son is obsessed with numbers and fractions.
Something practical - My son needs a new bike helmet and I like the look and sound of these Egg helmets as they're suitable for multiple sports.
Stocking fillers - Every year Santa brings a mango and some nuts for the children. No chocolates, though. He's very health conscious! (And grandparents seem to supply enough of those for everyone.)
No doubt there will be some other little bits and pieces that we will pick up along the way, but this feels like a good start.
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