We own about 500 children’s books. I know because one rainy day last spring we counted them. We are members at three different libraries. My Amazon basket is perpetually full to bursting with more titles that I mostly try to resist buying. I love other people’s booklists and I love perusing other people’s bookshelves.
This is our list: the books we return to time and again, the first ones I would rescue from a very small fire if I had a very large trolley. It is hopelessly incomplete but it’s a start.
Babyhood
Peepo by Janet and Allen Ahlberg
The Very Busy Spider and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg
Toddle Waddle by Julia Donaldson
Car Car Truck Jeep by Nick Sharratt
Picture Books
Dogger by Shirley Hughes (classic story of a boy losing his favourite toy)
The Lion and the Unicorn by Shirley Hughes (longer story of an evacuee)
Lucy and Tom’s Day, Lucy and Tom’s Christmas, Lucy and Tom at the Seaside by Shirley Hughes
The Alfie stories by Shirley Hughes (gentle stories that fascinate children: the school art competition, the boy who loses his mum at a plant fair, Alfie locking his mum out of the house. If I had to live in an illustration it would be in Alfie’s family kitchen)
The Children’s Book of Heroes by William J. Bennett (the sort of stories teachers used to read in assemblies. Great illustrations.)
Old Bear Stories by Jane Hissey
Can’t You Sleep Little Bear by Martin Waddell
The Blue Balloon and other Kipper Stories by Mick Inkpen
Percy the Park Keeper series by Nick Butterworth
Everybody Has a Body and Splat by Jon Burgerman (silly but very enjoyable)
And the train goes by William Bee (a must for any train-obsessed child)
Hairy Maclary books by Lynley Dodd
Flotsam by David Wiesner (no words at all, just fantastic pictures)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea and all the Mog stories by Judith Kerr
The Happy Lion by Louise Fatio
Where do Speedboats Sleep at Night? by Brianna Caplan Sayres (ok, I wouldn’t save this from the fire, but I would tell my son I tried really hard)
A World Full of Dickens Stories by Angela McAllister
Aesop’s Fables by Michael Morpurgo
There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent
Stick Man, Paper Dolls, and the Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
Burglar Bill and Cops and Robbers by Janet and Allen Ahlberg
The Night Gardener by the Fan Brothers
Mrs Armitage on Wheels by Quentin Blake
Don’t Worry Little Crab by Chris Haughton
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Georghia Ellinas
Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, and What Do People Do All Day by Richard Scarry (these are literary Valium to me but the children adore them)
Pip and Posy books by Axel Scheffler
A Witch Got on at Paddington Station by Dyan Sheldon and Wendy Smith
The Book with no Pictures by B J Novak
Thomas the Tank Engine by Rev. W. Awdry
Five Minutes’ Peace by Jill Murphy
Beatrix Potter
Brambly Hedge stories by Jill Barklem
Winnie the Pooh stories by A A Milne
Usborne Illustrated Stories from India by Anja Klauss
Can Bears Ski? by Raymond Antrobus (about a bear with hearing difficulties who gets a hearing aid)
The Story Orchestra books by Jessica Courtney-Tickle (Gorgeous illustrations and the sound quality is surprisingly good for a book. We have the Nutcracker, the Magic Flute, and the Four Seasons.)
Chapter Books
Paddington by Michael Bond
All the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (if I could only rescue one it might be this. The children loved it so, so much.)
The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliffe (pretty gruesome in places and I had to censor on the fly as I read it aloud!)
Non-fiction
Great Adventurers by Alastair Humphreys (see post here)
The Pebble in my Pocket by Meredith Hooper (geology)
Tom Crean’s Rabbit by Meredith Hooper (Terra Nova expedition)
Manfish by Jennifer Berne (Jacques Cousteau)
Shark Lady by Jess Keating (Eugenie Clark)
Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt (Mary Anning)
Moth by Isabel Thomas (evolution)
Ladybird Adventures from History series by L. Du Garde Peach, especially Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Captain Scott, and James I and the Gunpowder Plot
The Little People, Big Dreams series, especially Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo. These books were good up to age 4 or 5 but after that we wanted something a bit meatier so we moved on to…
Who Was books, especially Who Was Harriet Tubman, Who Was Ernest Shackleton, Who Was Alexander the Great.
If you’ve made it to the end, I’d love to know what you think is missing. What’s on your list? What should we read next?
Thanks Catherine! Such a helpful list. Alfie is a favourite here too, we also listen on YOTO. Loving your blog, what a great idea xx
Great list! Would the Swallows and Amazons’ books be a good addition?