Gorgeous. I'd completely forgotten Old Bear! We're currently making our way through everything Shirley Hughes ever wrote, and there's nothing like seeing my daughter as enchanted by them as I was thirty-cough years ago.
Thanks, Lauren. And, of course, Shirley Hughes, yes! My personal favourite of hers is Dogger, about Alfie’s beloved stuffed toy dog who gets lost through the railings and ends up on the second hand stall at the school fair. DRAMA! I bring that one out frequently, but could I find it when I wanted to photograph my favourites? I could not. So it got omitted.
That’s good to know, Ingrid. I thought of including shopping links, but with Substackers scattered around the globe, decided that wouldn’t be so helpful. I think a couple might only be available second hand (Wilson’s World, definitely) but most are in print.
Such memories . Beautifully written . I loved the grandchildren scraping up the patio grout . It was very quiet in my small garden . I should have known … but I was enjoying 2 mins rest . They’d moved all the gravel from one end of garden path to the other . I was stunned . The effort and planning involved . I just laughed ! It was so bizarre
Thank you, Lib. Ha! It’s amazing how industrious small children can be, especially when they work as a team. I used to have a flower bed neatly lined with decorative stones. Now the stones are scattered everywhere. Mini-beasts and quarrying. It’s all they care about!
A highlight of my time as a teaching assistant was reading to my class of five and six year olds. Normally chatty and fidgety, they would sit on the carpet transfixed and often with thumb in mouth. Their favourite books were the classics. Mine too. I could read The Tiger Who Came To Tea over and over and they would never tire of it. Sadly, the curriculum is so full these days that it's hard to fit in story time which is a huge shame. For some children it's the only time they get to listen to a story read from an actual book.
Thank you, Brigitte. You'd think with reading being a prop of the curriculum that story time would be sacrosanct! There still seems a good focus on individual reading in the UK, judging from my granddaughter's book bag, at least. But having a range of books in school that really fire up children's interest is more of a lottery. Biff and Chip are good for learning the basics at primary school but can quickly get tedious, so it depends what else is on offer.
Our library was in a double decker bus! The children in my class couldn't wait to get to year three as it meant they got to go on the top deck to choose a book to take home. They had so many books to choose from. The boys mostly going for non-fiction whilst the girls invariably chose anything with a fairy or puppy on the front cover. Anything by by Julia Donaldson was popular and we had multiple copies of all of her books.
When I first started out as a TA over twenty years ago, I listened to every child read daily and they read through the whole Biff and Chip scheme. I got to know the books very well. Sadly, you'll rarely see a Biff and Chip book at school, especially those that are aimed at early readers.
Ah, so lovely. My sister has a one-year-old daughter, so we're just unearthing our favorites, letting our kids choose their favorites to send her. The Hairy MacClary books are huge in Australia, so my Aussie family sent us those, and they were in constant rotation in our house. She's such a genius. Along with them, Seuss, Sandra Boynton books, Jamberry, and Goodnight Moon were just so much fun to say out loud.
Other greatest hits for us, ones we read to our kids:
Like you, we read lots of the Mr. Men books, and even 10-12 years ago, I remember some of those seeming past their prime. The worst, though, was one of my favorites from childhood: "The Giving Tree". I was so excited to read it to my daughter. I'd remembered it as a simple tale of love and generosity, and upon returning to it all those years later, it was far sadder and more complicated than I'd recalled!
Anyway, thanks for the great piece. It's so lovely returning to the favorites with a new generation of wide-eyed kids. I'm looking forward to reading some of our faves to my niece at Thanksgiving, and one day... if we're lucky, the grandkids. 💛
Thanks, Rob, and for adding your own family favourites. I’ll check out those I don’t already know.
It is odd when you revisit a childhood book and it’s not quite how you remembered. I read some of those Victorian classics as a child, like The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley. I was startled by how weird and convoluted it was when I read it to my daughters. I skipped whole chunks. Haven’t bothered with it since!
We loved the Tiger Who Came to Tea too. I think Judith Kerr was writing and illustrating well into her late 90s. My own favourites a child were The Rich Man and the Shoemaker by Brian Wildsmith and Harquin the Fox by John Birmingham - both wonderful author illustrators. It really as a golden age of children's books!
Peepo by the Ahlbergs...for some reason I never got to the end without welling up and a lump in my throat. In fact, that's happening now as I think about it. And you are right about Zagazoo, it's the perfect book about parenting!
Thanks, Sarah. I used to have an Ahlberg collection, including Peepo, but they didn’t survive. I have Each Peach Pear Plum and my 6-year old granddaughter has a new copy of The Jolly Postman at her house!
Aww what a lovely post . I remember the majority of those books as I read them to my children. My personal favourite is good night moon , a couple more are Maurice Sendak in the night kitchen and where the wild things are , my dad used to read to me Enid blyton the wishing chair, great memories 😁
Thanks, Francis. I looked up Goodnight Moon recently, because the illustrator was Clement Hurd, same as Wilson's World. Edith and Clement Hurd were good friends with its author, Margaret Wise Brown. I'd never read it before! I think more famous in the US than the UK.
I've got Where the Wild Things Are – need to get it out next time. I haven't read In the Night Kitchen. Will look for that.
The Wishing Chair and The Faraway tree were big favourites of my children. (And I loved anything Enid Blyton when I was a child.) We'll be moving on to those soon, hopefully!
Oo. Lovely Wendy. I've only recently come out of reading these with my son, so this really resonates. Dr Seuss is one of my top. The Places You'll Go... He'll still enjoy a good Mr. Men from time to time, aged 10. The tv versions were fab too. Though not one for pulling literary punches, I remember doing the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner too with him when he was about 4, poor chap. It went down surprisingly well. I remember later in life at a retreat house there were evenings where adults would down tools and have a story read to them by the fire, like proper kids story, Winnie the Pooh or something, and it felt so good.
Thanks, Seb. I love The Places You’ll Go too. It’s a really philosophical one.
I’m not sure I’ve ever read the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner!
My youngest toddler granddaughter raids her mum & dad’s very literary bookshelves (they’re both English grads) and lies back, turns the pages and babbles, as if reading them to herself. Goethe and such. Big ambitions!
Oh man, I love Quentin Blake and am a collector of his "Monster" books. Recently I decided to read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to my son and whoa! I did not remember what a misogynistic society she lived in. Wife stays home in apron serving husband etc...
Beautiful. And such great memories of reading to my children and being read to by my mother. The Tiger who came to Tea was a huge favorite. How about We’re Going on A Bear Hunt?! Mine loved it!! And I Want My Potty of course!!! And Mog! And Bunny… awww it’s made me quite nostalgic. I remember my mother reading Little Black Sambo which would never be read now…. I wonder if it’s still in print. I adored all the My Naughty Little Sister books… i even read them to my younger siblings. You have quite the collection, so lovely to have kept them. I’m afraid we moved so many times and my husband is the opposite of me and hated to hoard things so all those books got given away. Thank you for this lovely piece, Wendy❤️
Thanks, Francesca! There are some that fell apart with use and weren't replaced, including We're Going on a Bear Hunt. And Mog! My daughters have the Mog books in their own homes.
I didn't read the My Naughty Little Sister series. Suspect my mum would have thought them a bad influence. And pretty sure there are some books from our childhoods that are out of print for a reason!
It's lovely to bring out saved favourites that survived little hands. as the grandchildren grow into them. And glad to see most of them are still available now.
Wendy - a wonderful read from you again - you really are very talented - weaving together stories that tug at our memories and heart strings from our younger pasts, as children, teenagers and young adults.
I especially love Judith Kerr’s forgetful Mog (I’m cat mad); any ladybird books (Pat the dog from the Peter and Jane series- my first dog I owned as an adult was a red setter); Sam McBratney’s Guess How Much I love you and the the French translated series Nicolas by René Goscinny (known for Asterix).
Thanks, Andy. Some books didn’t survive. I used to love the book Five Minutes’ Peace by Jill Murphy when my girls were little (can’t think why!) and that got read to destruction.
I have a copy of Where the Wild Things Are but the grandchildren haven’t discovered it yet. I’ll get it out next time!
I hadn’t fully appreciated the genius of Mr Men until I saw the two youngest girls “discussing” them together as babies. Totally immersed, babbling away, exchanging books with each other, asking me the name of every character on the back! Even my son didn’t get into them THAT much!
My children also enjoyed pretty much all of this reading list, also many books by Shirley Hughes, which don't appear on this list - not favourites of yours? I am now a grandad, which is largely joyous, and definitely easier than being a dad. Reading to my grandchildren is a great pleasure, although they live in Scotland (quite a long way from my part of Spain) but I occasionally record stories on video for them. Recently, I tried some of AA Milne's poetry, ie: When we were very young. Also Spike Miligan's Silly Verse for Kids, which I had enjoyed as a child. I was interested to see if/how those books crossed 2 generations. On the whole they were well received, but particularly with the AA Milne, we see a very different world, with clear examples of the popular attitudes and values of its time, which are problematic today. I found the same thing watching Camberwick Green and Trumpton with my grandsons. They weren't exactly enthralled, but it held their attention. Although, to be honest, I think they remained engaged out of courtesy, because they could see that I was enjoying it.
Thanks, Chris – this is great! Yes, Shirley Hughes is another favourite, I just couldn’t find her books when I was collecting things together for my photos! Dogger, her story about Alfie’s stuffed toy dog that gets lost through the railings and ends up on the second hand stall at the school fair, is one of my all-time favourites, and my six-year old granddaughter loves it.
The other grandchildren are still tots, so we focus on the early picture books, but I’ve saved books for all ages. It’s a joy to rediscover them with a new audience. I’ll dig out AA Milne and Spike Milligan, thanks for the reminder!
On TV, the six-year old and three year old are now Thunderbirds fanatics, my own fave show from the ‘60s!
One book of many that stuck in my mind was Judith Kerr’s ‘When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit’. Just went to look it up and see it was made into a film in 2019. Must check it out. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Hitler_Time#When_Hitler_Stole_Pink_Rabbit
I need to get hold of that book, Jacqui. I think the six-year old will probably be ready to read it before long.
I think I was about 10 when I read it. Pretty harrowing.
Gorgeous. I'd completely forgotten Old Bear! We're currently making our way through everything Shirley Hughes ever wrote, and there's nothing like seeing my daughter as enchanted by them as I was thirty-cough years ago.
Thanks, Lauren. And, of course, Shirley Hughes, yes! My personal favourite of hers is Dogger, about Alfie’s beloved stuffed toy dog who gets lost through the railings and ends up on the second hand stall at the school fair. DRAMA! I bring that one out frequently, but could I find it when I wanted to photograph my favourites? I could not. So it got omitted.
I'm saving this article for when I do my Christmas shopping. I love giving books to expand my nieces and nephews libraries.
That’s good to know, Ingrid. I thought of including shopping links, but with Substackers scattered around the globe, decided that wouldn’t be so helpful. I think a couple might only be available second hand (Wilson’s World, definitely) but most are in print.
Such memories . Beautifully written . I loved the grandchildren scraping up the patio grout . It was very quiet in my small garden . I should have known … but I was enjoying 2 mins rest . They’d moved all the gravel from one end of garden path to the other . I was stunned . The effort and planning involved . I just laughed ! It was so bizarre
Thank you, Lib. Ha! It’s amazing how industrious small children can be, especially when they work as a team. I used to have a flower bed neatly lined with decorative stones. Now the stones are scattered everywhere. Mini-beasts and quarrying. It’s all they care about!
A highlight of my time as a teaching assistant was reading to my class of five and six year olds. Normally chatty and fidgety, they would sit on the carpet transfixed and often with thumb in mouth. Their favourite books were the classics. Mine too. I could read The Tiger Who Came To Tea over and over and they would never tire of it. Sadly, the curriculum is so full these days that it's hard to fit in story time which is a huge shame. For some children it's the only time they get to listen to a story read from an actual book.
Thank you, Brigitte. You'd think with reading being a prop of the curriculum that story time would be sacrosanct! There still seems a good focus on individual reading in the UK, judging from my granddaughter's book bag, at least. But having a range of books in school that really fire up children's interest is more of a lottery. Biff and Chip are good for learning the basics at primary school but can quickly get tedious, so it depends what else is on offer.
Did your school have a well stocked library?
Our library was in a double decker bus! The children in my class couldn't wait to get to year three as it meant they got to go on the top deck to choose a book to take home. They had so many books to choose from. The boys mostly going for non-fiction whilst the girls invariably chose anything with a fairy or puppy on the front cover. Anything by by Julia Donaldson was popular and we had multiple copies of all of her books.
When I first started out as a TA over twenty years ago, I listened to every child read daily and they read through the whole Biff and Chip scheme. I got to know the books very well. Sadly, you'll rarely see a Biff and Chip book at school, especially those that are aimed at early readers.
Ah, so lovely. My sister has a one-year-old daughter, so we're just unearthing our favorites, letting our kids choose their favorites to send her. The Hairy MacClary books are huge in Australia, so my Aussie family sent us those, and they were in constant rotation in our house. She's such a genius. Along with them, Seuss, Sandra Boynton books, Jamberry, and Goodnight Moon were just so much fun to say out loud.
Other greatest hits for us, ones we read to our kids:
Press Here (https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/press-here-1?srsltid=AfmBOoow9Umn5faNrQypLNpn2Ocb4wrpssf3zxrZpl722IdPf8I9Z8iS) Such a tactile, active reading experience.
City Dog, Country Frog (https://mowillemsworkshop.com/catalog/books/product/city-dog-country-frog). This one got me, every time. 😭
Zen Shorts (https://www.parnassusbooks.net/book/9780439339117) Such beautiful stories and illustrations.
Like you, we read lots of the Mr. Men books, and even 10-12 years ago, I remember some of those seeming past their prime. The worst, though, was one of my favorites from childhood: "The Giving Tree". I was so excited to read it to my daughter. I'd remembered it as a simple tale of love and generosity, and upon returning to it all those years later, it was far sadder and more complicated than I'd recalled!
Anyway, thanks for the great piece. It's so lovely returning to the favorites with a new generation of wide-eyed kids. I'm looking forward to reading some of our faves to my niece at Thanksgiving, and one day... if we're lucky, the grandkids. 💛
Thanks, Rob, and for adding your own family favourites. I’ll check out those I don’t already know.
It is odd when you revisit a childhood book and it’s not quite how you remembered. I read some of those Victorian classics as a child, like The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley. I was startled by how weird and convoluted it was when I read it to my daughters. I skipped whole chunks. Haven’t bothered with it since!
We loved the Tiger Who Came to Tea too. I think Judith Kerr was writing and illustrating well into her late 90s. My own favourites a child were The Rich Man and the Shoemaker by Brian Wildsmith and Harquin the Fox by John Birmingham - both wonderful author illustrators. It really as a golden age of children's books!
We used to have Harquin. Another favourite that got worn out! I don’t remember the Brian Wildsmith book - I’ll look that up. Christmas is coming!
Peepo by the Ahlbergs...for some reason I never got to the end without welling up and a lump in my throat. In fact, that's happening now as I think about it. And you are right about Zagazoo, it's the perfect book about parenting!
Thanks, Sarah. I used to have an Ahlberg collection, including Peepo, but they didn’t survive. I have Each Peach Pear Plum and my 6-year old granddaughter has a new copy of The Jolly Postman at her house!
Great summary Wendy. Funny Bones was a favourite in our house.
Oh yes, good one, Liz. That was another book that got trashed through use, so I don't have it any longer!
Aww what a lovely post . I remember the majority of those books as I read them to my children. My personal favourite is good night moon , a couple more are Maurice Sendak in the night kitchen and where the wild things are , my dad used to read to me Enid blyton the wishing chair, great memories 😁
Thanks, Francis. I looked up Goodnight Moon recently, because the illustrator was Clement Hurd, same as Wilson's World. Edith and Clement Hurd were good friends with its author, Margaret Wise Brown. I'd never read it before! I think more famous in the US than the UK.
I've got Where the Wild Things Are – need to get it out next time. I haven't read In the Night Kitchen. Will look for that.
The Wishing Chair and The Faraway tree were big favourites of my children. (And I loved anything Enid Blyton when I was a child.) We'll be moving on to those soon, hopefully!
Oo. Lovely Wendy. I've only recently come out of reading these with my son, so this really resonates. Dr Seuss is one of my top. The Places You'll Go... He'll still enjoy a good Mr. Men from time to time, aged 10. The tv versions were fab too. Though not one for pulling literary punches, I remember doing the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner too with him when he was about 4, poor chap. It went down surprisingly well. I remember later in life at a retreat house there were evenings where adults would down tools and have a story read to them by the fire, like proper kids story, Winnie the Pooh or something, and it felt so good.
Thanks, Seb. I love The Places You’ll Go too. It’s a really philosophical one.
I’m not sure I’ve ever read the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner!
My youngest toddler granddaughter raids her mum & dad’s very literary bookshelves (they’re both English grads) and lies back, turns the pages and babbles, as if reading them to herself. Goethe and such. Big ambitions!
Oh man, I love Quentin Blake and am a collector of his "Monster" books. Recently I decided to read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to my son and whoa! I did not remember what a misogynistic society she lived in. Wife stays home in apron serving husband etc...
Mind you, I still adore Betty MacDonald’s memoirs.
Haha! Yes, some books are an eye-opener when revisited, aren’t they?!
I appreciate Quentin Blake even more as I see my grandchildren’s reactions.
The six year old GD loves Roald Dahl, too, but the others are too young for him yet. Ditto QB’s monster books. But there will come a time!
Beautiful. And such great memories of reading to my children and being read to by my mother. The Tiger who came to Tea was a huge favorite. How about We’re Going on A Bear Hunt?! Mine loved it!! And I Want My Potty of course!!! And Mog! And Bunny… awww it’s made me quite nostalgic. I remember my mother reading Little Black Sambo which would never be read now…. I wonder if it’s still in print. I adored all the My Naughty Little Sister books… i even read them to my younger siblings. You have quite the collection, so lovely to have kept them. I’m afraid we moved so many times and my husband is the opposite of me and hated to hoard things so all those books got given away. Thank you for this lovely piece, Wendy❤️
Thanks, Francesca! There are some that fell apart with use and weren't replaced, including We're Going on a Bear Hunt. And Mog! My daughters have the Mog books in their own homes.
I didn't read the My Naughty Little Sister series. Suspect my mum would have thought them a bad influence. And pretty sure there are some books from our childhoods that are out of print for a reason!
It's lovely to bring out saved favourites that survived little hands. as the grandchildren grow into them. And glad to see most of them are still available now.
Wendy - a wonderful read from you again - you really are very talented - weaving together stories that tug at our memories and heart strings from our younger pasts, as children, teenagers and young adults.
I especially love Judith Kerr’s forgetful Mog (I’m cat mad); any ladybird books (Pat the dog from the Peter and Jane series- my first dog I owned as an adult was a red setter); Sam McBratney’s Guess How Much I love you and the the French translated series Nicolas by René Goscinny (known for Asterix).
Thank you, Caroline, and thanks for restacking with some of your own favourites - that’s great!
Yes! Mog is wonderful. Our copies got shredded from use, so I need to replace. I’ll check out the ones I’m not familiar with. Thanks for the tips!
Great piece - what an excellent selection of books, Wendy!
We have a good number of these - my wife bought the ENTIRE Mr Men collection cut price in one go so it was all we read for ages!
The Tiger Who Came to Tea is brilliant, isn’t it?
Where the Wild Things Are is among my favourites. The film version is pretty dark though. Kids didn’t enjoy it at all!
Thanks, Andy. Some books didn’t survive. I used to love the book Five Minutes’ Peace by Jill Murphy when my girls were little (can’t think why!) and that got read to destruction.
I have a copy of Where the Wild Things Are but the grandchildren haven’t discovered it yet. I’ll get it out next time!
I hadn’t fully appreciated the genius of Mr Men until I saw the two youngest girls “discussing” them together as babies. Totally immersed, babbling away, exchanging books with each other, asking me the name of every character on the back! Even my son didn’t get into them THAT much!
My children also enjoyed pretty much all of this reading list, also many books by Shirley Hughes, which don't appear on this list - not favourites of yours? I am now a grandad, which is largely joyous, and definitely easier than being a dad. Reading to my grandchildren is a great pleasure, although they live in Scotland (quite a long way from my part of Spain) but I occasionally record stories on video for them. Recently, I tried some of AA Milne's poetry, ie: When we were very young. Also Spike Miligan's Silly Verse for Kids, which I had enjoyed as a child. I was interested to see if/how those books crossed 2 generations. On the whole they were well received, but particularly with the AA Milne, we see a very different world, with clear examples of the popular attitudes and values of its time, which are problematic today. I found the same thing watching Camberwick Green and Trumpton with my grandsons. They weren't exactly enthralled, but it held their attention. Although, to be honest, I think they remained engaged out of courtesy, because they could see that I was enjoying it.
Thanks, Chris – this is great! Yes, Shirley Hughes is another favourite, I just couldn’t find her books when I was collecting things together for my photos! Dogger, her story about Alfie’s stuffed toy dog that gets lost through the railings and ends up on the second hand stall at the school fair, is one of my all-time favourites, and my six-year old granddaughter loves it.
The other grandchildren are still tots, so we focus on the early picture books, but I’ve saved books for all ages. It’s a joy to rediscover them with a new audience. I’ll dig out AA Milne and Spike Milligan, thanks for the reminder!
On TV, the six-year old and three year old are now Thunderbirds fanatics, my own fave show from the ‘60s!