Monday, October 8, 2012

We Recommend for Under 5s

I am a great lover of books and today I thought I'd profile a couple that would make a great addition to a little person's bookshelves.
One of the things I'm sure you already know is how quickly a much loved title can become much loathed - not by them, never fear - by you. I always remember when Flip was small reading him a book and loving it and thinking 'I will never tire of reading this'. But oh I did.
When you have read a book more than 10 times in one day you start to fantasise about hiding the book away for good, or at least a month. See how parenting changes the way you think and the kind of things you long for??

Today I'll give you 5 reads that have been adored at our place - I couldn't call them a top 5 we have so many more than 5 we couldn't pick but these are five for now I would recommend.

1. Where is the Green Sheep - by Mem Fox. A gorgeous book that uses simple descriptors 'Red Sheep, Bed Sheep, Near Sheep etc while engaging the delight of looking for the green sheep. Sweet illustrations and a delightful story.

2. Who Sank the Boat - by Pamela Allen - this story once it has been read a couple of times causes great delight as the child gives you the answer all the way through the book. A funny tale about a group of animals taking the boat out for a row in the bay.

3. Rosie's Walk - by Pat Hutchins. I have my own very fond memories of this book and in fact it was the first one I got whilst pregnant with Flip. The illustrations are fantastic - highly stylised 70s pictures and they tell half the story as a cunning fox tries to catch Rosie the hen while she is out on her walk. Each illustration shows the mishaps he gets into while Rosie walks on oblivious to his efforts.

4. Dear Zoo - by Rod Campbell - this is a simple lift the flap adventure that brings great delight to children as they guess and learn the names of different animals the zoo sends and why they wouldn't make great pets.

5. Giraffes Can't Dance - by Giles Andreae -  This book is one of those classic stories that teaches the lesson of being true to dancing to our own beat. As the giraffe in the story says, 'We all can dance when we find music that we love'. A well written rhyme scheme and an engaging and endearing tale with all the best jungle animals showing us their moves.

Over the last few Mondays we've been profiling some of our favourite finds for under 5s in the hopes of helping out when you are asked for Christmas present recommendations from the relatives.
Which books are well loved enough to have breakfast stains on them in your house?
I will definitely profile some more book choices later as well. Perhaps one featuring some NZ authors?

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Some great books there, my sons favourite is Bruiser...but we read where is the green sheep nearly every night as well

Andrew and Rachel's Mum said...

Green sheep has always been popular here. I am a mean mum and I will only read the same book once in a story reading session. When they were little we would often read ten books at time.

Leonie said...

We love love love the green sheep, Gerald and the zoo! Haven't read the others but have out them on a list :). Some of our favourite nz authors include Kyle mewburn and Margaret Mahey. Other favourites are Julia Donaldson, Emily gravett and Helen cooper - and we are working on a collection of golden books too x

Simoney said...

Awesome recommendations there Miriam... you should totally link this up to the BookClub linky :)
x

Miriam said...

I haven't read Bruiser will have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!

Miriam said...

I know what you mean more than once in a sitting just feels like punishment!

Miriam said...

Great to have some more authors to look at - we have a few golden books too but some are more nostalgic than well written :o)

Miriam said...

Okay totally will do x

Max said...

Who sank the boat is newcto me, but all the others are well lived round here. The ultimate faves though are harry the dirty dog and the tiger that came to tea, all of us can recite them by heart!

Hootnz said...

Love giraffes can't dance! Thanks for the other recommendations... I will have to seek them out ")

Miriam said...

We adore the tiger who came to tea - we have a signed copy even!

Miriam said...

They are a great bunch - promise!

Leonie said...

Oh my children loved the Green Sheep and Giraffes Can't Dance when they were a bit smaller, awesome kids reads.