Books your grandchildren love

I didn't know he wrote books for children!

Just bought that one for grandsons flowerfriend. Looked at the 'Look inside' feature on Amazon and it sounds very funny.

They will love it! Thank you.

The Hank Zipzer books are good, too. Written by Henry Winkler and he has received a British teaching award for them - they are inclusive for children with dyslexia and other special needs, but equally good for all children around 8 to 12 years old.

Thanks when. Books that boys like can be a problem. My almost 8-year-old mostly likes factual things but enjoys anything funny. He's such a joker - typical playground lavatorial humour!

Andy Stanton's Mr Gum books are such fun and brilliant for bedtime reading - my grandson still asks me to read to him and he's 12 now, but sharing laughter over a funny book is great. They are suitable for 8/9 years onwards

Thanks for the recommendation, ff. A lot of the books mentioned are for small children but I have a nine-year-old GD who is as voracious a reader as I was at her age (and that's saying something) and usually has her nose in a book. The David Walliams book sounds a definite possibility.

My ten year old GD loves David Walliams GANGSTA GRANNY. Actually it made me chuckle too. I have seen quite a few negative comments on these forums about David Walliams but I like him and I think his kids books are a good read.

Eleanorre Ferdinand the Bull is absolutely my most favorite story to read aloud.. especially the phrase, 'His mother, who was a cow' It is a great story that I remember from my childhood..still have my copy and recently bought the anniversary edition for DGC to share!

Also used Necklace of Raindrops in school as teacher and for my own kids..excellent book!

DGD1 loves Roald Dahl and just embarking n BFG but she spends hours devouring facts from natural world books and poems & jokes by Mike Rosen.

2 younger DGCs enjoy Julia Donaldson books and Mog stories!

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I admit that I haven't read all the posts - so apologies if anyone has already mentioned this. There's a really good website about books for children - it recommends books for each age group, and keeps you up to date with new publications. I've found it particularly useful when buying books for children I don't see very often. If I buy a new release there's less likelihood that they've already got it. The website is http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk
Though it mostly deals with fiction , there is a section on factual books for each age group too.

If anyone feels like a lift, I recommend googling 'Laughing Babies'. I challenge you not to smile! ('Crazy cats' is another good mood lifter).

I read an article some years ago about babies and books; apparentl even little babies like pictures (photos in particular) of other babies. I bought such a book, and it's true! Such a gurgle response - you know that gurgle - the one that makes you smile involuntarily?

Fantasy seems to be the thing with nearly all my grandchildren, especially Terry Pratchett's 'Disc World'. Non-fiction is also popular, especially science, exploration and history.
I don't think children are ever too young to be read to, or to have poetry and songs. Long before they understand the words, they will absorb and enjoy the cadences.
I think one definition of a deprived child is one who has never been told a story or had 'This little piggy' played on its toes.

My nearly 3 year old GD just loves being scared by Haunted House, a pop up style book by Jan Pienkowski with tags to make ghosts pop out or monsters jaws open or eyes in portraits move etc etc. Great fun. I pretend to be frightened and she tells me 'it's alright Grandma, it's only a story' .

Another of her favourites is The Three Billy Goats Gruff which of course features the Troll.

The most enchanting and moving one of the moment is an iPad / iPhone app - "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore" which my grandchildren all love. It is a story on many levels, and if you get it, try drawing your finger over certain pages.

Annobel and daisyanswerdo - my now 15 year old DGD was a Jacqueline Wilson addict, and recently, when JW visited their town, DGD took her very first JW book, and had it signed so that she could give it to her younger cousin, and start her on the road! I thought it was such a lovely thought.

I think my GD could do Mastermind on Jacqueline Wilson, as could many girls of her age (9) and older. I used to play cassettes of her books in the car when I took her big sister on the long drive to visit the family. I also survived the gloop of The Princess Diaries.

My grandchildren love Quentin Blake's books, among them 'Cockatoos' and 'Mrs Armitage on Wheels'. They're fun to read too.

Just caught up with gransnet after being away. Someone thought 6 months too young for books but "Each Peach Pear Plum" and "Peepo" in the board versions with wee holes for babies to poke their fingers into are really good starter books. Hungry caterpillar as a board book is good as well. Never too young for books!

The site I've just mentioned lets you read the first chapter of each book and I have just read had a look at 'The Salt Stained Book' which seems very intriguing. I might have to get it for myself and pretend it's really for GD. There is a big overlap between children's and adults' fiction, for example, War Horse.

I can't recall whether we have had this site recommended, but it's one mu DiL told me about and it looks very good indeed. It has books for all age groups and all types of books. DiL gets the recommendations and orders them from the library for bookworm GD who reads anything and everything, just as I did at her age (9).

www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/genre/bom/Books-of-the-Month.html

Depending on age:

The Spot books
Judith Kerr, all the Mog books, the Tiger who came to tea
A series of lift the flap books called "What's in the jungle/cave/on the beach etc
Topsy & Tim
Terry Pratchett (Truckers, Diggers, Wings, Johnny and the bomb, Only you can save the world,etc then moving on to the Discworld series)
Chronicles of Narnia

DS2 (deceased) as a 12 year old upwards really loved the books that Deric (yes, that is how it is spelled) Longden wrote about his cats and his day to day life.

I bought my 10 year old GD Michael Morpurgo's ' Butterfly Lion' which she ignored at the time. She is now bowled over and has read/ is reading 'War Horse' ( I was asked to read her a chapter when she stayed, recently). She is an avid collector and is now collecting MM books.

DS has sent me this link about McDonalds giving away Michael Morpurgo books for younger children, so if you've nothing better to do with your GC this weekend...

www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/11/mcdonalds-michael-morpurgo-books-kids-meals

As they only come free with a happy meal, it might be cheaper just to buy the book!

I was rather disappointed when none of my ten grandchildren liked any of my own childhood favourites, like Wind in the Willows, What Katy Did and Black Beauty. They nearly all love fantasy, especially Terry Pratchett books, and The Hitchhiker's Guide, plus the usual C.S. Lewis.
When they were little, it was The Tiger who came to Tea,The Big Hungry Caterpillar,and the Spot books, which my little great-grandchildren now like, as well as spin-offs from their favourite TV programmes, like Peppa Pig.

As a former Head of a large Remedial Service, can I encourage everyone to start reading and saying poetry to your grandchildren long before they can understand the words. They will enjoy the cadence of the words and it is a great way to get close to them.

Don't stop reading to them when they can read on their own - it is a great shame that the art of oral story-telling has almost died out. Some stories can be quite scary for a ten-year old, and it is comforting to have them read by an adult - especially one who doesn't mind doing all the voices and stressing the exciting bits!

I could get very good behaviour out of my bottom-set 15-year old boys by promising a chapter of Roald Dahl if they were good. 'The Witches' was favourite - I think it is good to give children a bit of anarchy from time to time.

I was often asked the best way to teach reading - and I had to reply that there isn't a simple answer. Some children will learn by the look of the word, some by the sound, others by building up words from letters or syllables - we used many different approaches. I am afraid the single biggest determining factor in academic success is still parental education, earnings, and involvement. Pre-reading experiences, in the shape of handling books, having stories told to them, painting, drawing, jig-saws,
etc. will all help.
Dyslexia is now much more often picked up - my grandson was just told he was stupid and it was years later when he told his mother 'the words won't stand still on the page'. There are now strategies for coping with this condition so if you find your grandchild will look at the same word on consecutive lines and say them differently, it might be worth asking for some tests to be done.

I know we have many retired or working teachers on Gransnet, so perhaps we could have a thread on helping children to enjoy reading, with your experiences. I don't want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs!