Books you 'have' to buy for the grandchildren

I buy books which I know are good, but also ones that I know they would like .So books like Mog and The Tiger Who Came For Tea, The Magic Faraway Tree, but recent books as well. I know the kind of things they like, but do sometimes slip in the odd book that I think they should like.

Anything by Julia Donaldson. The wonderful rhythmical sense that she has - her sense of humour - the little twist at the end of each story or poem. And the gentle repetition which children love. Wonderful!

As well as a good story I think books should be beautiful to handle and look at. Sometimes the illustrations put me off all together - there are some badly produced children's books out there. There are some wonderful non fiction books out there too - Eyewitness books are usually good and do not overload with information. For a small child small sized books that are easy to handle are good also they need a clear print.
Alfie books by Shirley Hughes and some of her poetry books are lovely and the illustrations can be a great talking point with all the detail. I just love browsing children's books as well as adult ones!

The older he gets, the more difficult I find it to choose books that my grandson might like. He's eight and is reading beyond his age group. Harry Potter,of course; Beast Quest is popular, as also are The Roman Mysteries, and The Diamond Brothers books; odd gems like "Fortunately the Milk...", the "Supercat" series (even I think those are very funny!). Even before he could hold a book I bought Just So Stories, Greek Myths and Legends and Aesops Fables and saved them until he was old enough to listen to them - we still read them now. I bought him a book about the Voyages of Odysseus because I liked the illustrations!! He likes some of the stories but thinks the illustrations are weird!

Yes, Julia Donaldson is brilliant. On GS 4th birthday his mother had two tickets for What the Ladybird heard at the Hackney Empire. She asked me whether I'd like to go with him, well, yes!! What a treat, a lovely production in a beautiful and historic theatre. The first time I'd been to a play with my youngest GS. He was quiet for a while though watching what was on stage then, when the ladybird appeared on the barn roof, he, and dozens of others, spontaneously yelled 'There's the Ladybird!' An unforgettable afternoon, his mother let me for the tickets and I wouldn't have missed the whole experience for anything.

I bought younger GS a Kindle. To encourage him. Promised his mum that I would pay for the e-books. My God! That child has taken to reading in a big way!

Above was actually his 5th birthday, silly granny!
Doctor Suess books are great, as are the Oxford Reading Tree non-fiction series 'Floppy's Phonics'. Moonlight Publishing's series 'My First Discoveries' are a beautiful non-fiction series in a good sized format for small hands. They make clever use of overlays and stand up well to handling, some we've had for 10 years. The Weather, The Body, Trains are favourites.
For bedtime reading there's Shirley Hughes' Alfie books, Mick inkpen's Kipper, several Allan Ahlberg favourites and the personalised 'The Little Boy Who Lost his Name'.
My GDs have very much enjoyed Jacqueline Wilson's books, they accept that not all families are snugly nuclear and conventional.
With such a huge amount of books available its sometimes difficult to keep up. I like my GC to have the original AA Milne Winnie the Pooh books and his poetry books, Alice with illustrations and an illustrated A Christmas Carol together with children's books with the stories of Shakespeare's plays, Classical Myths, Fairy Stories and Folk Stories. Just be careful to get a good version of the last four, they vary so much.

It does pay off to read and read to them when they are tiny. My GC are bookworms now at 9 and 10.

The tiny one under 2 loves Share a Shell so is hopefully going the same way.

A mixture of all already mentioned. To buy, Julia Donaldson, Shirley Hughes, Charlie and Lola, good traditional collections of nursery rhymes and many of the Usborne fact books. The Ahlberg books my daughter loved along with her Secret Sevens, Ladybird books and her complete Topsy and Tim collection have all found their new home with the grandchildren.

I have kept books that DS loved like the David Walliams books and "Wimpy Kid" series for DGSs. DS is 14 so they are relatively recent books. We also have classics from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, through Winnie the Pooh to Harry Potter.

I can't resist buying books, old favourites and new, but I like to support our library too. I took three books out yesterday and brought them over to read to DGS2, but sometimes we go to his local branch. I'm a big library fan!

Current favourites are the Alfie books, because DGS2 thinks he looks like Alfie (he does!). I have ten of them, but am kicking myself for missing Alfie's Christmas in the 10 books for £10 offer on the Book People site last week. I put 4 copies in my basket, then left it overnight to decide on the other 6, fool that I am. And of course they were out of stock the next day.

My GS loved the Alfie books, and also The Lighthouse Keeper series and Katie Morag. Because he kept getting it out of the library, I bought him Bob and Barry's Lunar Adventure: A Right Royal Disaster, which is very funny. I once bought a book for my godson when he was young and I wish I could remember what it was called because I read it (carefully!) before I sent it to him and it was hilarious. All I can remember about it is that it was about a family who advertise for a babysitter because they have to go away and can't take the child with them. The 'person' they engage turns out to be a pirate in disguise and he and the child have some very silly adventures. I remember that Quentin Blake illustrated it. One of the strangest children's books I have read was the acclaimed A Bear and a Boy in a Boat. I got it out of the library for GS and read it first, but though it was very funny in parts, it was a strange story and I found it rather disturbing. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has read it.

I buy any book that looks interesting for their age group. The grandchildren are both avid 'readers' that is to say aged 5 & 3 they will often grab a book and demand to be read to. I usually choose a book that has good pictures and words they are beginning to recognise. They each have a book shelf in their rooms and in the play room and also belong to the local library and can choose up to 5 books each. GD (5 years) has reading books from school and GS (3 years) is beginning to recognise words. The main problem is when they go to the library and choose books in Welsh, DH is not too good with the pronunciation, but he does try,

Oooh, now I want to buy all the books mentioned here - for my granddaughter of course but I will need to read them myself first! Well, you do don't you...

Pittcity - yes, love the David Walliams books and the tv versions made of at least a couple of them. The tramp one is so poignant.

I need to buy some books for my GDG's 8th birthday. She's asked me for something that she can read for herself but her reading level is not particularly good. Can anyone suggest books that might be suitable. Preferably something to do with ponies or horses!

My GC love Quentin Blake's books, and so do I. Mrs Armitage, Cockatoos (great for counting), All join in (great for shouting!).

DGD aged nearly 5 came to stay recently. I had found in the loft the Ladybird version of The Secret Garden - one of my all time favourites.

It was obviously abridged, but the language wasn't dumbed down and I thought she might be bored or not understand it. I tentatively suggested we might read it - she not only sat through the whole thing, but asked an intelligent question at the end.
The next day, Grandad had to read it to her again and she wanted it also for her bedtime story.

I think it's easy to underestimate what children are capable of understanding and enjoying.

Yep, I'm frequently surprised at what my granddaughter (also nearly 5) understands. She picks up on everything and asks so many questions. She seems to love stories with a lot of poo in them, thinks it's hilarious - and it's surprising how many stories with poo there are!! Not the bear, btw!

She stayed last weekend and to my surprise she had great fun doing the hoovering! She did the whole house including the stairs and changed heads accordingly - I'm waiting for the NSPCC to knock about child labour but if they don't come soon I'll have to invite my GD back to have another go, I can see fluff in the corners!!!

DDiL has posted a photo on FB of my other DGD reading the copy of The Little House on the Prairie that I gave her last Christmas, all by herself. She's nearly 6.
<proud Grandma emoticon>

I've kept my children's books, so we are on the second round with them. I have added a few that didn't seem to be around when they were young, such as the much loved Gruffalo and Room on The Broom, Julia Donaldson's books are wonderful. I really loved reading the Alfie books to my children, but granddaughter not so keen on them, apart from the "splish, splash, splosh" story when Alfie got his new wellies. I bought a new Alice in Wonderland, with pop outs which she loves. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were favourites with me as a child. I also hope to read her the Water Babies when she is a little older, perhaps when she gets around to doing the Victorians at school so she can put the story into the context of that time. My little grandson enjoys anything with Thomas The Tank Engine in it, really just the pictures and noises at this stage. Those Rev Awdry books were pretty tedious from what I can remember, I didn't enjoy reading those at all!

Now, that's the trouble with kindles. You can't put that sort of book on them. And I've just given GS one. Sigh!

He seems to be reading a constant stream of books about naughty boys!

(I'm desperately trying to keep him reading. Given up on the teen one - he doesn't sit still long enough to read)