Would you like to share what books you read to your child(ren)?

How old are they?

@Rachel 3 and 7

I put no as read it wrong. My son read roald Dahl that I used to read as a kid. I did used to be heavily into Enid Blyton which when I read recently it was very cringe and I didn’t like the message that boys were strong and brave whereas the girls made the picnics and needed protecting.

Well what do they like? My son is super into space so most of the books are space books like there’s no place like space, mysteries of the universe, rocket to the moon, look up, roaring rockets, mae in space, a birthday party on the moon, then there’s paletero man, consent for kids, changing you, good night stories for rebel girls, etc etc etc

Where are you? Some authors are more common in the UK than elsewhere.

My 7 year old nephew loves the Dogman comic book style books, supertato, that sort of thing. I have a 2 year old and we love a lot of the Julia Donaldson books because they have a bit of rhythm and decent story to them e.g. the gruffalo, stick man, tabby McTat, Zog... The list goes on. That woman is LOADED she does so many books 😂😂 Percy park keeper books are good as well, lots of animals. I've just started reading her the hobbit a little bit at a time when she's in her cot and we read a couple of shorter books before she goes in. As above with Enid blyton I'd probably want to rescan some of the books I used to read when I was younger because some of them have sexist/racist content. So when I'm looking for something new for us to read I will go to a book shop and see if they have recommendations/browse, she loves choosing herself a new book! I actually asked for a Waterstones voucher for her birthday so I could keep getting her new books throughout the year without having to blow our own budget 😂

Octopants Here we are Spinderella The Smeds and The Smoos Behaviour matters collection We have more but are not in English. Go to a bookshop and spend half an hour there scanning books, choose a few and see what they like. Sometimes they appreciate having something new and different.

Any Julia Donaldson books are always a win! Also: The tiger who came to tea Peace at last Classic fairytales Princess stories (Cinderella etc) Also at the moment we’ve got a big animal encyclopaedia and we read about a couple of different animals a night.

Again with Julia Donaldson for the 3 year old. Others have suggested that Enid Blyton is a bit outdated now, but I also think that Ronald Dahl is getting there too. I’m reading Matilda to a class of 7/8 year olds currently and I’m editing some of the terminology as I read. Reading at 7 is more about allowing children to choose their own books that they enjoy (even if they seem like rubbish to you). As long as they are happy and developing their love of independent reading, then that’s good. (Things like Diary of a Wimpy kid, Horrid Henry, Beast Quest, Horrible Histories, Charlottes Web etc). Try taking them to a library and having a look. If one of the books isn’t good or not enjoyed, you can just take it back and try again.

Do you live in the US? Dolly Parton’s Foundation sends us books monthly so my son (almost 3) has a good collection of a mixture of books. Sign up if you can! We also let him buy a book every week from the thrift shop or Costco so he picks what he’s interested in. They’ll read more if they have books on topics they like.

I second Dolly Partons' imagination library, if you have access to it. Some of our favorite books have come from there. Currently we've been reading Harry Potter at bedtime because we were gifted the illustrated versions of the first two books.

I've been pushing my love of the ocean onto my 1.5 yo. He loves whale finds a friend and some fish have moustaches.

We love Dr. Seuss. I can read all of The Lorax without looking at the pages. 😂 They love the No David series and Llama Llama books.

@Jasmine Renee yes! There’s a wocket in the pocket is the funniest rap.

Look at the 1k books before kindergarten program. They have a ton of book recommendations for before kindergarten and you can enroll them for free in the program. Local libraries usually give out something after every 100 books like stickers or a certificate.