Five Favourites: Children's Books

We LOVE children's books around here... and by "we," I don't just mean the children. Here, in no particular order, are our current top five.

 

1.I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen.

We met up with a group of friends a couple of weekends ago, and by the time we left, everybody had read this book. I suspect it may have been written with parents in mind, rather than children... in any case, it's absolutely hilarious!

 2. Zog, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

There had to be a Donaldson/Scheffler book somewhere in the list, and we actually like this one more than the better-known The Gruffalo. The Whale and the Snail gets an honourable mention, too.

3. The Baby's Catalogue, by Janet and Allen Ahlberg.

This was my favourite as a baby, and we still have an old, heavily-sellotaped copy somewhere high up on a bookshelf. We also have a newer copy, and our children love it - it's especially good when they're just learning to talk and to recognise pictures ("ball!" "boo!" "CAT!" etc).

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.

How could I leave this one off?

5. The Tiger Who Came to Tea, by Judith Kerr.

Another classic. My mother and I wondered at one point whether the Tiger, in some way, represented Hitler and/or the Nazi party, based on the author's personal experiences as a child. However, in a radio interview fairly recently, Judith Kerr herself denied the theory (so more people than us must have been wondering!). In any case, it's a great book.

I'm sure if you asked me again this time next year, my answers will be completely different - it's really hard to choose!

Linking up with The Big White Farmhouse for Five Favourites - thanks to Ashley for hosting!