Following up on my first post all about some wonderful children’s books, I thought I would share a few more titles that are classic and fun books to share with your little ones! These ones are more recent so should be easy to find at any library or bookshop.
Let’s Play Monsters by Lucy Cousins
Lucy Cousins’ Maisy mouse books were firm favourites among my niece and nephew, as well as my own children. Her more recent book, Let’s Play Monsters, is one of Annabel’s favourite books (and Colin loved it too!). In the book, a little boy delights in imagining people and things turning into monsters that chase him. It’s silly and captures exactly how children love to be explore the feeling of being frightened in a safe environment (even his mum turns into a monster who carries him up to bed and kisses him).
The Octonauts books by Meomi
You may be familiar with the Octonauts television series, which began as a book series by MEOMI (Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy) The books manage to be both educational and hilarious, with lots of little jokes for parents reading with their children. The Octonauts crew travel around the world, sharing insights into the various sea creatures they encounter and help. The illustrations are adorable and my children love reading the books and watching the television show. When Celia turned 4 we had an Octonauts theme, complete with a cake featuring the character, Dashi. The original series consists of 4 books that are beautifully designed and one book includes glow-in-the-dark pages.
American Girl Books: Mary Ellen
While my eldest daughter has outgrown her American Girl dolls (sniff!), I was always so impressed by the books that accompanied the dolls. One of Celia’s favourite dolls was Mary Ellen, a girl living in the 1950s in Florida. The books captured the issues of the time, such as post-war sentiments, women’s work, and the polio epidemic (fun fact: the doll’s legs are slightly different lengths because Mary Ellen had polio as a child). I feel like Celia learned a great deal from reading the various books set in different time periods and in different locations.
I hope you enjoy these choices and would love to know what some of your favourite children’s books are too!
Barre with Justine 