(Last updated 25/5/16)

Since having children my already existing love of books has gone off the chart. This page has a series of lists of books that our family has loved, broken down into useful categories.

Picture Books for tiny children

Picture Books for preschool age

Picture Books for 5+

Chapter Books for children who have just got to the age of being able to listen to something a bit longer than a picture book

The Little Girl and the Tiny Doll by Edward and Aingelda Ardizzone (ISBN 978-0141359441) (see my rec here.)

The story is about a tiny doll who ends up in a supermarket freezer, and the little girl who spots her. As I child I loved the idea of finding something small to care for, as a child who sewed and made things I wholeheartedly approved of the little girl’s solution to the tiny doll’s problem. This is a short 45 page paperback, with a lot of illustrations. You’ll probably get through it in one sitting, but it looks like a proper chapter book and that will build confidence for multi-chapter books that you’ll choose next time.

Chapter books for Primary Aged children – 4-8 years

Emil and his clever pig by Astrid Lindgren
The best of the three Emil books, though I recommend reading all three in order. These adventures of misunderstood trouble magnet Emil are funny and clever, but unlike the others this book has a great final chapter that really cement who Emil is, and still lingers with me months afterwards.

(Also by the same author – The noisy village books are also great and worth checking out. Don’t let your reading of Astrid Lindgren stop at Pippi Longstocking – she wrote so many other good books that are worth your time!)

The Betsy Tacy treasury by —
This collection includes the first four Betsy Tacy novels and are ideal for 4-9 year olds. They tell the story of Betsy, and her best friends Tacy and later Tib, from when they are five till they are twelve, and slowly show their expanding world. I’ve seen these books on a lot of girl specific rec lists but all three of my children loved the stories, and we lent the book to a family of only boys and they loved it too. They are classic tales of childhood that are as relevent now as they were at the turn of the 20th century.