Children's Books > 5 GBP to 9 GBP Children's Books

Advantages: Funny, rhythmic, part of oral tradition.
Disadvantages: VERY old fashioned, Penguin version rather dull.

...a copy of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. They'll tell you all the things you need to know. Among the simplest of myth stories are the why stories or pourquoi tales. These are stories about how things came to be. Why does night follow day? Why does spring follow winter? And how did that leopard get his spots? Most cultures across the world include why stories in their oral traditions. Different to the why stories, but still part of oral story-telling ...
...upon when he wrote the Just So Stories. So humour me just for a moment longer. Living in India for many years and thus familiar with the forms and patterns of these traditional forms of story-telling, Kipling wrote this, his own collection of explanatory tales, in a gloriously florid and very, very funny imitation of the old way. "How The Whale Got His Throat" and "How The Leopard Got His Spots", those stories I told you about above start out seriously, ... Read review

Advantages: witty, laugh out loud, loved by children
Disadvantages: wish they were colour pictures

If you want a great story or set of stories to read, to children 6 and above, then I can highly recommend these books. fabulously written by Laurence Anholt, these stories take well known and loved fairy tales, and twist them on their head, giving a great contemporary twist. and they are great value for money - very affordable with pocket money. for example...in Little Red Riding Wolf, the villan of the story is NOT the wolf, but its the big bad ...
...animals of the forest, and she loves nothing better than picking on our hero - Wolfie...or as the author calls him "cutesy wolfie cub!" my class of 6 and 7 year olds absolutely howled and roared with this story, and let out an almighty cheer when the hero of the story changes the big bad girlie for the better. and the hat the wolf wears had me in hysterics too! The pictures are truly brilliant - I can compare it to the simspons in that you look ... Read review

Advantages: Colourful, morality tale
Disadvantages: Only ten pages, pricey

...especially fulfilling to read at the end of the day just before my children get into bed. The book centres around a rainbow fish who is very proud of his colourful, bright, shiny scales. These are portrayed in metallic fashion and is as eye-catching as a series of scales on a fish can be. The rainbow fish is approached by a blue fish and is asked if he can have a couple of his scales as they are gorgeous and he, too, would look grand. Without even ...
...unhappy. After several declines, the rainbow fish finds himself without playing partners or friends and approaches the wise octopus for help. The octopus, naturally, asserts that it’s the rainbow fish’s selfishness in not sharing his scales that is leading to a lack of friends. Once again the blue fish returns and this time is granted a scale. Soon more and more fish approach the rainbow fish until he himself only has one scale, but many friends ... Read review

Advantages: Some previously unpublished poems
Disadvantages: No music for the songs

...'All together now' brings us songs from the Giraffe, the Pelican, and the Oompa-Loompas amongst others. There is a rather menacing start in 'Crocodile Rhymes' from 'The Enormous Crocodile': 'The sort of things that I 'm going to eat Have fingers, toe-nails, arms and legs and feet!' This is another one that might scare the youngest members of the family. The seventh and final section is 'And a few surprises' and contains five previously unpublished ...
...Dahl, and this superior quality of book with delightful pictures should whet any child's appetite. We can occasionally offer something better than a paperback! Songs and Verse by Roald Dahl Published by Jonathan Cape, London 192 pages ISBN 0 224 07038 X Price £14.99 Hardback (Amazon £9.89) ... Read review

Advantages: Silly, hilarious fun
Disadvantages: None

A few years ago, my son's class of five and six-year-olds was asked to go home and with the help of a parent, write down a few lines from a favourite poem, which would be read out to the rest of the class the following day. Unfortunately, the teacher was none too impressed with my son's choice, nor I suspect, with me for condoning it, but what she hadn't realised was that I'd had the devil of a job talking him out of his original suggestion. Here's ...
...a cloud That floats aloft o'er dale and hills, When all at once I came upon My dog being sick on the daffodils." And this is what he'd wanted to write: "Monkey, monkey, monkey, Sitting in a tree. Pulling funny faces - Please pull one for me. Pull one for my daddy, Pull one for my mum, But when it comes to teacher, Turn round and show her yer bum!" So you see, things might have been far worse had I not put my foot down, not that his teacher ... Read review