Stories at bedtime

jellyhead

meeps wrote: »

my son is 5 and a half and we now have a deal where either I read him a short story or he reads one to me, and then my husband reads a chapter/few pages of a longer book afterwards- we started with alice in wonderland, then the wind in the willows, the wizard of oz, and are now on around the world in 80 days- they then tend to use the one they are on as their 'in' topic for role play games and drawings, so I have got pictures of phileas fogg all over the place...

winnie the pooh is a good place to start as it is like chapters but usually complete little stories in themselves.

A short story and then a chapter one is a good idea, especially as the OP had a younger daughter too (I am assuming the same bedtime in the same room though, that may not be the case).

Naughty_Sausage

thanks so much for all of the replies.

I must admit that I am so looking forward to chapter a night books.

The other day she was saying that they had been watching thr BFG at nursery but they watch it in instalments over the week. She was so enjoying it but only goes 3 days a week so missed a bit. So, I went online and ordered the BFG and The Worst Witch from the library..

I had forgotten about Mrs Pepperpot - I used to love them.

Thanks again

NS

goingsenile

Thanks to everyone for suggested reading. My daughter has just turned 5 and we are just starting to read chaper books.

I wonder if anyone can help- we're going on holiday on Thursday and I was looking online for audio books which can be downloaded to my daughter mp3 player- though she would enjoy them on the plan. Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

AJ

dizziblonde

I used to have year 2/3 as a class and found they could quite easily cope with chapter type stories as a class reader - Horrid Henry I love because it does read aloud brilliantly, some of the !!!!!! (bet that gets filtered) King Smith stories are good - the loved Hodgeheg once it got going (they're a bit too "speechy" for my liking for reading aloud but the class liked 'em), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - again... little slowish to get started but they sat there open mouthed with the descriptions of the chocolate river etc. Other than that - I covered a class that were incredibly into the Faraway Tree stories (lots of autistic kids in that class which made it a slightly unconventional mix so may not be typical) - I would have thought it may have been a little dated for them but they were really enjoying it.

jellyhead

Our year 3 teacher read 'gobbolino the witches cat' to open mouthed children a few years ago, but it's so sad!

joagon

children love listening to stories and roald dahl is just fab so i would start them now, i know he has some that are more suitable for younger children like The Enormous Crocodile and some other shorter ones, although fantastic mr fox was always one i loved when i was little! Enid Blyton's Enchanted wood/ magic faraway tree books are great too, these can lead on to famous five and all those stories.

mummy_Jay

I had my DS on chapter books just before he was 3, Usborne books do a series of reading books that are lovely kids versions of things like treasure island, Ulysses, Hercules, Midsummers night dream, he loved them all. http://www.usbornebooksathome.co.uk/catalogue/browse.asp?css=1&cat=1&subject=yr&subcat=YRS2

Then we discovered Magic tree house when he was about 3.5, I can not recommend these amasing books enough, they are lovely endearing stories that give snippets of history.
http://www.magictreehouse.co.uk/

He's just about to turn 5 bedtime stories (as we have run out of Magic tree house for the time being) are Cows in Action or Jack Stalwart books. I wasn't convinced by the cows in action at first until out of no where he started quoting the facts and asking more about henry VIII, now they are a regualar addition to his night table

lisaann72red

I agree with the previous suggestion Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree also The Wishing Chair. The stories are so magical and they loved coming up with their own ideas for lands at the top of the tree.
My four kids love these stories aged 6 and under.

Lisa

Dustykitten

I think the important thing is the time spent with the child, the shared joy of books which will hopefully lead to a life long love of books.

Moving on to chapter books is fine but please don't miss out on all the wonderful picture books out there. Kids still love the pictures and get a lot from them. However tempting it is to read HP to 3 and 4 year olds I'm sure most of it goes over their heads, there are years ahead for that and they could miss out on lots of other more age appropriate stories whilst you are battling through the hundreds of pages of very cleverly written chapters.

Beaver Towers are a fun series of chaper books.

kitchpoo

If your children have a sense of humour (and you have to have one too!!!) try the Mr Gum books by Andy Stanton.