Best Books for Children
Reading to children is often a bed time ritual and when they are old enough they should be encouraged to read themselves, this is probably something that will be part of their school lessons. Trying to get children to read at times can be difficult and everyone can probably remember how much they hated it when they were made to read by their parents, however getting them into a really good book will mean they will want to read themselves. A good why of finding a book they want to read is taking them with you to pick it, but where do you start? Well this is where we come in, on the page we will list you some of the most popular children's books, with the plot so you can let your little one pick for themselves!
The Twits Roald Dahl
Everyone has read at least one of the Roald Dahl collection no matter what age they are, and this is another of his classics.
The Twits is all about Mr and Mrs Twit, a not very pretty or nice couple who keep themselves amused by playing horrible tricks on one another. Together they are mean to animals, often the aim of their nastiness are their pet monkeys Muggle-Wump and his family who they do horrible things to.
However this all changes when their animals get to turn the tables round on The Twits when a bird named Roly-Poly from Africa arrives. Whilst the Twits are out they glue the furniture and carpet to the ceiling, and when the Twits get in two of the birds drop glue on their heads, so when the Twits balance on their heads because their furniture is on the ceiling they end up stuck that way! This means all the animals can go back to their home leaving the Twits to amount to nothing but their clothes!
Charlotte's Web EB White
The story starts on Mr Arable's farm when one of his pigs gives birth, however one of the piglets is a runt so Mr Arable decides he will kill it, only to be stopped by his young daughter Fern. Mr Arable allows Fern to keep the pig who she calls Wilbur, after looking after Wilbur from a few weeks the little piglet got sold to her uncle's farm not that far away from hers. Fern visits Wilbur as much as she could but Wilbur gets more and more lonely.
Then one night he hears a friendly voice telling him they can be friends, and when he wakes up in the morning he meets his new friend, a spider called Charlotte. Wilbur soon makes friends with the other animals but is scared to learn from Charlotte that he's going to be taken to be killed. They come up with the idea of writing words to show his excellent, believing if he becomes famous enough he won't be killed. True to her word this happens and Wilbur wins a prize at the local country fair, sadly Charlotte dies of old age, but she lives on in her own special way, and Wilbur makes a few more friends, but you will have to read it to find out how it ends!
The Borrowers Mary Norton
The Borrowers is based on a tiny little family living under the floor boards of a human bean' family. The Clock family is made up of Mum and Dad, Pod and Homily and their 14 year old daughter Arrietty. One day Pod comes home having borrowed' a tea cup from the human beans, but all isn't well as he was seen by a young boy who has been sent to live with the human bean family! Remembering what happened to their niece, they warn Arrietty of the risks, but allow her to go borrowing with her dad.
Out borrowing one day Arrietty meets the boy and after a small discuss which leads to Arrietty getting upset due to not being able to prove there are any more borrowers other than her and her parents, they become friends and the boy agrees to post a letter for her. However when Arrietty overhears the driver gardener discussing the boy complaining about him and thinking that he is keeping a ferret, she sets out to go and find the boy. When Pod finds Arrietty talking to the boy he quickly takes her home and is worried the boy will work out where they are living and he does! However he brings them presents like doll house furniture.
However suspicions arise when the Driver starts to thinks someone is stealing from them, and when she discovers The Borrows everything comes to a head!
The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss
The Cat in the Hat is all about a naughty cat; The Cat is tall, wears a tall red and white striped hat, a red bow tie and always carries round an umbrella with him. The first in the series of The Cat in the Hat see's him cause trouble in a house with 2 young children when their mother isn't looking. The Cat isn't alone, he brings two friends, Thing one and Thing two, and they get up to some mischief together showing the little kids all kinds of tricks. After performing his tricks The Cat quickly cleans up and leaves before their mum returns!
In The Cat and The Hat Comes Back, the second book of the series, The Cat is back and causing more mischief. He brings along a new friend, Little Cat A, who likes to hide in The Cats hat, but he's not on his own, he soon reveals Little Cat B, who reveals Cat C, this goes on right up to Little Cat Z!! The Cats all cause a big mess involving a bath, a dress, a wall, some shoes, and lots of other things! Cleaning the mess up only creates more mess that is until Little Cat Z reveals something that might just help them all!
Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfeild
Ballet Shoes is all about 3 adopted sisters; Posy, Petrova and Pauline Fossil who were found as babies by Matthew Brown who is travelling the world and discovers the little girls. Matthew sends them back to his home to live with his Great-Niece, Sylvia and her nanny. He gives them all enough money for 5 years, but carries on travelling long than expected and all the money runs out.
Back at the house the family welcome boarders to house in order to make money and the 3 girls meet lots of people who all in turn become a part of their lives like; Drs. Jake and Smith two professors who take over the girls schooling as Sylvia no longer has the money to send them to school, and Miss Theo Dane, a dance teacher who allows the girls to join her dance classes.
As the book goes on the girls grow up and become their own individual characters who all want to help with the running of the house, Posy is still young but shows great talent as a ballet dancer, Pauline is a very successful stage and screen actress and Petrova is also performing on stage but has another dream she wants to achieve! The girls strive to make their names known in history books.