Angelina Ballerina is a firm favorite in our house – the endearing tales of a little mouse called Angelina who loves to dance and play with her friends has captured little girl’s imaginations round the world since she was launched in 1983. This is a compilation of two previously released stories.
Eric Carle’s lovely illustrations make the perfect Christmas counting story. Starting from 1 Father Christmas and ending with 10 presents, this is a cute way to introduce Christmas ideas and counting for little ones.
A little girl grows up with huge excitement about learning to read. When she gets to grade 1 though, she is puzzled that the other children move on to bigger readers while she stays stuck on the beginning. With undiagnosed dyslexia her early school years are tough and challenging. It’s not until Grade 5 that a special teacher changes her life.
“In an old house in Paris all covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed …” So begins one of the great classic children’s books written by author and artist Ludwig Bemelmans in 1939.
The ultimate toddler tantrum book. When Max has one of those wild up-to-no-good evenings his mom sends him to bed without any dinner. In his room Max’s anger grows into a forest and Max decides to sail off on a boat, ‘through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.”
Losing a tooth is one of the highlights in a child’s life and it can be both exciting and scary. In classic Charlie and Lola style, the author captures these mixed emotions as Lola has a wobbly tooth which is about to fall out – but not if Lola can help it.
We chatted to Bette Mosher Geci, a retired librarian from Connecticut in the States whose passion for children’s books and reading is so inspiring. Bette shared some of her all time favorite children’s books.
This was one of the first books I read many years ago by the talented Niki Daly. Shepherd goes into the city with his Gogo (grandmother) to help her do the shopping. Gogo walks very slowly, but Shepard likes to take his time as well, hence his nickname Songolola, which is Zulu for millipede.
This humorous diary of what wombat did with her day will have little kids laughing out loud. Monday: Morning: Slept. Afternoon: Slept. Evening: Ate grass. Scratched. Night: Ate grass. Slept. By Wednesday the gorgeously lazy little wombat is starting to interact with humans and their home: ‘fought a major battle with a flat, hairy creature’ which is in reality a door mat, ‘and won the battle’ and by Sunday she’s demanding rolled oats and observing: ‘Am constantly amazed how dumb humans can be.’
Anna is a lonely little orphan sent to live with foster parents who are kind but unable to penetrate her thick wall of sadness and introspection. Anna does not care for anything, she is indifferent to the girls at school who don’t invite her to play, and she is almost deadened to her feelings. She doesn’t expect to make friends – she has decided she is always on the outside.
The much-loved The Worst Witch series, about a boarding school for witches and the adventures and mishaps of a clumsy young witch, Mildred Hubble, came long before Harry Potter. Mildred is lovable but always in a muddle.
Oh how I love this book. It so perfectly sums up how every child (and adult!) feels once in a while. Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day begins when he wakes up with chewing gum in his hair…
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