Are you sitting comfortably?

It struck me last night that the other half and I seem to spend a large portion of our evenings these days reading a variety of bedtime stories (rather than, y'know, working on our respective crafts/hobbies). So, as I haven't taken pictures of any new crafty makes recently, I thought I'd share some of our children's favourite evening reads instead. These are the ones that we read over and over and over again to our two girls, and heaven help us when the Boy Child is old enough to choose his own stories to add to the mix.

I always loved being read to as a child and I believe that sharing books from an early age is putting them on the right path to being adult readers. It's a rare night when we don't manage to read them a story or six, and on those occasions we always leave them with a story CD and the books to look at as well.

In no particular order, then, here we go!  All credit for the images reproduced in this blog post goes to the authors/illustrators and copyright remains with them.

1. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler - and the sequels The Gruffalo's Child and Stick Man. The quick witted mouse who almost gets tripped up by his own story is a superb creation.  The original Gruffalo story is brilliant for reading aloud as you can have so much fun with the voices, and there is lots of detail in the illustrations to talk about too. The BBC film of the book is just as good, too, with some masterful voice casting. We also like looking out for the tiny gruffaloes that appear in the illustrations of other books by this pair.

2. We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. The rhythm of this story with its repeated 'can't go over it/can't go under it/got to go through it' chorus makes it enormous fun - we've even been known to act it out in the garden. Helen Oxenbury's illustrations are lovely, but my kids' favourite picture is the lonely bear walking home across the sand after he's chased the family all the way home. They say he's sad because he only wanted to play!

3. The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. Fabulous story about Sophie and her mum who open the door at teatime to find a large and hungry tiger who proceeds to eat everything in the house. Sophie has become Daisy's favourite name for all dolls, pets etc and both she and Tove love to join in the story.

4. More Judith Kerr - the Mog stories. All of them! From Mog the Forgetful Cat all the way through to Goodbye Mog (and I dare anyone not to cry at that one). Mog is an utterly delightful cat who often frustrates her owners and gets things wrong, but ultimately things work out.

5. I really want to eat a child by Sylviane Donnio. Sounds like an odd choice for a bedtime story but this book about a VERY fussy eater never fails to make me smile. I bought it on sale from The Book People and I'm so glad I did!

6. That Pesky Rat by Lauren Child. Don't get me wrong, I like Charlie and Lola as much as the next person but this story of a street rat who only wants someone to love him is my favourite book of hers. My best friend recommended it to me as her son loves it too, and we now have a copy in France for holidays and a copy here for every day. The good thing is that money from the sale of this book goes to a charity which helps street children. I also love Who wants to be a poodle? I don't by the same author, about a lap dog kicking back against the stereotype.

7. Hairy MacLary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd. A rollicking, frollicking tale (to use Dodd's own phrase) about a pack of dogs out on the prowl who get scared off by the wonderfully named Scarface Claw, the toughest tom in town. Excellent illustrations and a wonderful, playful grasp of language and rhythm. Told in a lively rhyme, this book and all its sequels are nightly favourites. We also have the Hairy MacLary collection on CD, read by David Tennant, whose voice is perfect for the stories.

8. The Dudgeon is Coming, also by Lynley Dodd. This is a Chinese Whispers story about how messages change in the telling, with fabulous characters like the Pineapple Pig and the Omnibus Owl. Beautifully illustrated, too - Tove absolutely adores this book.

9. Another of Tove's favourites is Sam Chaffey's Where's my mama? which is the story of a little chick who can't find his mum one morning. A pop-up book which really brings the story to life, there are days when its almost impossible to read this to Tove as she's so busy empathising with the chick! She even gives the pop-up chick a cuddle...perfect for toddlers and again with very detailed pictures. We love the mouse's  feet.



10. Mick Inkpen's children's books are always great - the Kipper stories, for example - but at the moment we love Wibbly Pig's Silly Big Bear. I always tear up at the end, too. It's about a big bear who can't do all the things we can do but who has some very special qualities anyway. We're also loving We are wearing out the naughty step by the same author, perfect for any parent at the end of their tether. This one also touches on the difficulties of single parents trying to have a life outside the home!

11. An all-time classic - Eric Carle's story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Daisy took her 'fat pallar' toy to bed with her for months when she was younger, and all children like to poke their fingers into the holes that the caterpillar has made in the food. Tove is now starting to join in with the words as well, and she loves the butterfly at the end. I like The Bad-tempered Ladybird too, but then I would...

12. Another old one! Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. We all have a favourite wild thing in this story, and mine is the one with the stripy jumper. I've always loved this tale of a naughty boy who becomes King of all the Wild Things, but who eventually realises that even though his mum told him off she still loves him best of all. These days I don't need to see the book to tell the story, but then you don't get Sendak's wonderful pictures!

13. Another monster story! Not Now Bernard by David McKee, which is a gently humorous tale about what happens when parents don't listen to their children! Poor Bernard tries to tell his parents about the monster in the garden but they're too busy to listen....and they're too busy to listen to the monster too.

14. Jill Murphy (who also wrote the Worst Witch stories) created the Large Family and pretty much every parent will identify with them at some point! The current favourite is Five Minutes Peace, where Mrs Large tries to find somewhere in the house for a cup of tea and a read of the paper without being over-run with children. Daisy listened to it the first time and then said 'Mrs Large sounds like you!'. There are several others in the Large Family series - my niece loves elephants and  A Piece of Cake in particular.

15. And last but not least - one I haven't got round to buying for the children yet as its sadly out of print (but there are currently copies on Amazon). This was one of our family favourites when my sisters and I were young - David McPhail's The Bear's Toothache. The illustration that stays with me is of the bear sitting in the garden and the word 'OOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOooooooOOO' floating through the window to wake up the little boy. Poor old bear!

We're always up for new bedtime stories so if anyone wants to recommend their favourites I'd love to hear about them - do leave a comment below or you can tweet at me by following http://www.twitter.com/LadybirdBeads.