Paul Dowswell Here are my top five books. A very difficult list to compile! Like a top five list of music it probably changes every week. All these books have the magical quality of ‘taking you there’, creating a world you inhabit while you’re reading. 1984 by George Orwell One of the recurring themes of my historical…
Pat Ryan Top Five Books for Younger Children Willy the Wizard by Anthony Brown Billy the Punk by Jessica Carroll and Craig Smith What Do You Say Dear? by Sesyle Joslin and Maurice Sendak The Day the Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag I love all of Anthony Brown’s books but Willy the Wizard is…
Gillian Cross Dogger by Shirley Hughes A perfect picture book, exciting, funny and moving, with real tension – and a little mystery for the reader to solve. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett This is full of memorable images; the house with a hundred rooms; the garden that’s been shut up for ten years; the mysterious…
Paul Dowswell My top five books for the under 11s The Compleet Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle’s hilarious and surreal depiction of life in a seedy English prep school of the late 50s, chimed in with my own experience. I read my copies of these books (published now as an…
Tony Mitton I could spend aeons deliberating over this. I don’t think I could nominate 5 top reads as an absolute category. What I can do is to give 5 titles and say why I think they’re great children’s books, why I think they can (and have, in my experience as a parent and a…
Tracey Corderoy Charlotte’s Web by E.B, White A wonderful story about friendship, delicately balanced with the harsh realities of life. Sometimes it’s only through empathy that you learn to consider the bigger picture. Life might change but some things will endure . . . The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr Children love it when…
John Rice One Hundred and One Favourite Poems: Poets pick their favourite poems, edited by John Foster As well as being a fine poet, John Foster is one of the UK’s most respected editors of children’s poetry. His vision as an editor is far-reaching and in this collection he invited 101 contemporary poets to choose…
Emma Carroll There are so many amazing kids’ books nowadays it’s impossible to narrow it down. These are ones I’ve particularly enjoyed: For Love of a Horse, by Patricia Leitch My absolute favourite book as a pony-mad child. It’s different from other horse books in that it’s not all gymkhanas and rosettes. It’s about that…
Cressida Cowell is the author and illustrator of the bestselling The Wizards of Once and How to Train Your Dragon books series, and the author of the Emily Brown picture books, illustrated by Neal Layton. The Wizards of Once series has been translated into 37 languages and has been signed by DreamWorks Animation. How to…