Last year I predicted that by now my little girl would be reading books all by herself, and the nightly ritual of me reading to her would be over. I was right in one way – she’s now racing through books on her own – but we’ve now started reading side by side before bed instead, which is a very special time for us both.
She’s discovered some really sweet books this year, and kept reading the absolute favourites. Here are the Top 10 for this little 6 year old!
1. Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls – 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
What a beautiful book! This one is filled with pretty illustrations, easy-to-read text, and inspirational stories. From Marie Curie and Greta Thunberg to many other women (some whose stories I didn’t know myself), this book is one that we both enjoy reading.
For a little girl who sometimes doubts what she can achieve, each page is a reminder that all the incredible women in this world started out just like she did. I believe that our amazing girl will have a story that could go in a book like this one day, and I hope that by reading these stories she can believe it too.
2. A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems
Oh how we love the Piggy and Elephant books! Number 5 on last year’s list, they are on the list again, because they are just so funny. Piggy is full of energy and emotions, where Elephant is a bit more serious (and very patient).
I can’t help but make the connection between these two characters and our own two children. Even the illustration on the front of A Big Guy Took My Ball is exactly how our two kids often are: the big one trying to play a game (or solve the world’s problems) and the little one draped across his shoulders yelling about a missing ball.
3. Hot Dog 5 – Camping Time! by Ahn Do
Another series that carried over from last year’s Top Ten is Anh Do’s Hot Dog and we’ve enjoyed following the dog/cat/lizard trio through their various adventures. In Camping Time we get to see how their individual strengths combined save the day (a predictable and somewhat comforting theme of most of the Hot Dog books).
4. A – Z of Endangered Animals by Jennifer Cossins
The kids recently completed a survey at school asking questions like “Do you have more than 25 children’s books at home”, to which our kids answered yes. However most of our books, such as the one above, are borrowed from the local library, and are on constant rotation throughout the year.
Often we’ll be talking around the dinner table and the kids will talk about a topic they like or a book they’ve heard of, and I’ll grab my phone, open the library app and put the book on hold. Once a week, we’ll drop in to the library to collect the books we’ve held, as well as a couple of extra ones off the shelves. A-Z of Endangered Animals is one that our 6 year old had read at school that she enjoyed, and our local library allowed us to extend that enjoyment to us at home.
5. Ella Diaries – Passion for Fashion by Meredith Costain
Ella Diaries and Olivia’s Secret Scribbles (both by Meredith Costain) are the series of books that took our daughter through the journey of learning how to read by herself. The storylines are very relatable to a 6 year old (she could say “I’m more like Ella because she’s creative and likes fashion and is kind to her friends”), they have great illustrations (although we both agree that the Ella’s feet could have been drawn a bit better), but most of all they’re written at the perfect level to stretch the young reader just a little without scaring them off.
Our daughter’s learn-to-read journey looked something like this: I first read with her watching over my shoulder, she started reading the speech bubble parts only and me reading the rest, she started reading the first sentence of every page, then the first page of every chapter, then we would read a page each… then she just began to read it all! Now my involvement has reduced to a simple “Mummy, what’s E-M-B-R-O-I-D-E-R-Y mean?”, and I savour it while it lasts.
6. The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems
Another Mo Willems hilarious series, the Pigeon books are about a stubborn and determined bird who doesn’t like being told what to do. In one of the first Pigeon books, the bird wants to drive the bus, but she’s not allowed to. As a twist on the classic tale, in The Pigeon HAS to Go to School, the pigeon absolutely does not want to go to school, until the moment when (spoiler alert) she realises she gets to go on a bus.
Our daughter relates to the pigeon in so many ways, especially when her defiance shines through if she’s being told to do something that makes her scared or uncomfortable. Mo Willems explores these emotions in such a simple and subtle way, and teaches lessons for both kids and parents alike. Sometimes to get there, you just have to let the pigeon work through what the pigeon needs to work through.
7. A Friend for Dragon by Dav Pilkey
Our daughter used her Christmas money to buy a bunch of books through the Scholastic Book Club, which doesn’t always have the best quality books but it’s fun for the kids to go through the magazine and circle what they like (and at the end of the day, they’re still books, right?). A Friend for Dragon was one of these books and it sat on her shelf for months unread, until one sunny autumn afternoon when it was just me and the kids at home. I was feeling a bit tired, and not one of the suggested activities from the kids sounded very appealing: play a board game tournament with the most complicated games they could find, build a cubby using every blanket and chair in the house, or do ‘experiments’ with slime and paint (no, thank you very much!).
So I suggested each get a book from the bookshelf, lie on the outdoor lounge in the sun, and simply read together. I got through a few chapters of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the boy read his Double Helix Magazine, and the girl read A Friend for Dragon cover to cover without a peep.
8. The Baby-sitters Club – Kristy’s Great Idea by Raina Telgemeier
When I was a ‘tween’ (although that term didn’t exist in the early 90s) I read every single Babysitters Club book. One of my favourite childhood memories is staring at my wooden bookshelf in my room and looking at all the colourful books lined up in order from 1 to 40, 50, 60… whatever latest book in the series was that I’d received from one of my aunts or grandparents or friends.
I learned so much about girls and friendships and how to be social from these books, and looking back I’m relieved that it was this series that influenced these important aspects of my development and not something like Barbie and Friends: The show must go on (important side note – Barbie has come a long way since the 90s and coincidentally I’m taking the kids to see the Barbie Movie later today).
With no influence from me, our daughter has come to love the books and the latest Netflix series, and is also talking about starting her own babysitting club just like her mother considered, but thankfully decided against, 35 years ago.
9. How Airports Work by Clive Gifford
This one featured on the Top Ten list for our son when he was 7, and here it is again for our daughter. Our daughter is not particularly interested in airports or how they work, but she is very committed to sneaking into our son’s room and stealing a book or two whenever she has the chance. How Airports Work was one of these books, that both achieved the desired reaction (“Mummy, she’s been in my room again!! Arrggh!!”) and resulted in her being engrossed in the pictures, lift-the-flaps and quite interesting facts about airports.
10. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
I’d requested The Wild Robot from the library for our son, but when we picked it up it was our daughter who was more interested in the book. It has a beautiful storyline – a robot who’s is destined for delivery to a futuristic city, but falls off the cargo ship and finds her way to a deserted island having to fend for herself.
This one has very few pictures and very long chapters, and she’s only part way through it at this stage. I can see it’s stretching her to that next level again, where Ella, Hot Dog, Piggy and Kristy Thomas will soon be things of the past.
Follow @jessieansons
Jessie Ansons 