Stig of the Dump

Author	Raymond Briggs
ISBN	0679887768

Raymond Briggs, creator of The Snowman, tells a magical Christmas story that will appeal to everyone who wants to believe in Santa Claus. Meet Father Christmas: a very human gift-giver with a tough job to do. You'll find out that he sometimes gets a little grumpy living at the icy North Pole and squeezing...

Author	Jill Murphy
ISBN	0141319623

This is the perfect book for young reluctant readers.

It’s engaging, fun, fast-paced and actually a really great story. There’s a magic school, great friendship, antiheroes and a series of unfortunate events.

And let’s not forget the lovely illustrations. This is no Harry...

Author

Arthur Ransome

Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003.

Swallows and Amazons, despite it being a popular old-fashioned children's book that almost every adult in England would have read, has never been on my radar and I don't think I'd ever even heard...

Author	Ted Hughes
ISBN	0571226124

When you write a review of a kid's book, there really should be a way to give it two different star ratings. One for you, and one for the kids you've read it to.

For me, this book might be a three star book. Four if I was feeling generous. I find it wordy and ponderous. Overwrought. The plot is pretty...

Author	Nina Bawden
ISBN	0140364560

Albert, Carrie and young Nick are war-time evacuees whose lives get so tangled up with the people they've come to live among that the war and their real families seem to belong to another world. Carrie and Nick are billeted in Wales with old Mr Evans, who is so mean and cold, and his timid mouse of a sister,...

Author	Raymond Briggs
ISBN	0140542353

President Trump has dispatched 15,000 loyal American troops to search under the nation's beds. For the moment, our children are safe. But if the Dems retake the House tomorrow, here are just a few of the items on Nancy Pelosi's list:

○ Increase number of things going bump in the night by 700%.
○...

Author	Janet Ahlberg
ISBN	0140503013

Janet and Allan Ahlberg's hilarious picture book, Burglar Bill.
Burglar Bill is an entertaining picture book by the iconic British husband and wife picture book team Janet and Allan Ahlberg, creators of Peepo! Perfect as a bedtime story and for children learning to read!

Who's that creeping...

Author

Shirley Hughes

I had almost forgotten just how good this is. Shirley Hughes manages to tread that fine line between emotionally affecting and twee without ever falling into the cutesy pie.
The story of how Dave loses his beloved Dogger was always a favourite, especially with daughter number one, who had her own...

Author	Jill Murphy
ISBN	0333631986

The hour was late and Mr Bear was tired. But he could not sleep - however he tried and wherever he tried.

SNORE, SNORE went Mrs Bear.

TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK went the clock.

Would he never get to sleep?

The familiar noises, repetition and beautiful illustrations make...

Author	Jane Hissey
ISBN	0399214011

5 stars for illustrations, 3 stars for story.

Jane Hissey's illustrations are absolutely marvelous! So warm and cuddly and realistic; the old bear looks so sweet, worn and real, I felt like I could reach out and touch his soft fur. I really loved this for the illustrations. The story itself is...

Author	B.B.
ISBN	0192719467

The last four gnomes in Britain live by a Warwickshire brook. But when one of them decides to go and explore and doesn't return, it's up to the remaining three to build a boat and set out to find him. This is the story of the gnomes' epic journey in search of Cloudberry and is set against the background of the...

Author	Penelope Lively
ISBN	1405225424

Annual re-read. First encountered at the age of ten, in primary school (in fact I still have Mrs. Halsall's own copy, sorry, Miss) and loved since. Lively's enduring ghost story tells of James Harrison being haunted by a bad-tempered C17th poltergeist whose distaste of the modern world manifests itself...

Author

Arthur Ransome

The crew's on holiday, and they turn their energies to mining for gold, aided by pigeon messengers Homer, Sophocles, and Sappho. The adventurers comb the nearby hills for a fabled lost claim, while being shadowed by a mysterious figure they dub "squashy hat." Undeterred by drought, sudden brushfires,...

Author	Allan Ahlberg
ISBN	0140314946

This witty collection of school poems by Allan Ahlberg, has a cover refresh for a whole new generation of school children to take to its heart. It is full of typical classroom events that will be recognized and enjoyed by everyone - from never-ending projects, reading tests, quarrels, making-up, excuses...

Author	Richmal Crompton
ISBN	0333534085

There were some quite interesting things to do outside. In the road there were puddles, and the sensation of walking through a puddle, as every boy knows, is a very pleasant one. The hedges, when shaken, sent quite a shower bath down upon the shaker, which also is a pleasant sensation. The ditch was full...