books for the love of language
Ages 2 to 8
A Banana Is A Banana by Justine Clark and Josh Pyke is a book and lively kids song that entertains AND get kids thinking about the words we use and what they really mean.
It can happen that, in the midst of crisis, children need explicit words to help them give structure to fears and thoughts and hopes. The Whirlpool is a book for those times.
I’ve seen the power of read-it-before-you-need-it books many times and, with that solid foundation, a book that gives words to feelings can be the next piece in the puzzle that is emotional resilience.
In The Whirlpool, we see ourselves in the everyday life of a sweet polar bear who is full of confidence and brimming with happiness while he is '… a mastermind. A storyteller. A traveller and adventurer.”
ages 0 to 3 years
One-year-old Angus’s favourite book at the moment is A Christmas Carol from the BabyLit series.
If you’re not familiar with BabyLit, they're board book primers (covering things like animals, counting, sounds, flowers and much, much more) that are a sweet introduction to classic literature. The words are simple and each page connects an object to a story via engaging artwork. For example, in A Christmas Carol:
a lovely book for all ages
'Opposites' books are pretty great—and not uncommon. They're wonderful for building kids' vocabularies and usually simple enough to keep even the little ones interested. Elephant Elements is a book of opposites, but it's not the common variety—more like one-of-a-kind.
ages 2 to 8 years
Before and after photos are something of a modern obsession—weight loss, home renovations, teeth, hair, even cars (think Pimp My Ride)! We just seem to love looking at change.
My Pictures After The Storm feeds that innate human fascination in a way that is laugh out loud funny. It's fundamentally cheerful and offers such a clever and witty look at life. This is a book that's full of humour, bursting with life and colour, and terrific for thinking about change
ages 0 to 8 years
‘It’s like ...who sank the boat!' That’s how my family often describes an overwhelming day, too much of something, or a time when we've gone one step too far.
In this story, there’s ‘a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig and a tiny little mouse’ who decide to go for a row on the bay. One by one, they gingerly climb in the rowboat and restore the equilibrium before the next passenger. Finally it’s the tiny little mouse’s turn and so in it jumps. You can guess what happens next I’m sure!
How many Dr Seuss books can (or could) you recite by heart? There was a time when I could rattle off the whole of Green Eggs and Ham while driving—Thomas would sit in his car seat behind me, flipping the pages at the appropriate moment while his two younger siblings looked on. I could give Fox in Socks a good crack too, though I did sometimes have to agree with Mr Knox:
“I hate this game, Sir. This game makes my tongue quite lame, Sir.”
All the Dr Seuss rhymes are brilliant for little kids who are learning to read, as that great-fun video points out.
Writers are still imprisoned for the very act of telling stories; sometimes factual stories, sometimes fiction. This is the telling of their collective story – and of the people they write for. Beautiful, thought provoking and inspiring.
ages 6 years to adult
Hip swinging, foot stamping fun in this rewrite of everyone’s favourite dance tune—Footloose! There’s even a CD with Kenny Loggins himself singing. Dancing fun for at least three generations of your family.
ages 2 to 8 years
Funny bedtime reading that says: “we love books, you and I, and we know how to use them.” Perfect for booklovers who already know that books can be read anywhere in any way + for reluctant readers who need something to inspire without preaching.
ages 2 to 8 years
When you’re a worm on a mission to get to an apple, you need determination and imagination – and you need to be a go-with-the-flow sort of worm. There’s a great punchline in this book and easy to ‘read’ pictures too.
ages newborn to 8 years
Alphabet books are great for reinforcing alphabetical order and connecting sounds with words. And the art is often brilliant. What Pete Ate from A-Z is both of those, and it's a story too!
ages 2 to 8 years
ages 6 years and up
Shakespeare certainly knew how to spin a tale - but reading or seeing one of his classic plays performed live can be intimidating or just plain hard to follow. Try reading these brilliant Shakespeare Stories first, they'll help it all come together and make the original so much easier to love.
Since Ivy became a very proud big sister a few days ago, we’ve noticed that each time she chooses something to read, the same five books come out. She pulls out the books, finds herself an adult (or two) and settles in for a good long session. These three-year-old comfort books are all lovely for her age and for growing into as she gets older.
ages 2 to 8 years
all ages
There's something here for everyone with poems ranging from classic to modern, raucous to soothing, historical to fantasy. Lovely for any age or stage.
I really love alphabet books, it's the certainty coupled with surprise I think. The certainty of knowing what comes next – D follows C every time – and the delight of the surprising way each book treats the letters.
kids of all ages
I bought this picture book just for me, without hesitation. It's full of sentiment but not sentimental and the words are profoundly simple. The illustrations are not too shabby either. (Read that as 'they're stunning!')
ages toddler to grown-up
Sometimes it takes a while to find a perfect friend or to recognise the greatness in someone who might be your friend. Sometimes we can overlook someone’s best efforts just because they don’t match our expectations. Sometimes we might not see the kindnesses we are being offered or the fun that is waiting for us. All those things happened to Ted.
ages 2 to 8 years
ages birth to 8 years
Max has two brothers with impressive collections—one collects coins and the other collects stamps. And while Max with his collection comes out as clearly the hero, one of the many great things about this brilliant story is that the work of his brothers doesn't get undervalued.
ages newborn to early childhood
In our house at least, Big Red Barn is a bedtime book. It’s the softly told story of farm animals bedding down for the night ... lovely, calming and reassuring. And elevating.
There's quite the craze happening for this book - simply because it's heaps of fun! It really is a book with no pictures, but. There are typeface changes, colour changes and white space. Which all go together to give it plenty of life. It's funny and it's great.
ages 4 to 8 but older kids will respond too / funny, language
Ages baby to pre-teen
Two little birds learning to fly literally bump into each other! And they begin a friendship that teaches them both about acceptance, trust and the world they live in.
There’s Chack the Blackbird and Apollo the Swallow who, when they meet, begin a fun and witty dialogue about themselves. At first they repeat to each other over and over again, “I don’t believe you!” as they tell about their lives. Apollo tries to tell Chack that he’ll be flying to Africa, but Chack says, “I don’t believe you!” And sure enough, the day comes and Apollo is gone – to Africa.
A book of grammar that's fun for the most strident grammarian among us, yet still makes the rules accessible, enjoyable and memorable for the rest of us.
ages 4 to grown-up / language
ages 2 to 10 years
I particularly like the spoonerisms page in this great book - it comes with a little story about William Spooner – a teacher who would mix up sounds when he spoke. “One day, he accused a student of missing his history lecture but accidentally said: ‘You hissed my mystery lecture!’” And there's lots more fun to be had!
Age guide: 4 to 12
Our oldest boy, who is now an English teacher, had a thing for idioms. He was 15 by the time this book was published but still got a laugh out of it.
The bee in Ben’s bonnet is that he wants his large family to celebrate his birthday but they are all too involved with life to talk to him.
Each family member has something going on that is described in a well known idiom, for example, ‘Godfather Maurice was burying the hatchet’. The very funny illustrations flesh out the story
As a father, reader, and English teacher, I take great interest in my children’s reading. I want them to both read and learn from great books not simply as escapism, but also as tools for emotional learning.
