It’s World Book Day and the twins have pulled most of the books off our shelves to lie on the floor for my viewing pleasure. As I can see so many of them, I thought I’d do a low down on some of my favourite (young) children’s books. Both that my kids really love and those I enjoy reading to them.

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler- no list of children’s books would be complete without a few Julia Donaldsons. The Snail and the Whale is a firm favourite in our house, largely in part to a whale being a main character and my son’s special interest is sea creatures. But I also love reading it, and the BBC adaptation of it is really lovely. See also: The Smartest Giant in Town– my husband came to know it off by heart because the kids requested it every night for months!

I want my hat back by Jon Klassen- I think the first reason we got into this was because of Romesh Ranganathan’s CBeebies bedtime story. Caleb found it hilarious and it’s so much fun to read that now it’s a family favourite. Funny for the kids and the grown ups (because there are bits the kids miss).

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury- a classic in my mind. I loved reading this to my kids when they were babies. I really enjoy how it portrays all these different babies from around the world and how they are ultimately all the same. Plus the illustrations are incredibly sweet.

Barefoot books by various- our eldest’s preschool read/sang these books and they are wonderful. They’re basically rhymes/songs but really imaginative and fun. You can find the videos of them on YouTube so you can learn the tunes, they’re pretty simple. Our favourites include A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea and We all go Travelling By. I’m pretty sure watching the videos with the words helped our son learn how to read.

Tales from Acorn Wood (series) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler- the beauty of Donaldson’s words and Scheffler’s illustrations, with flaps!! What could be better? All of our versions of these books get steadily destroyed because they are read so often. The stories are really simple and easy for the kids to follow along.

That’s not my… books by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells – of course. But not just for babies. The simple structure introduces young kids to adjectives and are still enjoyable years on! We have so many, my kids love them.

What are your favourite kids books?