The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

Until I heard of this book, I only knew E.B. White as the author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. (one of my favourite kids movies too - with Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie).

The Trumpet of the Swan first came to my attention on this Dinner A Love Story post about the best collection of books to give a new baby. I have most of them now but I think this one is my favourite.

If your kids are of the age when they can still for a half an hour each evening, and you need some kind of stress relief, just order this book. Get the hardcover (I wish I had) because its one that will be around for a long time. I read it on a camping holiday, so I did have a captive audience (no wifi, Nintendo DS out of battery, laptop out of charge, everyone in withdrawl) but my three elder boys, then eleven, nine and seven sat rapt while I read. We usually did it when our youngest was having a nap and my husband was deciding which incredibly cheap but delicious wine he was going to get in the nearby French supermarket. Happy Days.

For ages seven and up.

Fast and very bearable family game - Quallop

We're not really a game-ish family. Vital pieces in our Mousetrap were lost before it was ever played, our Monopoly is used mainly by our four year old for some kind of money/skateboard/burger game that thankfully is a solo thing, and Twister lasted about eight minutes before I felt very much like snapping the arrow/board thingy in half. Which would have been very easy, it was so flimsy.

Anyhoo, in a way I want us to be a game-ish family. It just seems like a very good thing to sit down with our kids at a table and play something. (They will sometimes play together but more often than not, the main attraction of the whole thing is that one of us is involved.)

Which brings me to Quallop. It's great. Doesn't take too long, easy to understand (really - very easy. It's noughts and crosses with a few twists) and compact. (That's a folding board in the picture above. Its about two handspans wide and one high.)No cumbersome boards and big boxes. No tiny, vital pieces to lose. So far, it has made nobody cry and I have never felt like sneaking it into a charity bag.

Suitable from ages five or six to adult.
P.s. This isn't a sponsored post - I chose and paid for the game.

You're a Bad Man Mr Gum by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman

This is the first in the Mr Gum series and my three elder boys have read all the others too. Mr Gum picks his nose a lot and hates children. He lives in a big, disgustingly messy house where the carpet is the colour of unhappiness and smells like a toilet. His favourite televison programme is called Bag of Sticks, which is exactly as it sounds. An image of a bag of sticks. (The Christmas edition is a bag of sticks with a dead robin beside it.) I'm probably not selling this very well, but this series is really very funny and my kids loves it. If a new one comes out, its impossible to get from the library as the series is so, so popular around here.

As you can see, there's a very manageable amount of text per page, and plenty of funny drawings. Great from ages seven to ten. Also, the audio versions are a treat (although I can only find them available second hand.) We listened to Mr Gum and The Goblins, read by the author, (who is also a stand up comedian) about twelve times.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, performed by David Hyde Pierce

This is the audio version of The Phantom Tollbooth, read by Niles from Frasier. I got it last Christmas for my then ten year old but up to now it has always been played in his bedroom. When he started putting it on the kitchen before school, I wasn't too happy. The hours between seven and half eight are spent concentrating hard on getting four boys fed, dressed, supplied with a lunch they might actually eat and out of the house. Usually I work in silence at the kitchen counter muttering..

Nutella sandwiches, drink, apple  oreos, soup, no, not soup, he won't eat it, peanut butter sandwiches, no, peanut butters all gone, nutella? Ham? Recorder, no not today, better put it in the school bag anyway. Please put your socks on. Bike helmet, lights? Sign journal. Find pen. 

Hearing David Hyde Pierce blast from the speakers the other day nearly drove me over the edge. Howandsoever, I must have slept well the night before because when I suppressed the screams, turned down the volume a bit and listened, I had to admit its pretty good. I know it sounds like a cliche, but it's thought provoking. And very entertaining.

This one is unabridged and four and a half hours long. Needless to say, it is read brilliantly. Highly recommended for ages seven or eight to twelve.

More nice books - for seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven year olds

Emil. He lives on a farm in the Swedish countryside with his father, his mother, his little sister Ida, the farmhand Alfred and Lina, the maidservant. The chapters in these three books have titles like

Tuesday, the twenty-second of May when Emil got his head stuck in the soup tureen.

or

Sunday, the thirteenth of June when Emil made three brave attempts to pull Lina's tooth and then painted little Ida blue.

and

Tuesday, the tenth of August, when Emil put the frog in the lunch basket and then behaved so badly that I hardly dare write about it.

He's not all bad though, little Emil. There's also

Saturday, the eighteenth of December, when Emil did such a noble deed that the whole of Lonneberga was proud of him and all his past tricks were forgotten.
                     
These books are very funny and perfect to read aloud to ages five or six and up. Great too for kids to read alone from about seven, depending on ability. The chapters are long and definitely written before attention spans were shrunken by screens but fantastically written. Emil isn't as well known as Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgrens  more famous creation, but I prefer him.

The Great Brain. This is about the same reading level and also about a little boy in a small town. Its very popular in the States, but we just got it this past Summer and my nine, 11 and 13 year old sons loved it. Again, very funny and again great too insofar as it is set in another time and place - here it's Utah in the 1890's. An overall very good read, both aloud and independently. There are three in the series.

You could say this series is a bit gimmicky. Theres also 12 Finally and 13 Gifts, both of which I meant to get for the appropriate birthdays but completely forgot. Anyways, 11 Birthdays is great, Well written and obviously, perfect for an 11th birthday present.

For ten years and up too there's the His Dark Materials trilogy. Utterly brilliant. Good for those who have finished with Harry Potter and anyone who likes any kind of magical, creepy exciting mystery. So beautifully written, they're hard to put down. I started reading The Northern Lights out loud the other night and and went on way longer than planned.

I Am David by Anne Holm

We are in the middle of the first series of The Sopranos on boxset at the moment, so I'm itching to get down onto the couch in the evenings and as a result am not spending ages on nighttime stories. However, last night I got delayed, as my eleven year old was listening to this in bed.

Oh my goodness, its brilliant. I read it thirty odd years ago and with this reminder, would happily read it again. This audio version is very, very well read. Totally gripping.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce

This was on our kitchen table this morning, ready to be brought back to the school library. It only came home on Friday, so suffice to say, it was enjoyed. We're now on the look out for the next one by Cottrell Boyce and have already got the first, by Ian Fleming. (When you think about it, he always thought of "unusual" names for his female characters, from the sublime Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the ridiculous Pussy Galore in Goldfinger!)

For ages nine and up.

P.s. I've just had a look on Book Depository and Cottrell Boyce has written a third in the series too!

National Geographic Kids - Planets and Arthur's Halloween

I got Planets because I knew my boys would like it, and also because I suddenly realised that if I were at a table quiz and faced with questions about our solar system, I might not know the answers. The National Geographic Kid series are great. (This is the hardcover version of my one - the softback ones are between four and five euros! And reliably good. Like this one and this one.)

And there's Arthur's Halloween. I may have blogged about him before, if so treat this as a reminder that Arthur is great. We were reading this last night and none of us could remember what animal Arthur was. I have read so many American kids books that we are by now familiar with Opossums and chipmunks and bears, but for the life of me I couldn't remember if he was an anteater or an aardvark. Anyway, I just checked. He's an aardvark.

The Legend of Spud Murphy and The Legend of Captain Crow's Teeth by Eoin Colfer

About six years ago I borrowed the audio version of The Legend of Spud Murphy from our local library. It was read by Ardal O'Hanlon. (only available second hand through this link. Or try the library).

For the next year or two, we borrowed it regularly and now, due to use by us and others, it is no longer on the shelf.  It either wore out or someone kept it. I wish it were me. Not only is it just a great story (about two brothers who are sent to the library by their mother to do something other than squabble), Ardal O'Hanlon manages to make it even better. If you have a five year old with younger siblings, just buy it now and leave it in the car. You will never get sick of listening to it over the next few years.

Next we got The Legend of Captain Crow's teeth, (about the same brothers, this time on a seaside holiday) which was nearly as good and will get your kids talking about phosphorescence for days. 

Both area for ages seven and up - or when they are pretty comfortable reading themselves. (There is also The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World which is good, but we didn't love quite as much as the other two.) 

The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Again.

I mentioned a while ago that I had splashed out on the Taschen collection of Grimms Fairy Tales. Well, it was money well spent. We all love it. But especially my nine year and eleven year olds. This post is just to share a few more of the illustrations (all from various editions of the tales, from the 1820's to the 1950's). They are AMAZING.

Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown

Fans of Flat Stanley, Star Wars and Origami Yoda will love this one. My guys definitely did.

Lots of cartoony-ness and according to my nine year old its "good, one of those stories where friends become enemies and then become friends again."

The one above is the second in the series and hopefully not the last. (Heres the first one.)

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

This is a great book. I don't think I mentioned it before - maybe I have - but this is a must buy for any eight to twelve year old who has just visited or is heading for the English capital.

In The London Eye Mystery Ted and his sister Kat take decide their visiting cousin Salim on the London Eye. He ends up in a different capsule to them and then disappears. They watch his capsule the whole time and yet when it stops, he never gets off. Where did he go? What happened to Salim?

Ted tells the story. Also, he explains that he has Asperger's Syndrome. That's an aside and is not what this book is about. It just explains his fascination with the weather. And also, why he is so methodical and great at figuring out what happened to his cousin. He doesn't usually get on very well with his sister but working together on this mystery helps them see each other in a different, more positive light. A fantastic read.

The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay

I'm a bit wary sometimes of buying some my boys "classics" to read. Maybe its memories of trying to plough through Middlemarch in college (I never succeeded) but I think its understandable if they opt for something light and easy at bedtime rather than get stuck into something worthy. Actually a lot of the classics will work well read aloud, but my nine and eleven year sons share a room with their four year old brother, so it is still picture books only that I can read aloud there.

When I saw that The Magic Pudding was still on the shelf unread, since its appearance in a stocking last Christmas, I wrote it off as a loss. I'll get to it at some stage I thought. It was, after all, written in 1918. The language is different to what they are used to, to say the least. Then my eleven year old asked me to get him a Godzilla graphic novel. Hmmnn, not for nothing. Give this a go first, I asked him, if its too difficult, that's ok, but give it a try.

He read a slice or two a night. This book isn't divided into chapters, its in slices. With no complaining whatsoever. Really, it is not a chore to read this book. Its a pleasure.

Bunyip Bluegum is a Koala Bear. He lives with his uncle in cramped circumstances.

Tired of the lack of space, he asks around for advice and is told it would be good for him to head off on his own for a while. But he is not on his own for long. Soon its a gang of four; Bunyip, Bill Barnacle, a sailor, Sam Sawnoff, a penguin and The Magic Pudding.

They encounter crafty pudding thieves,

kind dogs carrying baskets of eggs, 

and  much, much more. 

An excellent read. For ages seven and up. Maybe I was wrong about children's classics? Maybe I should give Middlemarch another try.

The Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi by Anna Feinberg, Barbara Feinberg and Kim Gamble

This is a good one. Bought a few years ago on a whim(I saw it on Julias Bookbag) it was an immediate success. Its what my son describes as a "second reader". That is, if you can get through the "I Can Read"s easily, than this is the next step. And what a rewarding one! The collection we have huge - nearly one thousand pages. (there are all thirty two stories in this one - you can also buy them singly or divided into two volumes.)

It's definitely one which they will need to be sitting up in bed with two pillows to manage. Its not one to slip into the schoolbag for reading time. However, what my guys liked was that every now and again they could say nonchalantly "I'll just mark my page...hmm..that's page eight hundred and forty five!" For early readers, this is very exciting.

Written by Australian trio, Anna Feinberg, Barbara Feinberg and Kim Gamble these are the stories of a little boy called Tashi, who come into Jacks life on the back of a swan. And they become friends.

There are beautiful pencilly drawings throughout to accompany Tashi's amazing stories.

For ages six and up.

A Barrel of Laughs A Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer

This is on my nine year old's bedside table at the moment. He is taking his time with it, but when I ask (I ask my kids about their books WAY too much) if he has grown bored with it he tells me (insulted tone) "No! I really like it!"

It's got pretty big font and lots of illustrations so is a book that may well be a gateway for Wimpy Kid addicts to books with only text. (I love Wimpy Kid books but do think that its easy to get stuck at that reading level - the same applies to graphic novels in my house. They are fantastic but so often now I see my kids rereading them rather than tackling something slightly more taxing but great too. I suppose I was no different last week when I kept putting down A Tale of Two Cities to read about Brad and Angelina's wedding in Hello magazine.)

Anyway, look at these feet sticking out of the whales mouth..

And King Whatchamacallit..

So, so far, two thumbs up from a nine year old. And as for me, I finished both the Dickens and the magazine. The latter had the most exciting last one hundred pages of any book I have ever read, and can you believe Brad is 50?

P.s. Its easy to get any of Dickens works cheap, but the cheaper the edition, usually the smaller the font. The edition above is a nice size, perfectly readable for those of us over forty.

The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson was born in 1914, so this year there are all sorts of Moomin related events on around the world to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday. This was her first Moomin book. My friend over at My Book Affair wrote an excellent review of The Moomins and the Great Flood just here, that I won't attempt to better. Here are a few not great pictures of the lovely and magical illustrations. Infinitely better in real life. I promise.

I will just say that it is not one of those beautiful books that sits unread on a shelf. (and it is really, really beautifully bound, and illustrated) but that my then ten year old flew through it. He loved it.

Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Stories by Ian Beck

There are four boys in this house and its a pretty noisy place. Each of us have our own way of finding a bit of peace(mine is getting up extra early and having a cup of tea in a silent kitchen, recently my nine year old has decided to join me..) and my eleven year old listens to audio books in his bedroom. (That is, when the option of a computer screen, Youtube and a pair of headphones have been ruled out.) So, I was putting away pyjamas the other day heard a excerpt of this.

Wow, I was really impressed. Its great! Adventurey, fairy tale-ish, funny and most importantly for an audio book, there's an excellent narrator. Its the second time my son has taken it out of the library, so he's a fan, and later at bedtime, when I decided I was too tired to read, his four and nine year old brothers listened to it with him. In silence. Bliss.

The one above is the second in the series, and I think there is a third too. So far I have found the first on audio here and all the books here. But I'm pretty sure the library would have the lot.

The Brixton Brothers by Mac Barnett

There are four Brixton Brothers book in the series so far, I just have three in the photo below because I didn't have time to find them all. No doubt it is under a bed upstairs but if I go up to get it I'll be waylaid by dust balls and old socks and every else that needs to be picked up. That's something that I'll face when I have finished my coffee and this post.

I got the first of these when my eldest son was ten. He gobbled it up. Then, for each birthday and Christmas stocking following, he got the next in the series. I moved the books to his brothers bedroom last year, assuming they were now outgrown but the other day saw them piled on his bedside table. He's thirteen now and started secondary school last week. He has to read The Outsiders and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas for his english class and was using the Brixton Brothers books as chasers. And, I think as something easy and relaxing to read before bed to take his mind off the challenges of the following day. I love those kinds of books. They're worth their weight in gold.

The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell.

I've made a few false starts on this blog post. The Animal Family is hard to describe without feeling I am not doing it justice. Its a different read. And its a definite read aloud. A story about a hunter, a mermaid, a bear, a lynx and a little boy, it is quite simply very, very beautiful. I know this isn't a word that tempts most kids to a book but I will say that when I read this aloud, over three night, my three youngest(four, nine, eleven) were silent. The book was on the shelf since last Christmas and none of them were tempted to try it themselves so I wasn't expecting that at all. And even though it does have great reviews, neither did I expect it to be so beautifully written. Often, when I read aloud, my voice gets tired, even with "good" books. But with this, it just didn't.

I was about thirty pages in when I read the reviews on the back dust cover and wasn't expecting to see one by P.L. Travers. I had assumed the book was written in the seventies or eighties but no, it was 1965 and the author of Mary Poppins must have worked at the New York Time Book Review at the time. She loved it too.

It has only "decorations" (by Maurice Sendak) rather than illustrations so the beauty is almost all in the story and language (and actually, the hardback cover. See below.)

But its a beauty that will lend a lovely glow to any bedtime. For ages four to adult.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookie

This is how the last days of the Summer holidays should be spent - lounging in the most comfortable bed in the house at eleven on a Thursday morning, reading.
I've mentioned the Origami Yoda series before and its no secret that we are big fans.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookie is great. Like the Wimpy Kid books, its just as good as its predecessors and even though it just came in the post yesterday has been read by two out of the three readers in this house. Perfect for anyone from seven or eight up and even more perfect as a present if paired with any of the Star Wars movie collection or preferably, them all.