NUMBER FIVE!!!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Eric Carle
This book is legendary, it was first published in 1969, when my Mum was still a nipper!!! We all remember this book, right? The lovely, little caterpillar goes on a hungry journey, eating all sorts of goodies on his way, later to metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly. This book first got my attention because the goodies looked wonderful, and set my imagination racing! I wasn't really bothered about ol' fatty turning into some beautiful butterfly. He captured my heart as the porky insect he already was!
NUMBER FOUR
Maisy Mouse By Lucy Cousins
As an adult, I love that this book was written and illustrated by a woman. These days, that means a lot to me. This book captured my heart for one initial reason...lifting the flaps! I later fell in love with this little mouse, who although she was a pretty little girl mouse, she still got messy and wore dungarees. This mouse was me. Through some sort of imaginary anthropomorphism, Lucy Cousins had captured all of the characteristics of mine, which were often brushed over, or corrected, and She made them ok. In fact she made them beautiful. I quite easily got lost in this book. Regularly! When it was made into a cartoon in the late 90's-early 2000's, it didn't sound or look how I'd imagined it in my head. Luckily, Maisy was old news by then for me.
NUMBER THREE
Mog By Judith Kerr
I loved this books so much. As a child we always had cats, but the two cats that stood the test of time...and the test of living in a town... were 'Kitbag' and 'Buddah'. Mog was a combination of both of my cats. Kitbag looked just like Mog, but was a wild farm cat who survived 19 years in a busy town! Buddah however was extremely domesticated, very dopey, and very fat... hence the name! I loved this cat, and my Dad always called 'Mog', 'Kitbag' in the book, so I believed that the book was about my own cat. This book has really stood the test of time, first published in 1970, it has not aged a day! I still have the copy of this book that I used to read with my Dad at bed time. It is now taped back together in several places, and is quite water damaged, but still readable, and it hasn't put a dampener on the magical essence of this stunning book. Another female author!
NUMBER TWO
Ten in the bed By Penny Dale
This beautifully illustrated book captured my heart for a few reasons. I adored all of the pictures. Full page illustrations, so detailed, set my imagination off every time I opened the book. Another reasons was the cute little boy in it. My Dad told me his name was 'Dale', and I loved him a little bit...he was a best friend that I never actually met, my boys remind me of 'Dale' now, off on wild adventures with all of the teddies in the middle of the night, slowly dropping off to sleep one by one. I memorised this book at quite a young age, and I would try to impress people by 'reading' it. It worked a treat! I also had 'Ten out of Bed' which was even more adventurous! Yet another female author!
AND HERE IT IS...MY NUMBER ONE...ALL TIME FAVOURITE BOOK FROM MY CHILDHOOD!!!
Percy The Park Keeper By Nick Butterworth
My Dad made this book my all time favourite children's book. He did a funny voice for Percy, and a different voice for each character! Percy's 'swearing' was "Oh Thump"...this always made me giggle, more so than if he'd have said 'bloody hell'!!! I loved that he never got a moment to himself, and he had too look after all of the playful, child-like animals, that often reminded me of moments with my Dad, where I had consumed all of his time with tasks that I felt were life or death urgent, that looking back, were usually reaching toys down, or fetching juice or snacks... but it as very important to me, and he'd honour that.
It seems that these books are popular with thousands of children still, for many different reasons. But all of these books have been memorable and special to me, because of the memories I share with my Dad, reading them over and over again. Books are great, but sharing the experience makes them magical.
