My Favourite Children's Books

I think it's extremely important to read books with your children. Not only is it a wonderful bonding experience but there's so much to be learned from the diverse collection of children's stories and picture books. Since we (Music Audio Stories) are currently working on our first book, I thought it would be a nice idea to tell you which books were my favourite when I was growing up!

I unpacked one of my archive draws full of my childhood memorabilia. I was so happy to discover I had kept some of my favourite books from when I was little! I picked out a few of the books I remember I loved the most...

Tales of Mrs Hedgehog

(Purnell and Sons Limited)
Stories by Susannah Bradly
Illustrations by Kate Lloyd-Jones

I absolutely loved this book! My mum used to read me the stories and I remember looking at the pictures and wishing that I could live in Henrietta's Hobbit style house! I would imagine I was in the story, in the pages themselves and I would have such adventures!

Hamlyn Wonderful Fairy Stories in Colour

(Hamlyn)
Re-told by Lornie Leete-Hodge
Illustrated by Beverlie Manson

• The Emperor's New Clothes
• Snow White and Rose Red
• Hansel and Gretel
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Ugly Ducking
• The Three Bears
• The Little Fir Tree
• The Sleeping Beauty
• Cinderella
• The Golden Goose
• Jack and the Beanstalk

This was the book, chosen by my sister, as our regular Bedtime story book. As you can see from the list of chapters above, it featured all the classic fairy tales of old. The fine lined detailed illustrations made it look magical to me but I also remember feeling a little frightened by some of the pictures, the three bears were scary to me at the time!

Enid Blyton's Story Book Treasury

(Hamlyn)

• Including: The Unkind Children
• The Invisible Gnome
• Brer Rabbit is So Cunning
• The Little Singing Kettle
• Old Bufo the Toad
• and Pipkin Plays a Trick

This book features 29 of Enid Blyton's best short stories. Another good book to read before bedtime!

Stories From The Ballet

Cathay Books
By various writers and illustrators

• Coppelia
• The Sleeping Beauty
• The Nutcracker
• Swan Lake
• The Firebird
• Petrushka
• Cinderella

Every Ballet dancer, at some point in their young life, will have a book with stories from the Ballet in. I was no different! My mum brought me this book, and for some time, it was a treasure of mine. I would read it under my covers with a torch at night in my dormitory at school. One of the horrible girls in my class tried to steal it from me so I'm very glad I still have it today! The style of the artwork in this book influenced my GCSE artwork.

It's funny, because writing this particular Blog post has been a real flash back in time for me. We should all try to remember the child within us by doing something childlike and reading a children's book every now and then. I am suddenly compelled to read these books all over again!

♥ Anna-Christina 

www.musicaudiostories.com