Big books for little people - recommendations needed for simple novels

[Santosha]

One of my fondest memories of reading as a child was my Dad reading us a chapter a night of a 'big book'. He read us Charlie and the Chhocolate Factory; Watership Down; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe...

I'd really like to start doing this with DD (3 in 3 weeks) but am looking for some slightly more simple books than the ones mentioned.

The only one I can come up with so far is Fantastic Mr Fox. Any other reccomndations?

TIA

[Mak]

Oh my - any of the Enid Blyton books go down a treat here - so The Enchanted Wood, The Wishing Chair, Adventures of Binkle and Flip.
Also - The Borrowers Collection by Mary Norton.

[Cally]

We just finished Paddington Bear which was a hit. What about some of the May Gibbs books (Blinky Bill, Muddleheaded Wombat)

An oldie is Milly Molly Mandy, DD has enjoyed the occasional chapter of that which has been read, but we've never tried the whole book.

[Manhattan]

Definitely THe Magic Faraway Tree, again by Enid Blyton. I loved these books, and have already purchased them for DD for when she is old enough to appreciate them.

[Santosha]

Awesome! Thanks ladies! Had totally forgotten about these but LOVED Enid Blyton and The Borrowers - read them myself later on but sure they're good for reading aloud.

And Cally, yes, I remember those too. I still have my old Paddington!

Looks like I'm going to have to go second-hand bookshop hunting. I notice they're all older titles so far... I wonder why? They just don't write 'em like they used to?!

[beansbeans!]

If your DD is into fairies, we read the tinkerbell books. Theres a series of about 10 or 13 books. So heaps to choose from. But we also love all those above, to add we do peter pan (we love all things with tinkerbell and fairies here), curious george has some longer books too.

[jackrose]

Enid Blyton was a huge hit from 3 here also. All of the Enchanted woods books as well as the Noddy series.
Love Fantastic Mr Fox too

Other hits:
Charlotte's Web,
The Enormous Crocodile (Roald Dahl)

We have found a lot of these on audio books also for the car and also great for quiet time and quiet play. DD loves doing puzzles and listening to The Magic faraway tree!
I found lots at our local library including being able to download audio books from the local library catalogue at home.

[Floweryfields]

The Magic Faraway Tree was one of my childhood favourites.

[Phteven]

TBH at 3 I think you're better off with things like Hairy McClary, Who Sank the Boat and so on. At that age they love the repetition and being able to 'read' a book when they have learnt all the words.

[Artechim]

Julia Donaldson (of The Gruffalo fame) has a few short chapter books. But I agree with Onyx, at just turned 3 they seem to enjoy reading a whole, shorter, fun book. I would wait until she is a bit older myself.

My DS is 4.5 and we are just starting on chapter books now (Harry Potter). Only a few nights in and he keeps falling asleep while I am reading so not sure how much he is absorbing.

[Floweryfields]

TBH at 3 I think you're better off with things like Hairy McClary, Who Sank the Boat and so on. At that age they love the repetition and being able to 'read' a book when they have learnt all the words.

Yes - didn't realise you said 3. Get a base of fabulous picture books - Mem Fox has alot of great ones, the Lynley Dodd ones definitely.

[Santosha]

We've got a gazillion picture books and probably read between 2 and 10 a day. She can recite Hairy Mclary and a few others (and so can I... some, I'd be glad to never read again!). She loves lying with me at night and I make up a story and she just listens, but TBH, my imagination is a bit cr@p, especially when tired and I'm fast running out of material. Both her receptive and expressive language are fantastic, so I feel that she's ready for some of the suggested titles. It won't mean we'll reduce the picture books... though I may have to hide a couple for my own sanity!

Sorry, reading back, that sounds defensive. Just explaining my position.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

[MummyNaomi]

Hehehehe, I suffer from imagination malfunction when tired too, but have found that DS loves loves loves to hear me tell stories of myself and my brothers when we were little (I embellish them a little to add to the story sometimes hahahahaha), I think he is fascinated with stories about me once being a kid!!

Handy when you don't have a book at hand!

[wysiwyg]

Ha we need to hide some too. CJ also loves made up stories but I followed in my Grandma's footsteps and just tell her stories about what have done today yesterday etc etc - means is easy for me as don't need too much imagination - tonight her requests were "The day we went to Collingwood Childrens farm" and "When we saw Justine Clark at the zoo" - and I have to tell her "the whole day mum" so right from when she wakes up. She now tells us stories back her favorite is "When I got fed up of peas"! We also have to retell said stories where she is big girl kookaburra, I am mummy kookaburra etc etc or she wants to hear it where we all have different names - it certainly keeps my brain moving!

Have you read the Madeline children's book series written by Ludwig Bemelmans - the pictures are great and I quite like the stories (they are a read in one sitting book though but to me were a welcome change from some of her other favorites). The Alfie series (Shirley Hughes) are another big favorite here - some are quite long others short but I quite like these.

CJ is the same we have a balance between Who Sank the Boat type books, which I know are great for her working towards learning to read, and then just stories she wants to listen to for fun.

[Miss.September]

I didn't realise she was 3 either.

The thing you need to watch is that the themes aren't too old for her. You could very easily lose her love for books by reading too high over her head. I'd suggest either re-reading your classic favorites before you read them to her to make sure content wise they are suitable for her. Only you will know that. We had so many kids come in with desperate parents because the kids had completely lost interest in books and refused to read or listen to anything and when we started asking questions the kids were just not understanding what was being read to them.

[Santosha]

Thanks belly buddies! Yep, we do the 'reality' stories too. We talk about our day every night and I often chat to her in the car about when I was little. It's cracking me up as she's started to re-tell my stories as her own... "when I was a little girl, I was your big sister Mummy and you were a baby and I had a big brother Dave (my bro) and one day..."!! Cute.

Thanks PRMG, I'm mindful of the themes issue. I do have a few of my old books from childhood but was looking through them today and whilst the language level is right for some, the themes are not. Went to read her The Magic Finger and thought better of it as I'm not ready for a discussion on hunting and killing... and neither is she. As far as comprehension and interest though, I'm pretty confident she'll make her opinions clear! I also found the original Pooh books in my hunt and started reading one of those... we got 3 pages in and she glazed over and declared that she didn't think it was a good book and we should choose a different one now!