You can’t beat a good bedtime story

I cherish our fabulous collection of kids’ books. We started reading bedtime stories to our babies when they were six months old and it is very rarely left out of our bedtime routine. Reading stories at bedtime is Daddy’s job pleasure. As he is at work all day and sees little of the kids it’s nice for him to spend this last 20 minutes of the day snuggled up on the sofa reading with them.

Pickle is now nine and we are trying to persuade her that it’s time to start being weaned off bedtime stories and that she should read to herself in bed instead. But when the books come out for five-year-old Bowser she’s still to be found on the other side of Dad on the sofa listening to the same old stories she’s been hearing for the last nine years.

Kids love repetition. If you’re going to read the same book over and over and over… you might as well pick something that is fun to read. Some toddler books are dire lovey dovey drivel. I prefer one with a pinch of humour aimed at the parents to lighten it up.

This week’s post is dedicated to my top five kids’ bedtime stories from our collection.

1. Pickle’s favourite stuffed toy has always been Bedtime Bunny. She was more or less bald and was not much of a talker until she was 2 1/2. Consequently we warmed to the main character Trixie in Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and felt Mo Willems could have written it about our family. I think most people would find the Knuffle Bunny books highly entertaining.

2. Julia Donaldson could easily take up all my top spots with all her rhyming gems. Which one of Julia’s books is my favourite? It’s just so hard to pick just one. Everyone knows the Gruffalo, but I don’t think that is my #1 pick. I’ll go with Room on the Broom, but it could just as easily be Tabby McTatt, Stick Man, Monkey Puzzle, Tiddler or The Snail and the Whale. All feature Julia’s masterful rhyming stories and Axel Scheffler’s ingenious detailed drawings.

3. In Marjorie Newman’s Captain Pike Looks After the Baby new dad Captain Pike finds out that looking after the baby isn’t as easy as he thought which will make a lot of SAHMs smile. There’s a lovely moral of down with fighting, up with friendship and beautiful illustrations.

4. Julia Donaldson is on my list again but this time paired with illustrator Lydia Monks with a rhyming tale of friendship and cooperation in Sharing a Shell.

5. Adrian Reynolds bright, bold illustrations really steal the thunder in Someone Bigger. It’s a lovely, simple rhyming tale by Jonathan Emmet which appeals to the little ones who are always being told they are too small to do this or that.

All our picks are aimed at the 2-5ish age group, but as Pickle will attest there is no true upper age limit.

This month on Disney Junior you can join Wendy and her brothers John and Michael as they are whisked away to the magical world of Neverland with the hero of their own bedtime stories, Peter Pan. Don’t miss the commercial free screening of this classic Disney feature film on Saturday November 23^rd at 6pm ET.

And if you have a favourite bedtime tale in your house, please let us know – we’d love to try it!

Disclosure:  I’m part of the Disney Junior Mom program andI receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinionson this blog are my own.