Gifts for Kids

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Philistine!

[Kim]

For the under 5s, you can't beat a Richard Scarry book or several.

I detest Richard Scarry. I find them virtually unreadable.

You're not supposed to *read* them.

[Jock Stewart]

JK Rowling, after the first Harry Potter, which was reasonably short and novel (no pun intended), sucked. I read the first five tomes to the eldest and they just got longer and dirgier each time. Quantity does not = quality.

[Butterfly]

For the under 5s, you can't beat a Richard Scarry book or several.

I detest Richard Scarry. I find them virtually unreadable.

You're not supposed to *read* them.

What's the point of them? The pictures are ugly, they have animals in clothes (miffy and maisie are about the only acceptable instances of that) and they have to much speech for the age the are aimed at.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

The pictures are great, there's loads of detail, you can look for bugdozer, the stories are funny, and there are jokes that the adults will get. And, Mrs Farmer Alfalfa wears earrings in the shape of eggwhisks.

[Kim]

It's about looking for details in the pictures.

I don't recall there being much speech, or even a story...   


ETA: Having looked at googlepedia it appears that the Richard Scarry books that made it to our corner of Highgate via West Africa were just the tip of the iceberg, and may not have been representative of the genre.


(Agreed about anthropomorphic animals, actually.  That started to seriously bug me as an older child - "But *why* are they all bears?  They're not doing bear things.  Can the cartoonist not draw people?".  But if you filtered based on that it wouldn't have left much...)

[Cudzoziemiec]

That would rule out Winnie the Pooh and all the Beatrix Potter books.

As for Richard Scarry, the only one I've ever seen was "My Big Richard Scarry Book of ... " can't remember what. Something like buildings or construction machines. No speech, certainly. All I remember for sure is being puzzled how "scary" could be a name.

[Legs]

My 3-y-o and nephew and niece love You Choose, and, of course, anything by Julia Donaldson (particularly the ones illustrated by Axel Scheffler).

[Kim]

That would rule out Winnie the Pooh and all the Beatrix Potter books.

Indeed.

I remember The Animals Of Farthing Wood being something of an antidote to all that when it came on the tellyscreenovision some time after I was too old to appreciate it.  From what I saw, it was a sort of Watership Down meets Game Of Thrones, with a clear story arc and where much of the politics revolved around persuading the predators not to eat the others, and any of the main characters could be gorily killed off without warning.

[Butterfly]

I'm all or ruling out beatrix potter. They're horrible. But I'll add Winnie the Pooh to the exceptions list, because they are clearly stories made up about toys, mostly by the child himself.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think the anthropomorphisation in Beatrix Potter's stories is distinct from the normal sort. Your interest is always with the animal characters even when there are humans too, because they are characters and their being animals is secondary, and the whole thing is far from cute. In fact, quite the opposite, with your kids being made into pies and the one where the pig runs away because his brother is made into bacon (or was it his sister becoming sausages?). Not tv material!

[Riggers]

Quentin Blake books, or, how about a pop-up book?

[pcolbeck]

I'm all or ruling out beatrix potter. They're horrible. But I'll add Winnie the Pooh to the exceptions list, because they are clearly stories made up about toys, mostly by the child himself.

And the last page is probably the saddest thing in literature. Brings me to tears every time.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

That would rule out Winnie the Pooh and all the Beatrix Potter books.

Indeed.

I remember The Animals Of Farthing Wood being something of an antidote to all that when it came on the tellyscreenovision some time after I was too old to appreciate it.  From what I saw, it was a sort of Watership Down meets Game Of Thrones, with a clear story arc and where much of the politics revolved around persuading the predators not to eat the others, and any of the main characters could be gorily killed off without warning.

Have you seen @forest_fr1ends?

[Kim]

Have you seen @forest_fr1ends?

I have now 

[mrcharly-YHT]

That would rule out Winnie the Pooh and all the Beatrix Potter books.

Indeed.

I remember The Animals Of Farthing Wood being something of an antidote to all that when it came on the tellyscreenovision some time after I was too old to appreciate it.  From what I saw, it was a sort of Watership Down meets Game Of Thrones, with a clear story arc and where much of the politics revolved around persuading the predators not to eat the others, and any of the main characters could be gorily killed off without warning.

Someone gave me a book about moles once. It made GoT seem like nursery rhymes (the nice sort). It was about moles - with graphic description of gang rape as punishment, ritual killings, etc etc. I can't remember the author or title and I don't think I want to remember. I used to like moles. Wind in the Willows was one of my favourite books.

[Mr Larrington]

Was it that one about the Hells Angels by Hunter S Thompson?

[Clare]

Duncton Wood.

(Or any other of the Duncton trilogy)

[pcolbeck]

I have always loved "The Little Grey Men" by BB.

[Vince]

The pictures are great, there's loads of detail, you can look for bugdozer, the stories are funny, and there are jokes that the adults will get. And, Mrs Farmer Alfalfa wears earrings in the shape of eggwhisks.

This.

Umm... I've lost track of which age group we are considering... So I'll just add Fungus the Bogeyman and the Fungus the Bogeyman Plop Up book

[mrcharly-YHT]

Duncton Wood.

(Or any other of the Duncton trilogy)

Ugh, yes that sounds familiar.

[The Family Cyclist]

Great big cardboard box. My kids will play for hours in one