What’s your favourite children’s book?
Great books make the summer holidays extra fun
My sister, who’s now a school teacher, was talking the other evening about how we devoured books when we were children – especially during the long school summer holidays. Like many kids growing up during the 1960s and 70s we both read most of the Famous Fives, Stig of the Dump, The Chronicles of Narnia, Emil and the Detectives, The Swish of the Curtain and of course the Beano Summer Annual. We read them on the beach, or lying on the grass, or inside hiding from the rain, reading for hours at a time. We both still avidly read today, but my sister definitely has the edge when it comes to children’s books. As a primary school teacher she teaches children how to read, so she knows what’s popular and what gets them excited as the world of books opens up for them. She’s also starting a new school library, so she’s amassing a collection of books.
The great children’s books charity shop hunt
At North Cottage Cromer we provide quite a library of adult orientated books including local history, local interest, natural history, gardens, biography and fiction. One of the hotels we regularly stay at has a library of left behind books and we love browsing and borrowing them. It inspired us to offer books for guests to enjoy during their stay at North Cottage Cromer.
Our children’s book collection is much smaller. My sister and I were talking about this and she told me a secret I should have noticed before. The secret? Charity shops are full of children’s books and they usually sell for around 50p. I’m surprised I didn’t look closer because I often buy books in charity shops and 50p is a steal. More good news – there are a lot of charity shops in the seaside towns and villages around here.
So the very next day we set out on the great charity shop children’s book hunt around North Norfolk, with a budget of £10. This felt like a decent amount of summer holiday pocket money. We were looking for books we remembered really enjoying as kids, some classics, some books for each age range, some classic illustrated story books, and some good modern fiction.
The books we found were in surprisingly excellent condition, even if we had to stretch the budget to £1 each for several of them! We quickly collected 14 books and when I added up the new cover prices our haul came to £125.78. Not bad for £10. In a moment I’ll share our finds with you.
The Summer Reading Challenge
Reading Agency is a charity you may not have heard of, but you probably have heard their celebrity author ambassadors enthusing about books and reading on TV, radio, online and in the press. For example they’re behind the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. Every summer they also run a children’s Summer Reading Challenge for children age 4 – 11. In the UK 1 in 4 children can’t read well by age 11. They’re on a mission to change this, inspiring children to discover the joy of books and giving them the skills they need to do well in the classroom and in life. Many of the 59 books, for all different reading levels, on their summer reading challenge list, are also available in public libraries. As kids my sister and I loved going to the library, we couldn’t afford to buy all the books we wanted to read. We didn’t find any of the titles on this summer’s list in our charity shop hunt, but we found some from previous summer lists including Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Our children’s books charity shop haul
I managed to pick out a few fiction books I easily recognised as good finds and great reads, but my sister was quickly gathering armfuls of large picture books, and she had a big smile on her face! No wonder, she had The Gruffalo, which I’ve read to friend’s young children over the years, a big hard back collection of Paddington stories my nephew used to recite aloud when he was young and Hairy Maclary which Andrea was very excited about sharing with children who come to stay at North Cottage Cromer.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has enthralled generations of kids with its timeless appeal. Narnia was one of the best known fantasy lands long before a whole genre of Harry Potter inspired books became the mainstream for many of today’s readers. It’s a wonderful title, and Narnia is such an enduring creation for young minds. We’ve even named our linen cupboard at North Cottage ‘Narnia’ because the entrance door is inside the Master Bedroom wardrobe. Narnia has certainly stayed with us as a place we’ve remembered all our lives.
Our full children’s books charity shop hunt collection
As I mentioned, we picked up 14 books for our £10 budget. The cover prices added up to £125.78 and we had some great titles. Even better, by buying pre-loved books we’re saving them from the pulping machine. A recent BBC report suggests more than 1 million books a month are pulped in the UK, and as many 300,000 books are shredded every week. Gulp… Let’s quickly move on.
Our haul of saved children’s books are available for guests to read and enjoy at North Cottage Cromer. In no particular order they are:
Hairy Maclary ‘Sit’ by Lynley Dodd
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
Sapphire Battersea by Jaqueline Wilson
Horrible Histories – Rotten Romans by Terry Deary and Martin Brown
The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
Winnie and Wilbur at the Seaside by Valerie Thomas and Kory Paul
Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler
A Bear Called Paddington 50th Anniversary by Michael Bond
The Puffin Treasury of Children’s Stories by various authors including The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the-Pooh and The Emperor’s New Clothes (a bargain for £1)
We’ll be adding to our new children’s library, and replacing books as they become too ‘loved’. Let us know your favourite children’s book when you stay and we’ll try and add it.
You can stay at North Cottage Cromer for as few as 2 nights at weekends (except the summer holidays) See our special offers page for our best deals.
