5 Great Children's Books

Children's books are very special as they are usually the beginning of a reading journey that an adult looks back on. These books are kept close to our hearts as the literature that made us fall in love with reading and, due to the fact they are written for children - they are usually imaginative beyond belief. Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure and more litter the pages and the storylines are normally simplistic and magical, transporting children to an endless world of stories where they can explore forever and never run out of anything good to read. I have my own top 5 children's stories from my own childhood and I would like to share that with you now. You may notice a theme going, I definitely had a type when it came to what I read when I was a kid.

5 Great Children's Books

1. Peter Pan by J.M Barrie

My all-time favourite children's book is Peter Pan. I used to have a lovely copy of it when I was little and I especially enjoyed how the books in the series got progressively more difficult. Starting off with the joyful Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, we get to explore the magic of Peter as a baby. In the famed Peter and Wendy we see the adventures that were common of the animated Disney movie (which I also loved). Peter Pan is quite possibly the greatest book written for children in my opinion because unlike the rest of the world, it lets them believe that growing up really is not all that important.

2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This one was difficult for me to read as a child because all the speech and stuff was written in dialect. But I did manage it and it was an amazing story about a long adventure up the Mississippi River. I loved the escapism of this book as a child - a kid taking matters into their own hands to escape a horrible life in order to get a better one was just the kind of thing I enjoyed. I also had a lovely copy of this book as a kid and whilst growing up, I must have read it at least 3 or 4 different times. It was a fantastic book where, at its core, it is a great adventure. It's only when you actually study the book as a grown up that the quixotic atmosphere is peeled away and replaced with academic criticisms of racial injustice. It is still a good book - but I have learnt a lot about it over the years - my opinions of the adventure may have not changed, but of the overall book I understand that there is more than just a children's story there.

3. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I think that this one is probably one of the most popular children's books ever written. The Little Prince is a book I have recommended to countless children and not a single one has ever come back disappointed (unless they did not actually like reading in the first place, then they were still a little disappointed). But the story is absolutely magical and filled with wonder. There are so many things to learn from it including: how to keep a child-like imagination instead of overthinking everything like an adult always does. The opening chapter about the drawing of a snake eating an elephant is a brilliant example of this. Another lesson is to always look after your friends - the relationship between the prince and his rose is just an incredible and heartbreaking story. I think that subjectively, this might be the most important children's book ever written.

4. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Possibly the greatest book written about an ecosystem that could not possibly exist in the animal world after Winnie the Pooh and Fantastic Mr Fox, The Peter Rabbit Series is a wonderful adventure of various texts depicting animals in different and often hilarious situations. We have the story of Jeremy Fisher, a frog who likes to fish, the Flopsy Bunnies who get into all kinds of trouble, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddleduck and even the often forgotten Tailor of Gloucester. These stories are short and sweet but are very funny, simple to read and are more than always joyful. I spent a lot of being a young infant delving into the world of Peter Rabbit and his friends. It is a great memory.

5. Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl

My favourite Roald Dahl book in the whole world is Fantastic Mr Fox. The idea that a fox and friends could bring down three evil farmers was very appealing to me as a kid. It is a rough and wild adventure which includes even the grotesque amputation of Mr Fox's tail at one point. This book always brought me great joy as a child and it only really got better when, as an adult, Wes Anderson released his film adaptation which allowed people like me to relive that joy in a different way. Honestly, it is the best Roald Dahl book in his whole bibliography of novels.

Conclusion:

I feel like favourite childhood novels do not get discussed enough amongst the reading community. Childhood novels are most important for instilling our love of reading, so if they were really no good then you and I would be in real trouble today. Children's novels are beautiful because they do not require any prior knowledge except the ability to read words. The pictures form automatically. And if you do not believe that is true then I wager you read The Hobbit and try that one out. Childhood novels show us the world as it really is with all its wonder, without the anguish of adulthood to smear it and take it away from us.