Skip to content

A GOOD READ: Check out read-aloud books for children

Spring break is just around the corner even if spring is not. Get ready with some great read-aloud stories to share with your kids.

Spring break is just around the corner even if spring is not. Get ready with some great read-aloud stories to share with your kids.

Check out this list for a great mix of some old and new tales:

Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bean (pictures by Nick Price) is the story of two mice, Tumtum and Nutmeg Nutmouse, who live inside the broom cupboard at Rose Cottage. And what a wonderful place they have created with 36 mouse-sized rooms. The humans who live on the other side of the broom cupboard have not fared so well. Widower Mr. Mildew and his two children are poor and don't have very many rooms to live in. Tumtum and Nutmeg proceed to set things right by sneaking about and doing small repairs to electric heaters, and Nutmeg mends the clothing and tidies up. This leaves the Mildew children wondering if they have a good fairy or a ghost visiting the house during the night. This collection contains three imaginative stories about Mr. and Mrs. Nutmouse.

The Usborne Illustrated Robin Hood retold by Rob Lloyd Jones and illustrated by Alan Marks is a fast-paced and exciting version of a famous tale. In addition, the unique illustrations make it a perfect book to share.

In The Cat who Wanted to Go Home by Jill Tomlinson (pictures by Paul Howard), Suzy the little striped cat is happy living in France with her lovely family of adoring boys but her curiosity lands her in a hot air balloon headed for England. This is a great adventure told through the eyes of a little cat who just wants to go home.

Beatrix Potter is perhaps best known and loved for her tales of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales is an engaging book full of stories starring rabbits, squirrels, mice, cats, ducks, pigs and even a stork. These cozy, old-fashioned tales are perfect for sharing. The first book by this incredible illustrator and storyteller was published in 1902.

Usbourne Classic Stories for Little Children includes five classics: The Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz, The Secret Garden, The Railway Children and Heidi. These abridged versions of the classics make for easier reading with young children. Those who want to read the original stories can find them at the library, too.

Can eating an animal cookie really turn you into an animal? How does one change back into a person? In Mike and the Magic Cookies by Jon Buller and Susan Schade, follow Mike to the secret bakeshop and find out.

Keeping with that magic theme, The Magician's Boy by Susan Cooper is an old favourite. It is a dream come true for Boy, the lucky one who polishes the magician's wands and assists with crushing the seeds that will go into the magic spells, but Boy's favourite part of the job is looking after the puppets. That is, until the St. George puppet goes missing and the magician sends him to the strange "Land of Story" to find St. George. Marvellous adventures ensue with all manner of familiar old storybook characters. The black-and-white illustrations by Serena Riglietti complement the story perfectly.

Children of all ages love to be read to, so go to your library and get what you need to start a storytime tradition.

A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Irene Jakse works at Port Moody Public Library.