When I first discovered I was pregnant with Little Miss C one of the things I really looked forward to was being able to snuggle up and share bedtime stories with a little one. I’ve always loved books, and remember loving them as a child too and so wanted to share that with a child of my own. That happened and I’m delighted to say that LMC now loves books and reading about as much as I did when I was a child. It was wonderful seeing how in awe she was to meet Jacqueline Wilson recently and made me so happy to see her getting that pleasure from meeting an author.
Little Miss C may now be 7 and able to read independently, but it is still just as important that she has grown ups reading to her too and also listening to her read. Reading is not just a skill that you should just stop working at. Children are still developing and learning to read different things – whether they be harder words, about things that are more complicated to comprehend, or different types of reading material. It’s something that her new junior school has been really keen to reinforce when the children moved up, and a large part of her home learning in Year 3 centres around reading. Experts say that children should spend 20 minutes a day reading to develop their literacy skills.
Despite this though, research commissioned by The Book People has shown that one in five parents of 5 – 11 year olds do not read with their children at all. That figure shocked me. And saddened me. LMC and I still enjoy sharing books together and the thought of a child like Master C (who turns five later this week) not having someone sit down and read with him makes me quite upset. It’s not just the educational side of reading that is so important, but also spending that quality time one on one with a child. Despite this though 54% of the same group of parents spend less than an hour a week reading with their children.
The Book People commissioned this research for its second annual Bedtime Story competition which challenges young authors aged between five and 11 to create a picture book on the theme of friendship. The judging panel is led by Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkelman, and the winner will become a published author, with their book being brought to life by top illustrator Alison Brown, and published by Little Tiger.
Last year’s competition was won by Isabel Harris with her book The Moon Man. It tells the story of two sets of animal friends who view a scarecrow in very different ways.
It’s lovely to see what children come up with then they are asked to write their own stories. Sometimes you can see where they have taken their inspiration from in stories that you have shared with them, but then on the flip side sometimes what their imagination comes up with can blow you away.
Win a bundle of five bedtime story picture books, including The Moon Man, from The Book People
Those lovely people at The Book People are giving Being Mrs C readers the chance to win a bundle of five bedtime story picture books, including The Moon Man by Isabel Harris. All you need to do is follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below and leave a comment on this blog post telling me what your favourite bedtime stories were as a child.
Good Luck!
Competition T&Cs
- UK entrants over the age of 18 only.
- Entrants will be submitted to the random draw. One names will be drawn and that person will win a bundle of five bedtime story picture books (including The Moon Man) from The Book People.
- Incomplete or Duplicate entries will be deleted.
- The giveaway ends at midnight on Monday 25 September 2017.
- Entrants must leave a means of contact: either twitter handle or email address.
- Prizes must be claimed within 3 days, otherwise another winner will be selected to replace the non-claimant.
- The prize is the item featured in the post, and there is no cash alternative.
- Please allow 14 days for delivery.
- All prizes will be sent out by The Book People.
I loved the Magic Faraway books as a child.
I used to like the Alfie books by Shirley Huhges.
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
I loved The Little Red Hen!
Peter Pan was my favourite
Goldilocks -porridge in the morning
I loved Chicken Licken!
I loved Cinderella x
I loved the hungry catipillar x
I loved the very hungry caterpillar
Town mouse and Counry Mouse
jack and the beanstalk
I loved Mr Men books, my dad used to read them to me
My mum used to tell us her own version of the Little Red Riding Hood and we loved it !
I loved the secret garden
I always loved the story Peace at last and I read it to my children x
I loved Enid Blyton books, especially the Faraway Tree books.
my mum used to read enid blyton books to us, i always loved bedtime!
Mine was The Funny Bones picture book! I loved the song from it! “There was a dark dark house on a dark dark street…..”
Wind in the willows
My favourite book was the tiger who came to tea by Judith Kerr.
The tiger who came to tea
Little Red Riding Hood
Goldilocks & the three bears
Cinderella
I loved The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
The first book I remember loving was Funnybones. I can’t remember if it was read to me at bedtime.
The 3 billy goat gruffs
I loved the Topsy and Tim books( yes that shows how old I am)
I loved The adventures of mr pnkwhistle
funny bones!
Peter Pan
Goldy locks and the three bears!
Alice in Wonderland was always my favourite!
Katie Morag books
I liked the emperors new clothes
it was a book called mervyn the mouse my mum did all the voices
I had a real thing for Enid blyton especially the wishing chair and the enchanted tree
the three bears was my fave and my mum now tells it to my son
Farewell Shady Glade
I loved burglar bill as a kid
My favourite was a Ladybird book called ‘Lost at the Fair’. My dad read it so much he knew it off by heart.
mine was a book called The Green Umbrella, I loved hearing it again and again!
I used to love a book called Peace at Last, I read it to my sons now and they love it too.
Hansel and Gretel
Goodnight Owl was my fave. x
Goodnight Moon 🙂 Thanks for the chance, I’d love to win for my two young children x
Goldilocks and the three bears
I used to love jack and the beanstalk
A story about dancing bears that my mum made up for me
Cinderella
I loved Roald Dahl’s the giraffe and the pelly and me!
Peace at Last <3 I read it to my children now, although we don't even need the book now as we can recite it off by heart!
I loved Roald Dahl, especially Matilda
I liked the Beatrix Potter books especially Peter Rabbit.
ive love the alphabet a is for apple book x
enid blytons the magic faraway tree
Sleeping Beauty
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Gingerbread man.
Mine is Guess How Much I Love You!
Little Red Riding Hood
The three Billy Goat Gruffs
Loved the magic faraway tree
I loved Noddy stories
Chicken Licken
I loved Tom Thumb, I still do
I had a huge book of Paddington Bear stories that my Grandma gave to me, I loved them as bed time stories!
I used to love my mum reading a chapter of The Borrowers to me every night!
When my sister came along I’d love to listen as mum read Guess How Much I love you to her
Guess How Much I Love You
The Enchanted Wood series (currently reading them to my daughter too :))
Winnie the Pooh was my favourite childhood book.
mog and the baby
I loved all the Enid Blyton books
Funny bones was my favourite read it to my little niece now
The Lion, The Witch and The wardrobe
My mum made up adventures for Peter Rabbit and friends, I loved them
Anything my Enid Blyton. I think the Enchanted Wood was may favourite though.
I loved puddle lane books in the 80’s when i was small xxxx
Five on a Treasure Island
I had a set of Ivor the Engine books, they were by far my favourites.
My dad had a book of the old old old original Winnie the Pooh stories and he used to read them to my sister and I, it was a lovely book.
Little red hen
Guess how much I love you 🙂
the magic porridge pot
I loved each, peach, pear, plum and love reading it to my children now.
Prince What a Mess
My favourite book was Enid Blyton, famous five
Little Red Riding Hood
princess and the pea
Meg & Mog Books
The elves and the shoe maker
Peepo
The hungry caterpillar
The Tiger who came to tea
No more jumping on the bed
The three little pigs, I read it now to grandchildren
I loved all of the Roald Dahl books – but if I had to choose a specific one the one that springs to mind is The Minpins
I loved goldilocks and the 3 bears.
the tiger came to tea
Dear Zoo
Have you seen my sister?
The sister was called Emmy and it was close to my name.
The Jolly postman!
was the Jolly Postman for me
the meg and mog books but when i became older i loved reading the enid blyton ones
I loved the Tiger who came to tea
Fungus the bogeyman
I used to love Little Red Riding Hood
going on a bear hunt
Meg and mog
i never had books read to me as a child but i used to love reading the cat in the hat to my children at bedtime and also funny bones
There’s No Such Thing As A Dragon
My mum used to read a chapter of Little house on the prairie
The tiger that came to tea!
Little Red Riding Hood
Any of the Alfie stories
Up the faraway tree by Enid Blyton
funny bones
I always liked Cinderella
Peter pan
I loved hairy mclarey.
I loved The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton – or The Wishing Chair
Goldilocks and the 3 bears
the little engine that could.
I loved The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Thomlinson
it has to be The Gruffalo for my little grandson
I loved the naughtiest girl in the school. Thanks for this lovely giveaway.
The tiger that came to tea
I always enjoyed funny bones
The very hungry caterpillar was my favourite
Winnie The Pooh
I loved the Princess and the Pea x
Not last night but the night before
I loved the Magic Faraway Tree when I was younger. And then Malory Towers. I’m about to start reading The Magic Faraway Tree with my 3 and 6 year old girls. I find it really sad that some parents never read with their children
Mine was called Walter Duck and Winifred – I’m now 37 and my mum can stll remember it off by heart!
The Magic Faraway Tree
I loved the mog books
Cinderella
Baba Yaga
I loved Princess and the Pea, such a lovely story
I don’t have one because i didn’t have books. I start reading when i was a teenager 🙂
The very hungry caterpillar!
I used to love Funny Bones – in a dark, dark street, there was a dar, dark house
I loved princess books. One of my favourites was Cinderella
I loved the Beatrix Potter stories and Chicken Licken.
Mine was the Magic Faraway Tree! I used to read it everynight and drift off into a magical world
The brothers Grimm fairytale book was my favourite
The Mr Men Books
Winnie the Pooh
Funny Bones!
Roger Red Hat
What A Mess! books
the bfg
The tiger that came to tea
the far away tree series
Enid Blyton
a fab set of books i read them when i was young , then to my children now to my grandchildren
e
The old woman and her pig x x x
jack and the beanstalk
I loved The Faraway Tree series of books by Enid Blyton.
The Princess and the Pea
I have such wonderful memories of Mum reading to me from my favourite bedtime book which was Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and Stories. One of my most favourite was and still is Thumbelina 🙂
How fitting should it be that so many years later i would marry a man with the same surname only spelt slightly different 🙂 x
Enid Bylton books: Hop Skip and Jump always so funny.
alfie & annie rose 🙂
I loved ‘don’t put your finger in the jelly nelly’
My favourite was The Hungry Caterpillar
I loved Peter Rabbit!
When I was a child my father had visited the Soviet Union (as it was then), and brought back a book of Russian fairy tales which was full of stories about snowy forests full of bears, wolves, witches and brave little girls. It had wonderful illustrations full of amazing detail. Sadly the book was lost or given away years ago as I would have loved to have been able to read it to my children.
Beatrix potter books
Mr Twiddle by Enid Blyton
I loved the Enid Blyton books. All the Famous Five, The Wishing Chair, and Faraway Tree stories were my favourites.
I used to love Whatever Next! by Jill Murphy and now my son loves it too 🙂