Ellie's List (Top 10 Books)

Member Name: Celandine

Product:	Top 10 Books
Date:	24/05/01 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well, I'm going to like all of them, because it's our list

Disadvantages: But, you may not

This isn't really my list. This is Ellie's list, or rather, our list. She's only 13 months old, you see, my baby daughter, and the words that she can say are 'duck','bear' and 'mamammmama'. She listens, though, and she loves the sound of words. She looks at picture books, too, and claps along to rhymes so we spend quite a lot of time reading, or singing, along with one another. Pretty much all the time, actually.

So it's a bit of a mixture, this list. Some of the books are classic infants board books, some are books of poems I like, and Ellie likes listening to, and some are books that I read to her, when we've a quiet moment and she's snuggly and sleepy. A couple are books which she loves, and I don't particularly like at all. Nearly all of it is poetry, but not all of it is 'children's' poetry.

1) Edward Lear: The Pobble who had no toes: (From the Faber book of Children's Verse)

Bored of 'This little piggy went to market'? Here's an alternative bathtime toe song. It has beautifully declamatory verse, which makes me giggle. Although the whole thing is quite long, it's a really bouncy story, and one which ends happily, although, of course, the pobble loses his toes. The toe-losing bit is quite fun if baby is pobble and you're playing 'peepo' with her toes. We like it when the pobble:

"tinkledy-binkledy-winkled a bell".

We also like it when:

"His Aunt Jobiska made him drink
Lavender water tinged with pink".

The rhythm is all marchy, so it's good to splash along to. I'd check out "Jabberwocky" too, as it's got both slithey toves and borrogroves, which are such glorious words. Plus, unlike a tiger, if you're pretending to be a jabberwocky, it can be a bipedal creature, thus limiting wear and tear on the knees.

2) "Peepo" Janet and Allan Ahlber
g ( published by penguin books)

A board book here, that we read together. It follows a day in the life of a 1940's baby, with large spy holes cut into every other page through which you can 'peep' at what is happening. We like sticking our fingers through the spy holes, and we love the mixture of gentle ryhmes alternated with a loud 'Peepo!' It's really fun, this one, and both baby and I love it to bits. I heartily recommend all books from the Ahlberg stable, I've yet to meet one that isn't lovely.

3) "Old Possum's book of Practical Cats" : T.S Eliot ( published by Faber and Faber)
Oh, the words in this are glorious. The names of the cats are glorious. The sheer poetry of it is glorious. And it's funny. For both of us. Here's a bit of our favorite :

"Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones
In fact, he's remarkably fat.
He doesn't haunt pubs - he has eight or nine clubs,
For he's the St James street cat."

Forget the musical; the poems are way, way better. Jus read "Gus, the theatre cat" and imagine me gesticulating as I rattle around the pots and pans, and forgetting to put the cheese in the cheese sauce as I get all carried away. It's a daytime book, this, and it's truly great poetry to boot.

4)"When We Were Very Young" : A.A Milne ( published by Methuen paperbacks)

There's been a super op on this ( not by me) so I'd refer all readers to that if you want a proper opinion on the book. What I'll say here is that it's better than Pooh if you've got a 13 month old baby. And here's a poem very applicable to my particular 13 month old baby:

Independence:
"I never did, I never did, I never did like "Now take care dear!"
I never did, I never did, I never did want "Hold-my-hand";
I never did, I never did, I never did think much of "
Not up there dear!"
It's no good saying it. They don't understand."

5)"Tickle Tickle" : Helen Oxenbury (published by Walker books)

Right. Ellie adores this board book. I, however find it a bit boring, although it's nice enough. It has four pages, and on each double page is a bit of text, that goes; "Squelch, squelch in the mud" ( three jolly looking babies play in the mud): Splish, splash scrub-a-dub (three babies in the bath): gently, gently brush your hair (I'll let you guess what the picture is), and "Tickle, tickle under there". I'm a good mummy, so I read this to her a lot, and with every reading she smiles. Helen Oxenbury has clearly tapped a chord with my child, as Ellie equally adores "All Fall Down" and "Clap Hands". And that's fine by me.

6)"Twinkle, Twinkle little star" (Illustrated by Nick sharratt and published by Ladybird)

Another book that Ellie likes. It's one of the touchy-feely ones, with a different nursery rhyme on each page, and a follow through theme. She's not interested in the counting bits, but she loves the "white furry tummy" of the pussycat on the last page. And the ryhmes, of course. And when she's bigger, I can see that it could make learning to count quite fun. It's got lovely bright colours, and a different texture on each page, but I wouldn't rave about the illustration, myself ( apart from the pussycats, of course). One other plus about this is that she looks at it, quite happily, by herself, and it's a good way to keep her happy in the early hours of the morning, if she's decided to wake up to welcome in the dawn.

7)"Mother Goose"

Probably the best known collection of nursery-rhymes, and still good value after all these years. I read to Ellie from my old hardback copy, but you can buy a paperback from Penguin for about £2.00, althoug
h I'd recommend spending a bit more and buying an illustrated version. It's got a lovely selection of traditional verse and songs, most of which have worn well. It includes things like "The house that Jack built" and "Mary, mary" both of which we like....but our favorite is another toe one:

"Moses supposes his tosies are rosies
But Moses supposes erroneously
For nobodies tosies are posies of rosies
As Moses supposes his tosies to be."

One lovely thing about having the hardback, is that I randomly open it each night, and Ellie points at the verse she'd like read to her. I like this element of chance, and, of course, because it's my old book, it invariably falls open at one of my favorites.

8)W.H Auden: Night Mail

Well, it wasn't really going to be 'The Airman' was it! I've always loved Auden, and although the night mail isn't my favorite, it's a brilliant poem for children. It makes train noises, you see - the sounds of the words echo the journey of the train, and if you've a toddler who's interested in Thomas the Tank engine, you can bet your boots they'll like this. The best way to explain it is to give another quote:

"Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb-
The gradient's against her but she's on time.
Past cotton grass and moorland boulder,
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses;"

Just read it aloud and you'll see what I mean. The words sound lovely, and their rhythm tells a story. We love it. And when she's bigger I'll take her on a proper steam train. Oh, and I do make 'choo-choo' noises, during my readings of the poem, too ( just turn in your grave, Auden).

9) Our Scrapbook

Okay, you can't buy this ( no way) so it may be a little out of place here. This is a large scruffy
scrapbook that I made for Ellie from cheap sugar paper, and in which I draw pictures of whatever springs to mind, and Ellie scribbles, and I record things in a haphazard way. It's not a 'memento' thing, it's a book we play with - and it keeps us both happily occupied for quite a while each day. Sometimes it's relevant things I put in, like if we've just been to feed the ducks I'll draw a picure of a duck, and paste another picture of a duck in too, and write 'splish-splosh' or something equally silly. We do poems, too. Very bad poems that are derivative to say the least. They usually include a reference to the cat e.g:

"Pussycat, pussycat where have you been?
I've been down the garden to sit on some peas.
Pussycat, pussycat what did you there?
I weed on a cabbage, that one over there".

Yes, I know, and I wouldn't put it in if Ellie didn't like this sort of thing so much.

10) I've saved the best 'till last. This is "Husherbye", by John Burningham ( published by Cape). This is our bedtime book. It's for those moments when your grubby active toddler becomes a little baby again, as you're perched on the bed, watching their eyes gradually close as sleepiness takes over. It's got lovely illustrations, and simple verses as we follow a selection of characters as they, too find sleep. I don't want to say more than this here, as I can't do it justice, and this opinion is way to long anyway. It's just a beautiful book. Really beautiful, and reading it to a sleepy baby, all tucked up safe in bed, is a joy.

So this is our book list, but paving the way to all these literary discoveries was another, better one. Reading is no longer a solo pursuit for me. Reading is a shared pleasure, and the magic in it has come back. I'm listening to the way words sound as they are read aloud; and how the 'meaning' of sentences are transmi
tted through the music behind the words, as well as the words themselves.

And that's because of my baby daughter (love you, Lelly xxx)

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