Here we have a slow corner of the internet: a crevice, a cranny, a nook of the reading variety. I felt like making notes of which books I've been reading to my children, and how I rate them as bedtime reading - so this is an ongoing blog post.

The setup:

We start in October 2024. The children are a Year 2 daughter and preschooler son. They were born in Spring 2018 and Spring 2021, so I'll pop the date of reading next to each title, and you can work out their ages at the time of reading if that's relevant to you.

I read for around half an hour usually, with red light and a night light next to the book. Daughter listens and stays awake until I leave. Son falls asleep listening.

Note: Please excuse the slapdash nature of this blog post. Once I finish reading a children's book, I'm quickly writing some notes on my phone and then heading to take care of their baby sibling in the next room. Potentially typos galore.

The Boy Who Grew Dragons - Andy Shepherd

October 2024

Bedtime rating: 9/10

My daughter chose this while out & about with Peppe. I grew up with my mum very much pushing 'girly' themes on me, so I would never have chosen this book as a child... And I hadn't realised until they came home with this *totally lacking pink, purple or pastels* book that something ingrained in me would now make me subconsciously avoid buying this for my daughter. I'm so grateful my husband's bookshop trip led to me unlearning this habit that I didn't even know I had!

I'm also very grateful that this book happened to be super enjoyable to read to the kids. I realised a little way in that the grandpa is meant to be northern (maybe from Yorkshire), so I had fun with that accent. I'm dire at accents, but only my kids are subjected to them. Mwahaha.

The storyline was interesting; the characters were few enough to follow and get to know. It only drops a point because I think I'd have preferred this as a self-read book for my Year 2 child. It's a good length and difficulty for her stage. 10/10 for her to read to herself!

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner (and other stories) - Terry Pratchett

January 2025

Bedtime rating: 3/10

Year 2 child couldn't quite follow the flow of the stories - they felt dated to her, to the point that the plot was lost. Short stories written in the 60s and 70s.

We stopped after 2 stories. I picked this up not realising it was a compilation of stories. We don't usually DNF but as it's a bunch of standalone stories, I made an exception.

I found the stories enjoyable and funny in places (I flicked through a few more alone), but it definitely reminded me of the way my dad used to talk/write. So I get that it's a little old for kids their age.

The Borrowers

December 2024

Bedtime rating: 9/10

Fascinatingly, my kids enjoyed this despite the frequent archaic references to household objects that I'm not even familiar with. I love that, because it's bedtime, they didn't stop to ask “what's that?”… they were too tired. So we just soldiered on, enjoying the whimsical nature of The Borrowers.

I think it helped that they had watched the movie a few weeks prior to reading the book. Not that they're the same. But it helped give them a feel for the book.

I personally loved reading this an adult, having never read it or watched it before. Not a great deal of action really happens, but it was magical to feel immersed their tiny domestic world. I think this is my favourite of all the books I've read to my kids, but I'm giving it 9/10 as a bedtime rating because some of the language really is hard to follow. I want to read more for myself!

Unicorn Academy: Freya and Honey - Julie Sykes

February 2025

Bedtime rating: 2/10

Let me precede my review by clarifying that I'm not bashing what this book means to a young child reading to themselves, and I gather that this book wasn't meant for an adult to read to their kids at bedtime.

With that said, this felt like word vomit that could have been AI-generated. So many characters talking in such a short space of time, very difficult to designate different voices for the characters or get to know any of the characters for this reason. Barely any character development. Very, very saccharine aside from the inclusion of an inventor-type female protagonist. And to top it off, the ending didn't solve the book's main problem - so when I said “the end”, my daughter asked, “what? Of the whole book?”. She told me afterwards that she didn't enjoy it.

If I'm honest, I don't think I would have enjoyed this as a self-read book as a child, either. It had no bite and felt very much like just another book in a long series - which is exactly what it is! We have a couple more Unicorn Academy books and will donate these to the charity shop; I can imagine a sweet unicorn-loving child enjoying them more than us.

The BFG

January 2025

Bedtime rating: 7.5/10

The BFG, for me, is top-tier Roald Dahl magic. The style of writing is ‘old’ enough to send my preschooler to sleep quite quickly, while my Year 2 is hanging onto every word. Many of those words, however, are Dahl’s own magical fabrications and they kind of do suck to read out loud when you're an extremely tired mother and you just want half an hour on autopilot. We drop a couple of points for that, an an extra half-point due to Roald Dahl books always having a lil something problematic about them.

“People from Turkey taste like turkey”, “people from Greece are too greasy”… those jokes would have had an impact on immigrant kids and they would have been fuel for bullying. I know it was written ages ago, which is why it only drops half a point for problematicism (that was me possibly having a go at making up word) - but I felt I was buying into the mildly racist trope by reading that out loud to my kids, and we had to discuss it the next day and how those jokes are outdated.

Otherwise, a fantastic bedtime tale. It's interesting that a lot of books I try to read my kids from the same era are written in such a way that they simply don't hold their attention. But Roald Dahl always does. For my Year 2, at least. Preschooler drifts off in minutes. Oh to be 3 3/4.

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

November 2024

Bedtime rating: 8/10

A fun read. We drop one point here because I'm the problem, and I wanted the story to be more related to the nostalgic world of the chocolate factory. We drop one more because I had to explain to my kids that making fun of accents isn't cool… there's a section where they call China and the character says things like “Gleetings, Mr Plesident”. Excerpt below. Maybe I'm a snowflake because my mother is Chinese and I grew up with far too many jokes/comments/insults like this to count; I don't really care. I didn't think I'd find myself having this conversation with my children because of a much-loved classic children's book, but it won't stop me reading Roald Dahl to them. I'll just ensure I explain the issues within, and skip any words or phrases if they're exceptionally problematic.

Matilda

January 2025

Bedtime rating: 10/10

First I watched the original movie as a young child. Then I would have read (and then forgotten about) the book as a 9-year-old, maybe. Then I watched the new movie - based on the musical - and thought to myself, this is very different from the ‘original’: the old movie, which I assumed was exactly like the book. Then I watched the musical - incredible! Then, finally, I read the book to my kids, and realised the musical is very close to the book, and the 1990s American movie is absolutely nothing like the book.

I confused myself a lot, but it all makes sense now. The book is just excellent. It's dark enough to pique children's interest, but not horribly graphic enough to scare them at bedtime. I love putting on cockney accents for the parents and a posh voice for Matilda, and acting all disgusted for Miss Trunchbull. It's a good length to finish within a few nights, so suits younger children's attention span, too. And my son has seen the movie and musical so knows the story well enough that he's not desperately listening, and can fall asleep quickly to this familiar tale. Huge fan!

Isadora Moon Goes On A School Trip - Harriet Muncaster

February 2025

Bedtime rating: 6.5/10

My kids love these books, but we usually don't opt for them as nighttime reading because they're a good level for my Year 2 to read to herself instead - they're so perfect for self-reading that it feels like a waste to ‘use them up’ as adult-read bedtime books, where my kids are just listening with their eyes closed. They're enjoyable enough to read aloud as an adult. The kids do like the pictures, so if you have children who like to peer at the book and that stops them from sleeping, then avoid this series at bedtime! This one did also feature a ghost, and characters initially hyping it up and being scared of the ghost, so if you have a particularly sensitive child when it comes to all things spooky, give this one a miss. My children loved it and they have an average spookiness threshold.

For the record, my rating for the Isadora Moon series when my Year 2 is reading the books to herself would be a good 9.5/10.

Paddington in Peru: The Story of the Movie - Anna Wilson

February 2025

Bedtime rating: 4/10

We loved reading one of the original Paddington books by Michael Bond a few months ago, and the kids went to watch the movie (Paddington in Peru) when it came out recently. Sadly, this read as expected: more of a synopsis with extra fluff, than a children's story. Some bits even felt like we were reading an audio transcript scene to scene. The story is nice enough, but there was nothing spectacular about it.

See halfway down the below page for the poor writing: “Out in the water, beyond the rapids, the Browns were bobbing in the water, spluttering and coughing.” There were a few repetitive moments like this that made it feel like this book was an extra little moneymaker and nothing more. There are a few funny bits, so it gets a 4/10.

The Wild Robot

January 2025

Bedtime rating: 8.5/10

What a beautiful book to read. It was long… pretty long. I generally have no interest in reading about robots, but this was very different to any other robot-centric story I've read.

Peppe bought it for our daughter because they watched the movie, and he said it's one of the most moving children's films he's seen. I didn't watch the movie, but I can see why he'd say that, from the book. My mind travelled to their island; I felt invested in Roz and hopeful for a happy ending. I'm knocking off 1.5 points because (a) there are a lot of sorrowful and doubtful moments, possibly not the best at bedtime, and (b) I was hoping for more finality with the ending, not to give anything away.

Danny, Champion of the World - Roald Dahl

February 2025

Bedtime rating: 10/10

I've never read this book before. I knew of it as a child, but the title never appealed to me… possibly as a result of my pink-pushing mother; who knows. I'm on such a Roald Dahl binge, as you can see, and overall they've been fantastic stories so far.

Danny, Champion of the World, however, takes the biscuit (an oatmeal and raisin cookie, most likely). The character development was just gorgeous. I was ready to cry should anything awful happen to the core characters. It was SLOW - just the right sort of slow, the type of slowness that's generally missing from modern children's novels. I think we need more of that in the world right now.

I want to say this is one Roald Dahl story that's free from racist stereotypes for once, but note that (I think… can't quite find the info online) the text seems to have been changed from references to their “gypsy caravan” (and other bits) to “Romani” references. It doesn't explicitly state whether Danny himself is part of the Romani community, so it seems like a grey area to me.

Maybe it's pulled my heartstrings because I loved my dad and didn't get that much time with him, but gosh… what a beautiful story about a positive father-son relationship and their adventures together.

Below are books we've read that I haven't had time to write about yet… as I mentioned, this blog post is a real brain dump. I've inserted the photos to review later!