Chapter Book Reviews: Reading to Kids at Bedtime
Here we have a slow corner of the internet: a crevice, a cranny, a nook of the reading variety. I felt like making a note 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.
Wonka - Sibéal Pounder
October 2024
Bedtime rating: 6.5/10
I hadn't seen Wonka the movie (the newish one with Timothée Chalamet), but my kids had. They spotted this book in a charity shop and we bought it, with me thinking it was an actual book by Roald Dahl that I had never realised existed.
We were a couple of chapters in when I thought - this reads nothing like Roald Dahl. I then checked the cover and, indeed, it's the book of the movie.
The story feels Americanised. There's less whimsy and more action. I wasn't a fan, but as a standalone story disregarding what we know of the Road Dahl universe and his way of writing, it was an interesting enough story for bedtime.
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!
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator - Roald Dahl
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.
The Borrowers - Mary Norton
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!
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 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.
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 Worst Witch Saves the Day - Jill Murphy
January 2025
Bedtime rating: 7/10
I adored The Worst Witch growing up, and was just the right age to watch the original TV series. I had no idea it had been rebooted in 2017 with Bella Ramsey, but my kids love watching the new version on their "TV days" now! (Two weekdays a week, they get one episode of a show each after school. Structure is key in our household, otherwise it's hard to manage expectations!)
I felt so blessed reading The Worst Witch to my daughter (and son) for the first time... Like things had come full circle. The storylines are quite basic and the language isn't that exciting, so I'd prefer to keep these as books that my daughter reads to herself. I think we only picked it up because we'd run out of allocated bedtime reading actually.
For self-reading I'd give these a 9 or 10/10, but maybe I'm a little generous because they feel so nostalgic for me. They'll be second choices for our bedtime reading sessions if we don't have anything else to try.
Matilda - Roald Dahl
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!
The Wild Robot - Peter Brown
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.
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.
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
February 2025
Bedtime rating: 8/10
My kids definitely got lost in the magical world of James and the Giant Peach. This story is a lot of fun, and long enough to last a few nights and leave them wondering what happens next. The only thing I don't love about reading this book aloud is that there are so many different voices talking at once - it's a little hard for me to give each character their own voice and work out who's speaking as it comes!
It also drops a point for having those age-old misogynistic descriptions of nasty aunts looking a certain way. They're either skinny, wrinkly and mean, or they're fat & pig-nosed. And mean. I'm over that.
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.
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.
The Song Walker - Zillah Bethell
February-March 2025
1/10
‼️SPOILERS‼️
So I picked the wrong book to read to a seven-year-old and that's maybe a mistake on my part. She said she'd seen The Song Walker being advertised at school as recommended reading, so it didn't cross my mind that there'd be any scary topics within.
I don't know how to go into this without spoilers, so here we are: this book includes terrifying flashbacks of an old lady screaming and the protagonist thinks she has killed her. Her best friend slingshots a man who a tries to kidnap them and he's slumped over his steering wheel so she's then haunted by the idea she might have murdered him. There's detailed description of losing a loved one in a plane crash. And more, and more, and more. It gets very trippy too.
On top of this, the sentences are often super abrupt and it's hard to read out loud... I ended up merging sentences together.
None of this is me saying The Song Walker is a 'bad' book - I just totally misjudged who it was for, as I picked it out in the children's library next to the Enid Blyton books.
Not for Year 2s!
More About Paddington - Michael Bond
March 2025
Bedtime rating: 10/10
I love that this is age-appropriate for both my Year 2 and my preschooler. The language is a little old-fashioned in an endearing way - it elevates the stories from being potentially a little ‘babyish’ for my Year 2, to being something interesting to listen to.
My preschooler enjoys the mentions of the characters he knows, but doesn't follow closely as he drifts to sleep. This makes Paddington perfect bedtime reading for us.
Each chapter (seven of them in this book) is like a short story in itself, but they do tie together to create one cohesive story overall. This is also great for us, as the chapters are long enough that my preschooler falls asleep by the end of one, and the mini-story is tied together nicely for my Year 2, who's still awake and listening.
They're also lovely little stories to read aloud as an adult. Big fan.
The Giant’s Necklace - Michael Morpurgo
March 2025
Bedtime rating: 2/10
‼️ SPOILERS ‼️
I can't believe I did it again. Spoilers very much incoming…
After being spooked by The Song Walker, I flicked through The Giant's Necklace to see if there were any red flags that it wouldn't be suitable for my kids. It was all going well until the twist in the tale, which turned out to be that the protagonist had unknowingly died, and she's shouting out to her grieving parents and brothers but no one can hear her. That's… that's the ending. Thankfully my preschooler was well asleep by then, and I tweaked a few words so that my seven-year-old was just a bit confused by how it all ended. I told her there had been kind spirits and that the girl had been visiting the spirit world for a bit. I didn't want to kiss her goodnight after explaining that Cherry had actually been dead for half the book. Yikes.
Cool for older kids, I'm sure! My bad, once again. Must get better at choosing books.
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
March-April 2025
Bedtime rating: 6.5/10
We got this book for our 7yo for her birthday. Our four-year-old took the best part of one chapter to fall asleep each night, so it was a chapter per night. 21 chapters. 3 weeks.
After the first week, 7yo and I almost quit. It was very wordy for very little action, and the character development felt a bit slow since there are several characters; we got confused between the different Miss/Mrs this and that, and overall thought it was just "okay".
I think this would be a good read for, perhaps, a 9 or 10-year-old to read to themselves, not out loud! You can't speed-read aloud, so there really does only seem to be a certain type of book that hits the spot for our bedtime reading setup.
Nothing crazy scary in this. A few eerie moments easy to tweak as you read aloud. Not incredibly satisfying ending in my opinion. I agree, just okay. Not worth a three-week commitment for us.
The Twits - Roald Dahl
April 2025
Bedtime rating: 7/10
I remember reading The Twits to myself as a child, probably a little older than my daughter is now. It's just as toe-curlingly grotesque as I remember, in Dahl's often comically-revolting style. The story is one of his more shallow ones, still with a warning along the lines of "be a good person or karma will get you". And revenge, and justice.
I'd say that The Twits is better suited for self-reading as it's a short story that doesn't develop its characters on any deep level; it's not particularly fun for a parent to read aloud to a child while they have their eyes closed. More of a point-at-the-pictures-and-gasp book. Still a classic, but not my favourite for this particular setup.
The Best Sleepover in the World - Jacqueline Wilson
April 2025
Bedtime rating: 6.5/10
I consumed an average amount of Jacqueline Wilson books in the early 2000s, checking them out of my local library and thinking Tracy Beaker was a rebellious hero of our time.
The Best Sleepover in the World is the first JW book I've read to my kids; I spotted it in my local library and it seemed innocent enough.
The storyline was fun, not particularly adventurous, with meaningful themes of betrayal and loyalty within friendships. The introduction of Makaton was a nice feature - it's good for young kids to be aware of different ways that people might need to communicate. I also enjoyed Uncle Gary becoming Gloriette the drag queen.
My gripe with this (2023) book is its frequent mention of TikTok superstardom, influencerhood, and "gazillions of followers" and "likes". Maybe it's my nostalgia for the Jacqueline Wilson books and maybe it's good to have these stories reflect current popular culture. Ironically, I discussed this on Instagram here. I just love the offline-ness of reading in general, and so I like the stories I read to my kids to feel as 'offline' as possible. Quiet, timeless, magical.
Still, Wilson's writing style is enjoyable to read aloud... I think I'll check the publishing date on more of her books in the library and check out some others.
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!
