Five days of booklists

At the beginning of August, I am hosting a  series: 5 days of booklists.

The plan is that these will be

• picture books
• early chapter books
• other children's chapter books
• books about home education
• reference books for use at home.

Obviously, I haven't seen every book in the world! What is my qualification for writing this? I'm not a librarian but I love books and have children ranging from 19 to 4. The books will reflect my personal likes and dislikes. There are some books which my children have loved but which are tedious, to say the best, to read aloud. There are other worthy books which are written in such a pedestrian way that I haven't enjoyed them and so would not recommend them to others.

I write as a Christian so try to avoid books that exalt evil. However, many children's books have phrases that I prefer not to read out, for example, "lucky" or "my goodness". I haven't eliminated all books with these phrases as they are easy to edit whilst reading.

The first three lists will be by far and away the longest. I wouldn't want as many reference books as picture books and don't want to give the impression that a reference library full is necessary!

As a book lover, I would be delighted if you add your suggestions to the lists. It is always fun to find new favourites.

Hope you join me for this series.