Many parents love to read classic authors such as Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl when reading bedtime stories to their children.
But now a major publisher is calling on them to ‘be more adventurous’ and pick up more modern books – which deal with topics such as diversity, homelessness and the environment.
Oxford University Press (OUP) is urging parents to ‘broaden the types of books’ they pick at story time ‘to prompt questions and build greater understanding of global issues’.
New OUP research has shown that almost two-thirds of UK parents (63%) prefer reading their children books from their childhood, over choosing to read new titles.
Peter Rabbit’s original illustration is iconic of children’s literature. However, parents should encourage their children to use the book to address current issues.
Enid Blunt’s Famous Five tales are still favorites among parents who read them to their kids. “Five go on in a caravan” was published for the first time in 1946.
Matilda was written in 1988 by Roald Dahl and soared into the children’s literature canon almost instantly
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter is a landmark of reading for generations of children, first published in 1901
Asking parents to name the book or author that they loved reading most, their overwhelming answer was Roald D Dahl (who wrote Matilda) and James And The Giant Peach.
Stories from Enid Blyton, such as Noddy and The Famous Five, and Beatrix Potter, who created Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, also proved popular. And Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking remained a firm favourite.
Other more recent picks included Julia Donaldson, Michael Morpurgo and Valerie Thomas’s Winnie the Witch.
37% of parents say they do not know how find the latest books. 47% prefer reading books again to their children, and only 37% admit to being unsure.
And it’s not just parents who would prefer to stick to something familiar.
Nearly six out of ten children (56%) said that they preferred their children to read the same book at storytime.
Stella and the Seagull is a children’s book by Georgina Stephens and Izzy Burton that aims to shed light on the world of today.
Ben Davis’s novel The Soup Movement is about Jordan, who after suffering a fatal illness moves to the suburbs with his family.
Jodie Lancet Grant’s Pirate Mums is “a touching reminder that your family is special because of what it is different.”
Max Takes a Stand, Tim Allman’s book about a little boy and his environmental quest to save the plant is called Max Takes a Stand.
Now the OUP has put together a list of books that it recommends to help children learn about ‘wider society’.
They include Jodie Lancet Grant’s The Pirate Mums about a boy who is raised by pirate mothers and Tim Allman’s Max Takes A Stand about a child who tries to save the world.
Bear Shaped by Dawn Coulter-Cruttenden hopes to teach children about loss while Jon Burgerman’s Everybody Worries offers support during the coronavirus crisis.
Nigel Portwood, OUP chief executive, said it was ‘wonderful’ that classics continued to be popular with families but he added that reading is a ‘valuable tool’ to help children understand ‘societal issues’.