Popular Books for Girls

Princess Poppy

Princess Poppy: Playground PrincessPrincess Poppy picture books are about an ordinary girl called Poppy and her best friend Honey. The stories are about teaching kids the right way to behave when difficult situations occur in life. Poppy often gets it wrong the first time and learns her lesson the hard way before sorting everything out in the end.

Playground Princess is about 2 friends who want to be part of the cool group at school. When Honey doesn’t act badly when the cool girls want her to they wont let her into their club and what’s worse Poppy abandons her too. But when Poppy figures out where she wants to be and who she wants to be it all works out for the best.

My kids love the Princess Poppy series and they also go onto the Princess Poppy website for some simple games and activities just right for girls learning to use a computer.

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More Princess Poppy books we love…

Princess Poppy: The Royal Parade

Filed Under: Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers

Angelina Ballerina

Angelina Ice SkatesLittle girls who love ballet and dancing will be captivated by the Angelina Ballerina stories. I picked up Angelina Ice Skates at a second hand book shop last year and it’s been a favourite with both Zoe and Maya ever since.

The story line is about working together to create a ice skating show for New Year’s Eve. Like all the Angelina stories, things don’t work out quite as they had hoped at the start and the mice nearly give up on their plan. But they persevere and work together so that everything comes together for a fabulous show in the end.

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Filed Under: Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers

Enchanted World Series

Silky and the Everlasting Candle (Enchanted World)If you enjoyed The Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton then The Enchanted World series are the next best thing. They are based on the same location – the Faraway Tree and the many different lands up the ladder – and a few of the same characters. Whilst not actually written by Enid Blyton, they are branded as hers and written in the same style. These are about a group of fairies (no children in these stories sorry) who are on a series of missions to save the Faraway Tree.

The story lines have been captivating enough to keep Zoe reading these all the way through, even though they are a bit longer and harder than some of her other books. I’m a bit sad she’s good enough at reading now that I don’t get to hear the story too so I’ll need to read them to my younger daughter so I get to hear them too!!

More of the Enchanted World books will definitely be on our Chistmas list this year.

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More Enchanted World Books you’ll love….

Silky (Enchanted World) Melody (Enchanted World) Petal (Enchanted World) Melody and the Gemini Locket (Enchanted World) Bizzy and the Bedtime Bear (Enchanted World)

Filed Under: Books, Early Chapter Books, Medium Difficulty Chapter Books, Reading to Early Readers

Danny the Champion of the World

Danny the Champion of the WorldI’ve read lots of Ronald Dahl books recently from a collection that I had as a child. I didn’t actually remember this one though – maybe I thought it was a book for boys. Zoe tells me that Danny the Champion of the World was her favourite Ronald Dahl book.

The story is all about a solo father and his son and how they get closer during a secret mission to poach more pheasants than ever known from the entirely unpleasant local estate owner Mr Hazel. It’s a story about a young boy showing courage and succeeding in what he sets out to do – despite the results not ended up quite what he expected.

This isn’t a girlie story – there isn’t a pretty dress, a fairy or a princess in sight – yet the story was a huge hit with my very girlie daughter. Even more popular than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and the Giant Peach apparently!!

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Filed Under: Books, From my Youth, Medium Difficulty Chapter Books, Reading to Early Readers

Are You My Mother? by Dr Seuss

Are You My Mother? (Beginner Series)Dr Seuss books are great for early readers – there’s plenty of repetition and great story lines to keep them engaged. Are You My Mother by Dr Seuss definitely appeals to girls as well as boys. The story is about a young chick who hatches when her mother is away from the nest and goes in search of her mother – not knowing what a bird actually looks like. The more advanced Dr Seuss stories focus on phonics but this one is really about gaining confidence in reading and a sense of achievement about being able to read a whole book.

When Zoe first read this book to me my youngest daughter, who was also listening, started to cry when the little chick got picked up by a large digger. For me this proved how well the book was written for early readers – even someone with limited reading ability could make the story flow well enough for a 2 year old to comprehend the story line. Not so good about the tears though….

Until Zoe learned to read I hadn’t realised that Dr Seuss books are cleverly designed to help kids to learn to read. They are grouped into different colours depending on how difficult they are. Many of them are great for learning phonics. The Dr Seuss blue series are for kids starting to read – you can also read them to younger children because they are easy to remember and recite.

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Filed Under: Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers, Starting to Read

Billie B Brown

The Missing Tooth (Billie B Brown)The Billie B Brown books by Sally Rippin are fantastic for girls who want to start reading chapter books. The story lines are engaging for young girls, the words are big enough that there aren’t too many on each page and there are plenty of pictures. I was a bit sad when Zoe progressed past this level of chapter book because she just loved the Billie B Brown stories. I couldn’t believe it when she sat down and read a whole book in her head one day without moving – now that’s a great book for an early ready.

All the stories are about a 7 year old girl called Billie who is a bit of a Tom Boy but gets lured into pretty things from time to time. Her best friend Jack lives next door and they go through lots of life’s little challenges together. Billie has to figure out what’s right and wrong from time to time, isn’t afraid to get dirty and is a great role model (in my opinion).

There are loads of Billie B Brown stories to choose from and you can either buy them in box sets or individually. My local library puts Billie B Brown Books at level brown (level19-22). But if you want to step up your daughters reading once she reaches about level 15 or more at school then these are well worth investing in.

More about/purchase Billie B Brown -The Missing Tooth by Sally Rippin

Billie B Brown Books are now also available as Ebooks

More Billy B Brown Books you’ll love…

The Pocket Money Blues (Billie B Brown) Billie B Brown: The Secret Message GWP The Big Book of Billie No.2 (Billie B Brown) The Cutest Pet Ever (Billie B Brown) The Bully Buster (Billie B Brown) The Night Fright (Billie B Brown) The Copycat Kid (Billie B Brown)

Filed Under: Books, Early Chapter Books, First Chapter Books

Fairy Dress-up Reuasable Sticker Book

The Fairy Style Fashion Sticker Book: Bk. 4: Activity Book (Rainbow Magic)Fairy Style Fashion Sticker Book is possibly the best value for money gift I have ever given my girls. It’s so popular we now have 2 identical fairy sticker books so that the girls can both dress fairies at the same time. The stickers are completely reusable (the non-sticky variety) and with 100’s of different clothing and accessory stickers to choose from, plus 4 different fairies to dress there are hours and hours and hours of entertainment in one book.

This is great for helping with finger dexterity and concentration in younger girl whilst being equally entertaining for girls 4 years and over. You can play along with your kids or leave them to create their own fashions.

When we go on holidays I’ve been known to bring these books along as the only toy – they are light and compact, can be played with alone or with others and offer entertainment for hours. The perfect travel toy!!

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Filed Under: Activities, Books, Games, Gifts, Pre-schooler Learning, Sticker Books

The Magic Faraway Tree Series

The Magic Faraway Tree 3 in 13 enchanting books by Enid Blyton which are great for both girls and boys. I loved these stories as a kid and remembered all the characters well – even after all this time. Moonface, Saucepan Man and Silky the Fairy… do they ring any bells for you?  The stories are about 3 children who discover some unusual folk living in a magic tree in the forest at the bottom of their garden. They visit lots of exciting (and sometimes dangerous) lands during their many visits to the tree and will have you coming back from more after every chapter.

I enjoyed reading these 3 books to my girls earlier this year almost as much as they enjoyed listening to them (even my 3 year old kept focused on the stories most of the time). Zoe is looking forward to reading them herself again once she’s a bit more advanced on chapter books too.

The Enchanted Wood, The Folk of the Faraway Tree and The Magic Faraway Tree are the 3 books in the trilogy. My original boxed set contained The Wishing Chair books as well but the girls didn’t enjoy those nearly as much as the Faraway Tree books.

What Zoe Thinks…

I liked the Faraway Tree books because they had a tree with lots of magical lands above it. The Land of Sweets and the Land of Take What You Please were 2 of my favourites. These books made me feel really happy.

More About/Purchase The Magic Faraway Tree Series (3 in 1)

Filed Under: Books, From my Youth, Reading to Early Readers

Where’s My Teddy

Where's My Teddy?If you love putting on silly voices and sound effects then this is the book for you. It’s about a boy who loses his teddy and discovers a gigantic bear with the same problem. The story is also about conquering your fears… and it rhymes – what more could you want. My sister-in-law sent Zoe this book because it was a favourite of her cousin – it’s been around for a long time but it was a great hit. There a couple of other books in the series as well but this one works the best with the silly voices!

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Filed Under: Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers, Toddlers

Giraffe’s Can’t Dance

Giraffes Can't DanceWe’ve read this book hundreds of times and never get bored with it. The story is about a giraffe who becomes an outcast because he can’t dance as well as the other animals in the jungle. He leaves the annual dance feeling very downhearted until he meets a violin-playing cricket who gives him the confidence to find his own rhythm. I wont give away the ending but needless to stay it’s a happy ending and all about not listening to negative comments from others and doing your own thing.

There’s plenty of well thought-out rhyme, humour and great illustrations. You can spend extra time hunting for the cricket on each page for a bit of added entertainment too.

What Zoe Thinks…

All the animals in this book thought Gerald couldn’t dance but they were wrong. Gerald was my favourite character. This taught me that even if you think something you might not be right.

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I haven’t listened to the CD version of this book but this is one book that could pull off a CD well.

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Filed Under: Books, Books with CDs, Reading to Pre-schoolers

That’s Not My … Touchy Books

That's Not My Bear (Touchy-Feely Board Books S.) [Board book]These books are great for babies and toddlers and have different touch & feel elements on each page and the cover. I’ve given several away as new-born presents since they are small enough to post and are solid, quality hard-cover books so you can leave your kids to look at them on their own as well as reading them over and over and over. The series contains lots of different variations of the same theme – they teach about parts and surfaces.

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Filed Under: Babies, Books

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) [Board book]A timeless classic – The Very Hungary Caterpillar is a must for kids aged 0 -4 years. The story is about a caterpillar who pigs out on all sorts of different food – including one serious junk food binge – then curls up into a cocoon and turns into a beautiful butterfly. As well as learning about counting, days of the week and the life cycle of a butterfly there are different sized pages and holes to keep the kids interested throughout the story.

I remember this from when I was a kid, so it’s been around for a while. These days it comes in board book variety – which I’d recommend because it will get a good going over from the kids. I haven’t tried the finger puppet version but a similar finger puppet book that we had for my youngest daughter was extremely popular so I can see how these 2 things would go well here.

The Very Hungary Caterpillar is a great present for a new-born or toddler. Every kids bookshelf should have at least one.

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More About/Purchase The Very Hungary Caterpillar (Finger Puppet Board Book)

Filed Under: Babies, Books, From my Youth, Reading to Pre-schoolers, Toddlers

Dear Zoo

The Pop-up Dear ZooWe’ve had a few different versions of Dear Zoo over the years including Dear Zoo with Flaps and the Dear Zoo Pop Up version. The pop up version was by far the most popular as it combines the hands-on attraction of flaps with the surprise element of cleverly designed pop ups.

Each page is different and has a different animal on it. There is repetition to help keep the interest of young kids and interaction with the book to make them feel involved and reinforce the words. This is great for teaching animal names, sizes and behaviour without the child realising that they are learning.

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Filed Under: Babies, Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers, Toddlers

My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes

My Cat Likes to Hide in BoxesLynley Dodd has been around for a long time – My Cat Like to Hide in Boxes is a book I remember from my childhood. There’s plenty of the rhyme and repetition that Lynley does so well. My kids liked calling out “But my cat likes to hide in boxes” each time we got to the my cat pages. We had the board book and even the back cover was part of the story for a bit of a twist.

If you have a cat this is a must for your kids… especially if it’s always hiding like ours.

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Board Book

Filed Under: Books, From my Youth, New Zealand Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers, Toddlers

Hippo Has A Hat

Hippo Has a HatHippo has a Hat is wonderfully illustrated with humour and rhyme cleverly intertwined into the story. The book follows different animals in a dress shop trying to find outfits for a party – most of which don’t fit quite right at the start.

If your kids like dressing up this will really appeal to them. Hippo has a Hat is also great for reinforcing animal and clothing names and the last page has everyone on it so you can spend plenty of time spotting the characters in their finery.

The sentences are short so easy for the kids to remember so that they can feel like they are reading along with you.

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Filed Under: Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers

The Wonky Donkey

The Wonky Donkey

If you like singing books instead of reading then then The Wonky Donkey is a must!

The Wonky Donkey CD is great for the car or home and got into my head so much I had to ration it out and use it as a reward for good behaviour for a while.

The Wonky Donkey is a New Zealand book and is humorous enough to entertain adults as well as kids of all ages.

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This video is hilarious and will give you a better idea of the storyline and tune – the imagery is different though so keep an open mind….

 

Filed Under: Books, Books with CDs, Books You Can Sing, New Zealand Books, Reading to Pre-schoolers, Toddlers
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