Book boxsets for kids bedtimes

[ScotHill]

With our son we've been through the Mr Men and the Railway Stories books, and the length and level and number of books (c. 50 of each!) has been perfect for bedtimes, we get through 2-3 and he's asleep.

We're looking for something as he gets older (coming up to 4yo) and maybe something a bit more neutral/unisex, i.e. more female characters and less things with wheels. A series of books means more of a regular bedtime routine, rather than a mishmash of different books like we read in the daytime.

Any recommendations?

[ScotHill]

Yeah we've got these, tend to read them in the daytime though. They're fairly large too, the great thing about the other two sets is they're A5 size-ish, so great for when he's lying down and we're sat on the floor.

[ScotHill]

bristolbaron said:

The Usborne libraries are perfect. Mine are 4 (reception) and 6 (year 1) and the books are tailored for reading together or to them.

There’s normally a school rep who’ll have the sets available much cheaper than ‘retail’ - these have a total RRP of £560, I paid about £150ish from memory.

I would never have thought of that, will see what is on eBay.

[ScotHill]

sherman said:

Horrible histories.

Are they story format or more like the TV show? We try not to have anything too interactive at bedtime.

[ScotHill]

mickyh7 said:

I met Terry Deary, the Author of Horrible Histories, at my Sons School back in the 90's.
My wife, being the Chair Governor got me introduced
Nice chap. We got talking and he wasn't happy how the American Company had televised his books.
I mentioned to him the TV didn't really replicate the books making stuff up to fit etc.
I did nip home which was only 10 minutes away, and brought back a bag full of books which he duly signed.
Fair play to him.
So the books are nothing like the TV series.

This confused me for a while as the TV series only started about ten years ago - turns out there was a US-made TV series back in 2001 and from the precis it seems very different from the trivia-encyclopedia format of the BBC one.

[ScotHill]

ScotHill said:

bristolbaron said:

The Usborne libraries are perfect. Mine are 4 (reception) and 6 (year 1) and the books are tailored for reading together or to them.

There’s normally a school rep who’ll have the sets available much cheaper than ‘retail’ - these have a total RRP of £560, I paid about £150ish from memory.

I would never have thought of that, will see what is on eBay.

We ended up buying the box on the right - I think the RRP is based on £4 per individual book, or £160 a box, but the boxes are generally available for about thirty quid each..

I don't know if it's because of the other picture books we've been reading or whether it's because these ones are aimed at older children to read for themselves but there is so much aggression, violence and death in them! Some of them are almost 30 years old so the style might be a bit outdated compared to what gets published these days. Anyway we've had to take a few of them out of circulation until he's a bit older but otherwise the language and length of stories is perfect for reading to him.