h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Cheers Peta/Smurf. I MUST follow through with this one. Parenting.

As far as the REAL Thomas is concerned, the Mid-Hants Railway Watercress Line have great days out with Thomas and all the other engines. My son loves it. And it is a good place to get all of the Brio bits and bobs for the wooden train sets.

CF

I went there once years ago - they had just bought in the thomas days. They didnt sell brio then - but it is a good idea, isnt it?

Brio - good but expensive. Tesco do lots of cheap (quality) imitations, but the really good stuff (thomas, Golden gate bridge ...) you have to get Brio. Hold on - this is not supposed to be a rio forum

The Thomas trains did a tour round the UK this summer and took in more stations than they have done before. Certainly well worh it if you have a child who likes Thomas.

We don't have the Brio ones. What we have are the My First Thomas set. They're a bit chunkier than the Brio and are suitable from six months. I reckon my nephew will be growing out of Thomas just in time to pass on his HUGE collection for Callum to play with. Aaron's already moving into the realms of "big boy" train sets.

We were given an excellent book recently called "Dr Xargles Guide to Earthlets". It's supposed to be a children's book and I guess is aimed at young children about to get a new brother or sister. But I'm convinced it's actually written for the parents. Hilarious.

I have heard a lot about the Harry Potter books but not read any myself. I have often seen references to 9+ being the target age group. I presume this is due to the complexity of the language rather than the nature of the content. Do you think they are suitable to be read aloud to a 5 and 7 y.o.?

I have now read all three and thought they were really excellent, well targeted books. A seven year old would probably be fine, five would be too young. Some of the characters are really scary, evil things. Harry Potter is fighting again an evil character who killed his parents and tried to kill him when he was a baby. There are lots of ghosts. Some bullying. A few gorey bits. I think it would be too much for younger children. 'Key' age I would say is a ten year old. The books are about breaking rules and being different. A ten year old is starting to learn about themselves and trying to learn how to be independent, so really best for them. They are such great page turners I would say wait 'til your child is nearly at that level, read the first chapter, two pages of the next and say -"If you want to find out what happens next, you have to read it yourself" - how to take a child to adult reading speed in a week....

Harry Potter books to be made into a film! See new books made into films thread.

http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=12428&thread=21153

OK I'm in need of some suggestions. My son is now 16 months and loves his bedtime story. But mum's getting a bit bored reading the same selection (which are mostly the classic fairy tales) so if anyone can recommend some good ones I'd be grateful. I did try the original Thomas Tank books but he got way too excited with the pictures of trains (he likes trains) and spent ages jumping on his bed crying "whoo whoo".

Try the Mr Men (and Little Miss) books. pictures on one side, simple words on the other. nice simple stories
Noddy is good too.
i loved both when i was little

I guess the fact that a child really loves a book would be a good indication of how good it is. Therefore, I would like to recommend the Maths Together Series. Devised by BEAM (Be A Mathematician) and published by Wlaker Books, they rate as some of my sons favourite books. Complete with notes on how this collection of stories and rhymes can be used to help mathmatical understanding and suggestions for activities.

My daughter will be reading 'Wrinkle In Time' next year at school so I've begun re-reading the trilogy from my mum's attic.

It's been nearly 25 years since I read them last but they really have held up well.

Big thumbs up for Madeleine L'Engle!


(And Peta, I *do* have a reason for poking around in threads this old.... )