It’s Book Week all across Australia, which means parents are putting Harry Potter spell-themed snacks into lunch boxes and frantically scrounging up costumes late at night (note to children’s authors – we need more children’s books with heroes wearing pyjamas, please).
But the best part of Book Week is the books. The actual board and paper, colour-inked, illustrated, embossed, gorgeous story-hoards that enthrall and seduce our darlings into maybe giving us a few minutes of peace. So here’s a few brilliant children’s books, old and new, that we hope will inspire young readers, foster their life-long love of literature, and give parents a few quiet minutes for a cup of tea.
The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
Such a simple and beautiful idea – that a child could move through an ordinary wardrobe into a fantastical place of magic and adventure. Narnia has been delighting children for many generations, with its talking animals, enchanted landscapes and child heroes.
The Famous Five, Enid Blyton
Oh, for the days when parents would kick you out of the house in the morning and your life was your own for weeks at a time, solving dangerous crime, finding treasure and bickering with fabulous friends and a scrappy dog!
Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
Diana Wynne Jones is easily one of the most brilliant children’s authors of all time, and Howl’s Moving Castle is probably the most famous of her extensive booklist. There is fantasy, fairytale, adventure, dark magic, poetry and tragedy all wrapped up in the most sublimely ridiculous package that has readers of all ages laughing out loud.
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Is there anything more satisfying than a precocious child enacting revenge on a bunch of obscenely dreadful adults? So many iconic scenes from the book and stayed in our memories, long after we’ve moved into adulthood.
A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond
The marmalade-loving bear from Darkest Peru is a rare phenomenon, in that his movies are almost as brilliant and lovely as his books. Kids the world over have fallen in love with the polite bear who unwittingly creates catastrophe everywhere he goes.
Sabriel, Garth Nix
This list wouldn’t be a complete without a few Australian authors, and the Sabriel series are a smash hit with older readers. The young necromancer walks a thin line, between a modern world and an old kingdom, and between life and death itself.
Rita’s Revenge, Lian Tanner
A duck with the soul of a poet seeks revenge on a chicken detective. What’s not to love? This hilarious book for younger readers only recently won the 2023 Russell Prize for Humour, and will have children and parents cackling out loud.
Hating Alison Ashley, Robin Klein
How is this book nearly thirty years old already? Erica struggles with the original frenemy situation when the simply perfect Alison Ashley turns up in her school. There’s a lot of 80’s nostalgia here that you’ll have to explain to your kids in great detail, so win-win.
Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery
The red-headed orphan who talks too much finds herself a home and an unlikely family in one of the most beautiful places on earth. These books, set in the late 19th century, put Prince Edward Island on the map and over a hundred years later, haven’t lost any of their magic.
Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling
Oh go on, you know you will anyway. Settle in with Dumbledore, earwax-flavoured beans, Quidditch and the dark lord, and tell your kids to go do homework or something until you’ve finished the set.