2 Who also features in Dr Seuss’s Horton Hatches the Egg (see: adoption).
3 The Gossie & Gertie books are also available as early readers.
4 Even though it is, chronologically speaking, the second book in the series. We believe the series is, like Star Wars, best experienced in the order in which the books were created, which is as follows: 1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; 2. Prince Caspian; 3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; 4. The Silver Chair; 5. The Horse and His Boy; 6. The Magician’s Nephew; 7. The Last Battle.
5 If you are reading this book chronologically, you will have become aware of the impact the Blitz has had on British children’s literature – and therefore, bibliotherapeutically speaking, on those of us who were weaned on it. Where would we be without these stories set in big country houses, full of mysterious discoveries, and with parents conveniently out of the way?
6 Best enjoyed after the first book in the series, What Katy Did.
7 Best enjoyed after the first two books in the series, Charmed Life and The Magicians of Caprona.
8 Pun intended.
9 Pollyanna, The Secret Garden, Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre, Silas Marner . . .
10 If we were keeping a running count of fictional examples of bibliotherapy to be found in children’s literature, this would be number two, and we are still only on C. Now that the point has been made, we’ll stop counting.
C IS FOR . . .
car, being in the
It takes the patience of a saint to drive long distances while keeping up a constant patter intended to cajole, deflect, divert and absorb the passengers in the back seat – especially when said passengers in the back seat are keeping up a constant patter of the ‘Are we there yet?’, ‘I’m so bored!’ and ‘Why do we have to go there anyway?’ variety. Alternatively, it takes an audiobook. See our lists of The Ten Best Audiobook Series for Long Car Journeys that follows, and The Ten Best Audiobooks for All the Family.
Grown-ups still angling for sainthood might like to add a group reading of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang to their pre-journey prep. As well as being the creator of 007’s spike-producing, missile-firing vehicles, Fleming was also responsible for coming up with the children’s equivalent. Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang is the sort of car that gets kids thinking about cylinders, pistons, flashing lights, horns – and all the things a modified car might be able to do.
Commander Caractacus Pott, eccentric inventor and father to eight-year-old twins Jeremy and Jemima, can finally afford to buy a family car after making the best-selling Crackpot Whistling Candy (a sweet that cleverly turns into a whistle). The old, twelve-cylinder racing car has seen better days, but after several weeks spent doing her up in the garage, he rolls her out for the family to admire. Jeremy and Jemima fall in love with the big round headlights immediately – and the horn that makes a ‘deep, polite’ and ‘threatening’ roar. Strangely, some of the instruments on the dashboard seem to have appeared by themselves . . . No matter: two loud backfires later, the car is charging at full pelt down the motorway.
This being England, they’re soon stuck in traffic and both car and passengers start to overheat. Just then, a sign saying ‘Pull’ lights up on the dash. The Commander hesitates, not knowing what it will do, but then the sign changes to ‘Pull idiot!’ and he obeys. Lo! the mudguards swivel out, and back . . . and . . . well, you know the rest. Experienced as Fleming originally wrote it, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang will inspire your passengers to bring their imaginations – and hand-made buttons, levers and wings – on board to vamp up the family wheels. The driving experience will never be the same again.1
THE TEN BEST AUDIOBOOK SERIES FOR LONG CAR JOURNEYS
SEE ALSO: bored, being • sick, being
care, being taken into
SEE: foster care, being in
carer, being a
SEE: unwell parent, having an
carrots, refusing to eat your peas and
SEE: fussy eater, being a
cast-offs, having to wear
Inculcate affection for pre-loved clothes – baggy-kneed, broken-zipped, and secreting dubious things in the corners of their pockets – with Old Hat New Hat. In this story, the Berenstain bear we know and love tries on every weird and wonderful hat in the shop, from the turban to the one with the propeller on top. Then he spies a tatty old trilby with a patch and a drooping daisy. It’s the one he came in with, of course. Old is so the best.
It’s harder to convince older kids that wearing second-hand clothes is cool, but perhaps not impossible. Set on a council estate in Peckham, Pigeon English tells the story of Harri, a young Ghanaian immigrant trying to make his way in the local gang culture. ‘Have you got happiness?’ they ask him. ‘Yes!’ ‘Have you got happiness?’ ‘Yes!’