> when you start reading children’s books to your child you realise how many bad stories there are, they can be empty, with bad writing etc. I'm also a parent,

> when you start reading children’s books to your child you realise how many bad stories there are, they can be empty, with bad writing etc. I'm also a parent, although my children are rather older, and I agree with you. Books for young children are a massive sector - perhaps because parents (often) want to expose their children to books, and parents and children seek novelty (albeit for different reasons). But there just aren't that many good children's authors, and the recent trend for celebrities to write children's books just floods even more filler into the space. A poor book can be a bedtime disappointment. To your great suggestions I'd add Judith Kerr (the Mog books) and Lynley Dodd (Hairy Maclary, Slinky Malinki). Its been a decade or more but I can still recite quite a lot of Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack from memory.