Of course, mothers can read these books too. However, I did observe, during a storytime for infants at a public library, that the babies were more attracted to a male voice. They weren’t exactly playing attention – most tend to play with the cushions, their toes, etc – but at least 3 or 4 crawled directly to the storyteller, and one tried to climb into his lap. I think that they prefer male voices because male voices are deeper than female voices. The sonorous timbre of men’s voices (think James Earl Jones) is ideally suited to growly animals, gruff dwarves, or drunken pictsies.
Jon Scieszka writes off-beat versions of popular fairy tales.
Neil Gaiman is a talented writer of picture books and novels.
- Crazy Hair
: All sorts of things live in a man’s hair: tigers, dancers, pools, and waterslides. With bouncing, rhyming text and textured, hairy swirls of colour, this is a slightly menacing tale.
- The Wolves In The Walls
- The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish
- Coraline
- M Is For Magic
: Short story collection, including "The Witch’s Headstone", which became the Newbery-winning The Graveyard Book.
Ken Oppel's exciting fantasy adventures will keep you on the edge of your seats!
Other good reads are:
by Debi Gliori
The first in a series of books about the Strega-Borgias, who live in a castle with their magical nanny and violent pets – a dragon, a yeti, and a griffin- not to mention the crocodile in the moat!
by Michael Chabon
Baseball, mythical creatures, and time travel make for a winning combination.
by Cornelia Funke
A mysterious 13-year-old leads a ring of street children who dabble in petty crime on the streets and canals of Venice. The Thief Lord also has an incredible secret. A spellbinding story.
Tiffany Aching’s little brother has been stolen. To get him back, she has a weapon (a frying pan), a book of magic (Diseases of the Sheep) – and the Nac Mac Feegle, aka the Wee Free Men, the tiny, fighting, thieving, kilt-wearing pictsies, who were thrown out of Fairyland for being drunk and disorderly. Polish up your Scottish burrs and get ready to laugh out loud!
Don't forget the sequels!
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