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Reading lists

Annabel Karmel’s favourite picture books for children

Picture books are great for unleashing the imagination of kids. Within seconds of opening a book they can be launched into space, thrown into the world of dinosaurs and even jet across the world to learn about other countries.

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson captivates kids by taking them on journey with the mouse and the make-believe gruffalo. Her descriptions are great; I love the gruffalo with his knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose. Like my New Complete Baby & Toddler Meal Planner which I wrote 25 years ago, this book will be passed down through the generations because it’s a classic bookshelf read.

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss

This is a good book to help children enhance their reading skills, with lots of basic rhyming pairs such as house and mouse, box and fox. The message in this book is really simple which is; you can’t say you don’t like green eggs and ham until you’ve tried it. This is very true of my recipe cookbooks too. Fussy eating is a very difficult stage but with a little patience and persistence, there are ways to overcome it.

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