Piles of Books for World Book Day 2014

So this is the current state of Little Man’s bedroom floor – several big piles of books dotted across the room creating a “hilly” landscape we have to traverse in order to get to his bed each night.

I have tried keeping his books in boxes, in cupboards and even on a bookcase, but we always seem to end up with these same piles of books on the floor. And no wonder – this boy loves his books and we have to read at least 3 (usually more) before bedtime each night. And as we let Little Man choose the books he wants each time, we’ve just ended up with a crazy system whereby he can see pretty much every book (even if just a tiny corner peeking out from under the rest) and decide which he wants next.

I’ve been seeing so many posts today for World Book Day. Children going to school dressed as characters from their favourite books, and I can’t help but wonder which book or character Little Man would choose if we were to attempt the same. He has so many “favourites” right now that I’m not sure where to begin. Here are the current most popular titles from an ever increasing bunch of “favourites”…

There are some real crackers in there and even though we have read them so many times that we all know them by heart (including Little Man who now recognises certain words – like zebra!! – just because he sees them so often) I never tired of reading these books to him.

I’ve even thought about starting a new series on the blog about what we’re reading because although Little Man has some of the more popular books in his favourites (such as Dr Seuss and Julia Donaldson books as well as Charlie and Lola) there are also some books I had never heard of before randomly coming across them in a charity shop or bookstore. And these are the books that I’d love to share with you all.

But for now we’re celebrating World Book Day by relishing in the fact that it doesn’t matter that books are strewn across the floor and there is no system to our book-madness. I will read as many books as Little Man likes because it is a love that I wish to treasure and encourage in him.

The other day I promised to read him “as many books as he wanted before bedtime” because we had to change his routine slightly and it really upset him to begin with. And that night we read at least 8 books (I lost count after 8!) and the whole time Little Man sat in bed curled up next to me, telling me all the words he knew, and just loving the attention. Those moments are moments to truly treasure and I plan to do just that.

What books does your little one love to read? Do you read before bedtime or is it an “as and when” kind of thing in your house? (It’s both in our house!) Or are your children old enough to read by themselves now? I’d love to hear your thoughts.