Hayley

I've decided to go for The Crow Garden by Alison Littlewood! I have a suggestion to make it a little easier to choose for this category though. When we first started this challenge, we did say that the theme could simply connect to the book's cover (e.g. if we had the theme of snow, snow might not be a large part of the plot but might feature on the cover). So I think opening this up to include books which feature the natural world on their covers might be a good idea here! And I'd like to add for the suggestions: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett The House Without Windows by Barbara Newhall Follett The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke (if you like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and want a really short one) Evil Roots or Weird Woods from the British Library's Tales of the Weird series The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge And, for a short story, Autumntime by Anthony Lentini (you can find it for free in lots of places online). I agree with this - unless you're in the mood to read a lot of details about nineteenth century whaling 😅

I can't wait to see what you think of the ending! Nell definitely would have had a lot more options if she had been willing to leave her grandfather.

Thank you That does sound like a fun book. Maybe you could try telling the story (or a story, if it's too long to remember) without the book, to see if Adrian still reacts when you say the word 'tickling'? There's certainly nothing wrong with his memory anyway, even if he's learned what comes next from the pictures

I'm struggling to think of what to read for this one! I might go for The Mercies, which I believe is based on the true story of a terrible storm and its consequences.

It might not actually be a children's mass at the other church. I have to admit, I don't know much about the United Reformed Church, but the catholic church we go to is really friendly towards kids. On Sundays there's a children's liturgy, where they can go over to an attached room and do fun activities like colouring (the school-age ones, anyway). If you have a young child being really noisy, there's an area you can stand in that has speakers, so you can still hear what the priest is saying, but the baby noise isn't stopping other people from being able to hear. The mass is a normal one though, not an actual children's mass.

Two absolutely gorgeous books! I really want Halloweird too

Yeah the older ladybird books are very much collectibles now! There are new ladybird books but they're nowhere near as nice looking. For example, on amazon: Ladybird Tales Classic Collection - Hardcover Book Box Set: Amazon.co.uk: Ladybird: 9780723281832: Books Maybe I can find some originals without bankrupting myself if I look around 😅

My first contribution: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Even at just a couple of months old, Olle seemed to be fascinated by the pictures in this one. It has high-contrast, bright pictures and I know he's going to enjoy other elements of it (like the texture of the holes cut out of the fruit inside) as he gets older. Also a classic - I have a distant memory of loving this when I first started school. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd Lovely and fun illustrations in this one too, but with the added bonus of really satisfying rhythm and rhyme to the story. Olle often watches my mouth when I read this to him, so I think he appreciates it too . We actually have about five of the Hairy Maclary books and they're all great.

Now that Olle is 6 months old (not sure where that 6 months has gone, but 6 months it is!), I've gotten through a fair few books and thought it would be nice to have a thread of the books we think are the best ones for the youngest of readers.

Quilp is such a good villain, I absolutely despised him. I feel that way about all the Wilkie Collins books I've read so far! If you haven't read No Name yet, I highly recommend it. I really want to jump in to this challenge for the end of the month now... maybe with a short story.

Agree, it's worth it and now I want to re-read it . Have you seen The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights short story collection? There was a story in that which I thought was definitely inspired by The Yellow Wallpaper!

Are you enjoying it so far? I loved it so much more than I expected to when I finally got around to reading it!

Ooooh, I love both of those ideas! I think I'm going to have to second The Natural World. Mainly because 'first book in a new series' sounds perfect for the new year!

Your English is excellent! I don't know which book it is, but it does sound vaguely familiar! I'd love to know if you find it!

I wasn't a big Faulkner fan either - I can't even remember why (but I do think Of Mice and Men was brilliant, despite the fact that I was also horrified and want to cry literally every time I have to teach the ending 😅)