Looking for some pictures storybooks for your kids? Check out this list of princess story books.... These books are not your average princess stories. These are stories that you will enjoy as well as your girls. Take the book 'The Paper Bag Princess': Princess Elizabeth winds up rescuing her prince from the dragon. But Prince Ronald is ungrateful and unimpressed. He tells her to come back when she looks like a princess and she realises that she is better off without him. These books will generate some great discussions with your girls.

Check out this collection of princess books HERE.

And, don't think that your boys are missing out. There is also a list of great books about vehicles, construction site vehicles and more. 

You'll find them HERE... enjoy them together.

“That’s weird,” Napoleon stared at the note lying on his desk. As he read the words again, the writing faded to nothing, and then the paper crumbled into a white dust.(Battle Boy- Spying on the Past)

History, for many children, is little more than a collection of facts that need to be learned and, with the best of intentions, we often find it difficult to breathe real life into these history lessons we present.

The Battle Boy series of books presents historic battles in an exciting adventure story format. Not only do kids enjoy reading the stories, they actually learn from them.  In each adventure, kids join 11-year-old Napoleon Augustus Smythe as he travels around the world and through the ages, spying on the past and solving mysteries. 

There is a growing list of titles featuring historical battles: Sir Francis Drake and the battle between the English and Spanish warships, The Red Baron, Trojan War, Alexander the Great, Battle of Cannae, Kublai Khan, The Battle of Stainmore (Dark Ages) and more.

 The website provides a downloadable mission profile with information from the series about Napoleon’s assignment, duty, directive, and survival gear. Teacher’s notes are also available for each book including learning outcomes, discussion questions and varied classroom activities.  The first chapter of each book is also available to download from the Battle Boy website.
 
Join Napoleon Augustus Smythe and get ready for action!

'Reading to your children may be the single, most powerful contribution that you, as a parent, can make toward their success in school. Reading to your children is the is absolutely the best way to develop their ability to read for themselves and by themselves. Studies have shown that the one common factor found in all children who learned to read without being formally taught how was not high IQ, not high family income, not parents who had college degrees; rather, the one factor was that all these children were read to by their parents regularly,  frequently, and from whatever materials happened to be at hand- newspapers, road signs, even packing labels.' (William Russell)

Some parents read to their children when they are young but cease once the children have learned to read by themselves. Research shows that children of all ages continue to benefit from being read great books by their parents or carers. 
So... what should you choose? There are a number of books by William Russell that can assist you here. 'Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children' and 'More Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children' provide selections of stories and poems for every listening age with some introductory information about the characteristics of the listener and the stories included.  For example, Listening Level II is introduced in this fashion: 'The tales in this section are full of adventure, and so are the listeners for whom they are intended. There is broad humour here, too.' 

For other ideas about choosing books to read aloud to your children, check out these age-appropriate lists HERE  and from TeacherFirst HERE. You will find that reading aloud to your children will become even more enjoyable and engrossing as they grow older.