Books I am reading to my son as bedtime stories

My son, Edgar, is fourteen months now and pretty impartial to all forms of literature. All the bedtime reading that we do, consists of me reading out passages of various books, acting them out and doing silly voices. His attention span is also pretty dreadful: he cannot go longer than five minutes without trying to snatch the book out of my hands; for Edgar books are physical objects and the squiggly, black markings all over them mean nothing to him. So, our bedtime stories tend to be out of books that I personally enjoy, are concise and can be acted out in silly voices. Oh, and illustrations help too.


T.S. Eliot “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”, with illustrations by Edward Gorey, 1982

This is a book of poems dedicated to feline psychology and sociology, an easy concept to arouse one’s interest, for who isn’t interested in sussing out cats? We have a resident feline at home, so our interest is peaked.

Eliot wrote the poems under the assumed name ‘Old Possum’ and included them in letters he sent to his godchildren. The poems themselves are wonderfuly whimsical and Eliot’s turn of phrase (or verse) is a pleasure to read out loud, though some words sound like a tongue-twister. For example, there is a poem titled “ Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer” as well as one called “(of) The Awefull Battle  of the Pikes and the Pollicles (Together with Some Account of the Participation of the Pugs and the Poms and the Intervention of the Great Rumpus Hat)” - yes, that whole thing is the title.
Amongst others are “Old Deuteronomy” and my favorite “The Naming of Cats”, where we are introduced to the concept of cats having three names: one common, one fancy and one only known to the cat.

Fun fact: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” is actually a musical adaptation of the book (it had been the longest running musical on Broadway history until it was overtaken by “Phantom of the Opera”).

Neil Gaiman “The Graveyard Book”, 2008

In “The Graveyard Book”, Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens, his parents brutally murdered, is adopted and raised by a couple of ghosts occupying a graveyard, where many other ghosts also reside, in which Bod is given free reign to have many supernatural adventures.

The novel has won many awards since its publication in 2008, and rightly so, since Gaiman is at the height of his powers and directly in his element here, mixing fantasy, horror and comedy in a moving coming-of-age tale, as only he can.

I for one am a sucker for these kind of playful Gothic fantasy stories, and for sheer ingenuity alone, “The Graveyard Book” is one of the best I’ve read in a long time, not to mention Gaiman’s fluid, witty writing style and marvelous illustrations by Chris Riddell.

On a side note; I keep waiting for the movie adaption to be made, but Hollywood has proven so far unable to get its ducks in a row, long enough for that to actually happen.

Tim Burton “The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy”,1997

The whole thing is pure gold, I cannot get enough of Burton’s dry, black humour, though I’m sure he is not everyone’s cup of tea. Below is one of his poems from the book, so you can judge for yourselves. Also, the illustrations throughout are by Burton as well, who started out as an animator for Disney, so rest assured, he can draw.

“Stick Boy and Match Girl in Love”
Stick boy liked Match girl
He liked her a lot
He liked her cute figure
He thought she was hot
But could a flame ever burn
for a match and a stick?
It did quite literally;
He burned up pretty quick.