
Writer, researcher, scientist and mom, with an occasional flair for being a rascal. I live and work in beautiful Canberra.


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Another writer.

Mehreen Arshi


I humbly boasted about having written a blog about “story telling” during an afternoon tea, when one of my friends suggested I write out a recommendation for children’s reading list. This was fantastic - not only had she given me an idea of my next blog post while my book review for “Animal Farm” was still brewing, it brought back childhood memories of some wonderful summer afternoons spent with my nose in a book. Popular with kids these days are “Captain Underpants” “Dog Man” “ the Bad Guys” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and the likes. We already know all about these books as we choke back the tears along with our literary sense and pat our kids on the back to celebrate their efforts to “read”.

There is nothing wrong with these books, on the contrary, they prove very effective at getting our kids involved in reading in today’s highly technological times of relatively smaller attention spans. However if you would like to turn your child’s attention to some children’s classics with a bit more depth, I would suggest you make a trip down to the river bank and join the shy Mole and the clever but friendly Water Rat, hop in a boat and be off to save a very pompous Mr. Toad from his own world of never ending troubles in “The Wind in the Willows”. Follow Alice down a rabbit hole and be enchanted with a magical world of “Alice in Wonderland“. My absolute all time favourite is “Anne of Green Gables”, a story about coming of age of an orphan girl in uncharted territories of her newly adopted world. Her adventurous personality, new challenges of everyday life and unparalleled power of imagination make her stand out as one of the most captivating children’s heroine. One of my accidental finds at a local library was a children’s book by J.R.R.Tolkien called “ Mr Bliss” that proved to be highly entertaining. It’s a quirky story of a series of mishaps that happen to Mr Bliss as he ventures out to buy a motor car.

Some of the other children’s classics include “Treasure Island”, “ Where the Wild Things Are”, “Little Prince”, “Heidi”, “Secret Garden”, “A Wrinkle in Time”, “ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Where the Sidewalk Ends” to name a few. You can also dip your toes in the pool of series of very successful books such as “The Treehouse” series, “A series of unfortunate events” and the “Harry Potter” collection ( another one of my favourites!!!). Enid Blyton is an excellent children’s author who penned “The Magic Faraway Tree”, The Enchanted Wood”, “The Famous Five” series and “Naughty Amelia Jane” among many others.

Enjoy a magical journey with your kids, you are never too old to read a children’s book yourself too!!!


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Children's Books

On Children's Books