Each peach pear plum quince and 2 monkey stories

We walked down to the park after dinner this evening. On the way there we passed what I thought was a pear tree hanging over the footpath. It had lots of fruit on it and Benji thought it was pretty special.

We spent a lot of time outside today so by the time we got home Ben was pretty tired. I checked Google images to see what the fruit tree was - a quince - and we skipped bathtime and headed straight to bed, armed with Things I Like and Each Peach Pear Plum. I was going to pick only one book, being BANANA!, but thought it far better for daytime reading than bedtime reading, as it involves an argument between 2 monkeys over a banana which they ultimately share happily. It is a really fun book and I think it encourages empathy, because each time we read it Benji becomes quite forlorn when one of the monkeys doesn't get any banana after being promised some.

We read Each Peach Pear Plum first. We've had it for quite a while but have only read it once or twice, despite it rhyming. Tonight he listened quietly, making occasional observations as to what was going on (it wasn't easy explaining why there's a baby floating down the river in a bassinette).

The highlights were firstly, it had big juicy fruit trees in it - which we had just seen in real life an hour earlier! - and secondly, the page with the witch in the sky on a broomstick. Benji furrowed his brow when he looked at her so I explained she is just like Meg from Meg and Mog. To trigger his memory I recited that part of the book where Meg gets dressed and pointed out that this witch was wearing black socks, big black shoes, a long black cloak and a tall black hat. He got it, said "Flying" and then suddenly exclaimed "Careful!!" thinking she was going to fall out of the sky. It was a pretty cute moment.

We topped off a great day together with Things I Like, focussing on the birthday parties page and counting the cakes on the party table. The last page shows the monkey sleeping in his bed and saying that he likes dreaming. It reminded me of a conversation I had at work yesterday with Kate who has 3 children and who has learnt to only read bedtime books that end with someone going to bed (she mentioned Peepo! which is also by Janet and Allan Ahlberg and Where is the Green Sheep?). Not a bad idea...

Each Peach Pear Plum is by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Things I Like is by Anthony Browne

BANANA! is by Ed Vere

Meg and Mog is by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski

Where is the Green Sheep? is by Mem Fox and illustrated by Judy Horacek