Inheritance Books - the books we cherish by Addy Farmer

International Book Giving Day has happened every year since 2012. It's a wonderful initiative, dreamed up by Emma Perry from My Book Corner as a response to the startling statistic that 1 in 8 disadvantaged children in the UK don't own a single book.

The positive impact of book ownership on children’s literacy engagement and its association with high mental wellbeing further contributes to the evidence base for promoting book ownership for all children and young people, particularly those with most to benefit, including boys and children and young people from lower-income homes. National Literacy Trust, Book Ownership Report 2018

Bravo to Emma's team for all the good work getting books into the hands of these children! My excellent SCBWI Central North ninja-ed away getting, Littlest Magpie, by Gill Hutchison and Carol Daniel into small hands.

The irreplaceable Gill Hutchison - a SCBWI star

Maybe you have your own stories of book donations. It would be wonderful to see more support for the work of International Book Giving in 2020. We can all be book ninjas!

join Emma and be a book ninja but maybe without the sword

IBG day got me thinking. There's a great programme on Radio 4 on Saturday mornings called, 'Saturday Live'. It's fun chat and a bit rambly, (I really like the part where listeners phone into tell their stories of the kindness of strangers) and there's also a section called Inheritance Tracks. Here, various celebs talk about the musical track they cherished and the music they would pass on. Why not Inheritance books? Our house is weighted down with books. We've run out of bookshelves and now they have spilled out  onto the floor at the top of the stairs and they line the hallway. I'm not moaning - I'm very comfortable with this level of bookage BUT I would struggle to think of just ONE favourite book from my past and one to pass on.

But I will. 

Meanwhile, I asked the excellent SCBWI community about their Inheritance books. THANKYOU ONE AND ALL!

Fiona Barker Am I allowed 2? Yes, Fiona, you are allowed two.

I would gift That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton because it is wonderful to read aloud and do all the voices. I think it’s the quintessential picture book.

And second I would gift The Church Mice and the Moon by Graham Oakley because it represents a genre of books that doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Painterly, detailed, very funny, rich illustrations and an equally detailed, funny and rich text with a high word count but no chapters. An absolute joy! I return to it time and time again and it always delivers something new 🤩 

Ah! I must look these up!

Teresa Taylor I would have to return to The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Illustrated by Michael Foreman because I feel it has so many profound lessons about life and it has wonderful illustrations.

Rita Lazaro Little Prince! Always!

Timeless classic 

Kathryn Evans What a lovely idea! Erm...I think mine would be Dr Xargles Book of Earth Tiggers because it’s hilarious and joyful and true . Both my children loved it and if I’m lucky enough to have grandchildren I know they will to.
I love this as well!

Sarah Ziman The Outsiders, The Hobbit, Rebecca, Cold Comfort Farm 

Angst, fantasy, mystery and hilarity, you've chosen it all, Sarah

Vicki Spreadbury The Owl Service, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Snow Spider.

Alan Garner was my favourite when I was about 10. The Owl Service was such an incredible and yet troubling book!

Sheila Corbishley Little Women, Greengates, All The Light You Cannot See

What a brilliant title!

Alison Lingley Watership Down. Just finished listening to it again as an audiobook and remembering the first time I read it aged about 8 or 9. I couldn’t put it down and had my paperback copy for years until it wore out. 

Oh, gosh. Books you wear out like teddy bears. Ours was Neil Gaiman's The Wolves in the Walls, our youngest was OBSESSED with it

Sally Poyton Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C O’Brian.
I loved the 1980’s animated film (The Scret of Nimh) then read the book as a kid. I read it to my children a few years ago, and that’s what they wanted to dress up as for WBD. (Plus due to this I ended up being called a smug parent on a national newspaper website - oh joy! 

What it's all about

Gillian Bowes Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. Fired my imagination...
Isn't that the best? When you find out that you're a story teller as well?

Gill Vickery Anne of Green Gables - my father’s favourite book as a child and then mine. I read it every year.

That's lovely, Gill! I always have an urge to read A Box of Delights come Christmas

Heather Kilgour The Barbapapa books.
Ah! You made me remember Barbarpapa! Thankyou! I used to love those books as well, Heather

Jane Clarke Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame made me laugh and cry - and never question that animals can talk

Of course, Jane!

Nicola Thompson Squares Ender’s Game - love sci-fi, and this is the classic.
Wonderful!

Gill Vickery Nicola Thompson Squares fantastic book! I think Speaker for the Dead is even better.

Ann Brady - Author I have the Dorothy Dunnett Lymond series of books which I may take with me to my grave so I can reread them in the after-life???

Great idea, Ann! Books as grave goods! 

Marie-Claire Imam-Gutierrez Enders Game, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Harry Potter, Narnia x

What a fantastic selection! 

Rhian Howells The Caravan Family by Enid Blyton. My mum used to read it to me and my sister at bedtime. When we bought our own caravan we always talked about it xx
Living the story - love it

Jenny Moss Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. My dad read it to me soon after it came out. My daughter now loves it too.
I absolutely love these.

Helen Jones Tom's Midnight Garden and The Box of Delights
Me too, Helen. Christmas isn't Christmas without The Box of Delights 

Misha Herwin The House of the Paladin by Violet Needham.
Another treasure for me to find!

Paula Harrison The Dark is Rising and Little Women.
There it is - I really loved The Dark is Rising

Helen Jones Ooh, I loved the Dark is Rising

Me too! It was probably the book I most wanted to be inside when I was young 

Linda Nicklin Heather a book about a horse.. more gritty than black beauty, sadly out of print, she nearly died in a bog... her friend did... I'm still sad. Anne of Green Gables... a girl with spirit who didn't fit in.

Books about animals are my bete noire - hem-hem


Alan Gidney The Gauntlet, by Ronald Welch, read it in 1961 and kick started a love of historical fiction. Anything by Philip Pullman today, including his shorter stories e.g. The Firework Maker's Daughter.

Excellent, Alan!

And for me? It has to be 

Scary, fantastic and I was the hero

and to pass on

Love, family and small BIG things of life