\u2018I worked with kids who struggled \u2013 this one boy would listen with rapture\u2019<\/p>\n
Thirty years ago I was a healthcare assistant working for CAMHS in a major city. It was a brilliant creative job where I worked with primary school kids who were struggling with home and school life. We had one little boy, aged seven, who was a world of chaos, he found it hard to connect with others and he had a tough exterior on show nearly all the time. However, a couple of times a week, we had story time in the library, a quiet and tiny room, and he would always, without fail, come and sit as close to me as he could, and ask very quietly for \u201cBogalabol\u201d \u2013 Burglar Bill. He would then listen with rapture and delight to the whole story, and join in with his favourite phrases. As he listened, he became a little boy again, taking pleasure in this story with its salt of the earth burglars, and the simple joy of being read to. It remains one of my favourite memories of that time. Of course I read Burglar Bill to my own kids, and I expect I\u2019ll read it to any grandchildren I have! Tanya Logan, 53, Frome, Somerset<\/p>\n
\u2018I used to do my best Ray Winstone growl when reading\u2019<\/p>\n
I loved Burglar Bill. He steals such bonkers stuff, and then he finds \u2013 a baby! And eventually true love with Burglar Betty. I used to read it to my kids doing Burglar Bill in my best Ray Winstone growl. They loved it. The books were a great way to introduce my own kids to reading, and later many others when I worked as an English teacher. Esther Pocock, librarian, Sweden<\/p>\n
The Happy Families books<\/p>\n
\u2018I still use the letter he wrote to me to this day\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a primary school teacher and about 12 years ago I wrote to Allan Ahlberg with my class. He took care to write a really individual letter back to us, addressing every child\u2019s comments (and mine), and he also shared some early drafts of Mrs Wobble the Waitress and some copies of a couple of his new books at the time (Hooray for Bread was one of them). I was really impressed by his generous spirit in replying in such detail, and I still use the letter with classes to this day to say: \u201cLook, real authors need to re-draft, so you should too!\u201d Luke Stratton, 41, primary school teacher, Coalville, Leicestershire<\/p>\n
\u2018On a whim, I texted my 28-year-old daughter the first line and she replied with the next one \u2013 and so it went on for 10 minutes\u2019<\/p>\n
All of them are favourites \u2013 but particularly Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman books. On a whim I texted the first line of the former to my 28-year-old daughter the other day. She immediately texted back (while at work I may add) the following line from the book, and so it went on for 10 glorious minutes between us both, word perfect with no cheating, smiling away at our phones. Me \u2013 charmed at the way this book has resonated through the years between mother and daughter. She \u2013 thrilled with a young child\u2019s delight in being clever in remembering it all in the middle of her busy day. It is still the book I buy for all new parents I come across, as I will do for hers as and when she has children of her own. Jayne Stead, retired teacher, York<\/p>\n
\u2018My two girls love it\u2019<\/p>\n
The wonder of the Ahlbergs\u2019 books span generations and they are so detailed, clever and don\u2019t talk down to children. [Allan\u2019s wife Janet Ahlberg illustrated all his books until her death in 1994.] They are among the few authors I enjoy reading night after night; I received Each Peach Pear Plum from a friend with older children, who wistfully said she could still happily recite it from memory. My two girls love the book. Caroline Haywood, 39, lawyer, Nairobi, Kenya<\/p>\n
\u2018My child who was non-verbal until three could still communicate by finding items in the pictures\u2019<\/p>\n
With my own child, who was non-verbal until three, books with things to look for such as Peepo! meant they could still communicate by finding items in the pictures. The repetitive nature also meant things could be mimed or signed. Then when speech came the rhymes were fun and they were reading without noticing! Allan Ahlberg\u2019s books enriched my teaching and the lives of children I know. Isn\u2019t that a special legacy? Kathie, former teacher now works in data protection, St Helens<\/p>\n
\u2018No one could compete with the Ahlbergs\u2019<\/p>\n
There are so many to choose from but I\u2019d have to opt for Cops and Robbers as it went from mild peril to slapstick comedy and had everything in between. I loved them when I was a kid and when my daughter was little I read her every Janet and Allan Ahlberg book I could get my hands on. We read a lot of books together but no one could compete with the Ahlbergs. They are the greatest children\u2019s authors of all time, bar none. Martin Hall, 46, librarian, Frankfurt, Germany<\/p>\n
\u2018It helped me as a new parent\u2019<\/p>\n
The Baby\u2019s Catalogue was introduced to me by an unemployed mother while waiting in a Berkeley unemployment line 40 years ago. Two children later, while waiting in a pediatrician\u2019s office I discovered a ratty copy of Burglar Bill on the book pile. The story was so enchanting that I am ashamed to say I nicked it. The Baby Catalogue helped me as a new parent understand that the smallest, mundane parts of a child\u2019s day could be beautiful and important to them so to accept it with patience and grace. As for Burglar Bill, my boys didn\u2019t turn to a life of crime like their mother. In my defence I\u2019ve taken good care of the book. Kathy Nilsson, 67, retired, Mountain View, California<\/p>\n
\u2018To open his books is to feel a jolt of warmth and home again\u2019<\/p>\n
I had all but forgotten about Ahlberg\u2019s books until I started working as a children\u2019s bookseller. To discover them again, to turn the pages 20 years on from the last time, made me ache for a time and a place long gone. That feeling never leaves me. Peepo! and Each Peach Pear Plum both sit on my son\u2019s bookshelves and even though I see the spines every single day, to open them is to feel that jolt of warmth and home again. They are perfection. Funny Bones has now become one of my son\u2019s favourite books. People complain it\u2019s too long, but how can you not relish getting to linger over those \u201cdark, dark\u201d lines? Hannah Renowden, 42, page planner, Glasgow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018I worked with kids who struggled \u2013 this one boy would listen with rapture\u2019 Thirty years ago I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[412,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-29890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}