There is a never-ending selection of children's books available for our kids to borrow from their school, the library or to receive as gifts for their birthday and Christmas. So if you are thinking about buying your son, daughter, niece or nephew a book this year we have some book tips for you.
With the help of St. Patrick's Boys' and Girls' Primary School, a survey was carried out with pupils aged between five and thirteen years to find out what their favourite books are at present.

For the younger readers aged five and six years the classics are still the favourite, "Three Little Pigs," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and all the usual fairytales are more than welcome. Even those as young as two years old can enjoy these stories.

The next age group, six, seven and eight year old boys, chose "Where's Wally?" which is available in a large collection of educational adventures. These "Wally" books will keep your child, as well as an adult, amused for hours. Wildlife books were mentioned a lot for the eight and nine year old boys.

The girls aged between six and eight chose completely different titles. Large, colourful books are ideal for this age group.

Both boys and girls aged between eight and twelve named their No. 1 favourite book as the very popular "Goose Bumps," written by R. L. Stine, which consists of a huge range of "scary" short story books. Their second favourite choice was a selection of children's horror books such as "Fear Street" and "The Forbidden Game," also R. L. Stine Books.

Other books for the same age group were: sports books for the boys, mainly football and wrestling, and, for the girls, "Matilda" by Roald Dahl seemed to be very popular.

"The Guinness Book of Records" is always a favourite for the older kids. It was mentioned a number of times in the survey.

But, whatever the title, a book is a great gift to give and to receive at any time of the year.
Thank you to the teachers and pupils who helped with this article. We in "News Four" hope you have a very merry Christmas.