You Choose!

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Frank Cottrell Boyce on why reading for pleasure is the most important thing you can pass on to a child Blowing bubbles - ask the children to help make big bubble wands out of wire and fill up some washing up bowls with bubble mixture and blow big bubbles outside. Follow the children's interests - there may be a part of the book the children show a particular interest in, such as animals or hats. The children could make some animal tails (fluffy bunny/stripy zebra/swishy horse/curly pig etc) for a 'guess whose tail this is?' display. Or they could decorate hats for a hanging display.

Take photos of the children and make frames for them together, just like the pictures in the book. Display them with some of the children's ideas about friends. Odd one out - Invite the children to make an interactive 'odd one out' display, using all sorts of groups of animals, with an odd one out. Use hoops, boxes and baskets to display the groups in. The children could have fun mixing up the groups and changing the odd one out. Have a look at Nikki Dyson's Flip Flap Dogs or Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Ocean, - both published by Nosy Crow - which allow you to choose and create new and silly combinations of dog or ocean animal. If you're looking for another brilliant vocabulary-building book...

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Enjoyable crowded and colourful pictures invite children to think about and discuss the choices they might make about a variety of things, from family and friends to homes, from modes of travel to jobs. Want a fun way to get children excited about reading? Join Pyjamarama in 2024, when children can spend the day in their pyjamas, reading and sharing stories and raising money for BookTrust. For me it’s a rollercoaster of emotions that I’m trying to manipulate the reader into’ - Alex Wheatle on fictional world building, creating new language and seeing yourself in a book

Dressing Up - have a selection of all sorts of outfits, including hats and shoes, to dress up in. Give the children things to dress up for - a fancy dress party, a ball, going to work etc.

Children like to discuss it in a group, and it is an extremely useful tool in the classroom, particularly to promote involvement, imagination and communication skills. And finally, if you just can't quitemove on from You Choose, how about just experiencing it differently? 'Just took my little one to see the Nonsense Room Productions stage show of this,' Nicola on Facebooksaid. 'She loved it - they really bring books to life. It's fab. Helps them want to read, too!' Sounds pretty good to us... You may have more than one hospital or clinic to choose from. But the options will be the same if you book online or over the phone.

Disco dancing - in the section on what you would choose to put in your house there is a glitter ball and a lava lamp. Try to get hold of these, put on some music and have a dance!Choices - this book is all about choosing between things. Sometimes it can be quite hard to make up your mind. Do some circle times on choosing things. For example, have two toys that the children have to choose between and say why they chose the one they did. Now accompanied by You Choose Your Dreams and You Choose in Space, there are even more amazing choices for preschool children. But if you feel like moving on, here are some suggestions - and we'd love to hear yours! If you feel like moving on to picture books... Rhyming words and alliteration - have fun thinking of words that rhyme with choose (lose, snooze - include nonsense words). Try and think of words that begin with the same sound as something in the book - e.g. 'bed' - bus, banana, bear, bangle- are any of these things in the pictures in the book?