There are so many cute stories out there for children which are ridiculously entertaining to read. When I was younger and finally (very slowly) coming out of my EWBOOKSAREGROSS phase (thank god) I starting cavorting about in the shelves of the library. In primary school, when I was about 10, we had a pretty decent library – I mean, it was small, but not bad. And I stumbled across several things which I would gaily read away from:

• Goosebumps.
• Choose Your Own Ending sort of books (these were seriously cool).
• Geronimo Stilton.
• Also the Silver Brumby, but that’s a story for another day.

So, it is time to discuss something very close to my heart: Geronimo Stilton. I loved this series. I would go back for more and more and more books – as many as I could get my hands on from the little library!! In fact, I would go as far to say that this played 80% of a role in getting me to like books.

Today I want to look at why this series is so enjoyable and why it’s fantastic for young readers.

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Kirstie, What on Earth are you Talking About?

I’m sure there’s at least three of you out there who paused eating your sandwich in confusion. You’ve perhaps never heard of this series or you read other, scarier children’s novels (such a daredevil, you). SO. Geronimo Stilton is a 60+ books children’s series that follows the character, Geronimo Stilton, who is a mouse and he goes on many an adventure. It’s been a long time since I’ve read these, although I have half a mind to spend a day in the library to revisit them, but I still hold a good memory of how much I loved them.

The stories are individual adventures that find Geronimo in a ridiculous number of different situations all over the world. He has a very adventurous sister, Thea, and she often stars in the books. It’s wildly funny, easy to read, and explores some seriously cool stuff (I’m talking pyramids, treasure hunts, and vampires, guys).

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The Ultimate Children’s Book

I really think that these books trump so many other books, at least for me, because of how fun they are. There are a bunch of pictures throughout the stories and and the font is doing crazy stuff. It’s reads in different directions sometimes, is different sizes, different colours – it really just makes the story come to life.

But the best thing about it is Geronimo himself and all the adventures that he goes on. Being a mouse immediately makes it hilarious, obviously, but all of the adventures that he goes on are often hilariously linked to his mouse-y-ness (such as The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid). It’s like you get to learn a few things whilst simultaneously having a whale of a time. It’s perfect for those early readers because so much of the story is visual (in the non-text sense). So if any of you do have kids then BY GEORGE please buy/borrow some of these books for them! I’m 97.4% certain they will love them (and you probably will too).

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The Best Bit?

So aside from all the other amazing things that I’ve discussed already, the BEST thing about this series is that there are OVER SIXTY BOOKS. Endless fun!! I highly, highly recommend checking this series out (no matter your age, really) just to see what it’s about. It’s a series that I’ve loved reading and one that I don’t hear about that much. Although, before writing this I asked several people if they read this and the general response was OH GOODNESS ME DID I READ THEM! So I think we can agree that they’re a lot of fun.

Okay and EVEN BETTER is that this is not it. These books that I’ve mentioned are the ones that I read when I was younger BUT there are more and more and more books. There is a whole series dedicated to his sister, Thea, AND there’s another series named “The Kingdom of Fantasy” which takes Geronimo out of the real life settings that we usually see him in and places him in a fantasy world – WHICH INCLUDES DRAGONS. *runs to bookstore*. I believe there are also some graphic novels, so if you’re not already sold then I don’t know what else I can say.

Of course, this is where you’ll go: I did not know that!! The author has published all the books under the pseudonym “Geronimo Stilton” (fabulous, I know) but her actual name is Elisabetta Dami. And she’s Italian. If you read these as a chid like I did you’ll be thrilled to know that these were all published in Italian first – I find this absolutely wonderful and greatly exciting simply because I had no idea. Dami began as an editor for the family business and wrote some of her first stories at the age of 18. Later, she took up work assisting sick children and it was this experience that made her turn towards writing these spectacular children’s books.

100 million copies of her books have been sold in 150 countries and in 40 different languages. All in all, she has written over 100 books.

You’re never too old to read children’s books, just sayin’.

// QUICK! TO THE BOOK DEPOSITORY! // HEEYAH! ONWARDS TO GOODREADS! //

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My question for you: Have you read the Geronimo Stilton books?

Did you love them? Let me know below!

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~~ Kirstie ~~

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