‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ voted best bedtime story by UK parents

LONDON - Children’s book, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle, has been voted as the best bedtime story in a survey of UK parents.

The book is about a caterpillar, which feasts on a lot of food, including an apple, two pears, three plums, chocolate cake, ice cream and cherry pie before turning into a beautiful butterfly.

First published in 1969, it is now available in 47 languages and still sells one copy every minute around the world.

CS Lewis’s tale of four children who enter the magic world of Narnia in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe came second in the survey.

‘BFG’ by Roald Dahl, first published in 1982 came third, while A.A Milne’s ‘Winnie the Pooh’ was fourth and ‘The Gruffalo’, which tells the story of a mouse outwitting a woodland monster, came fifth.

“It’s fantastic to see that the traditional stories that so many of us have grown up with are still as popular today as they ever were,” the Telegraph quoted Dr Richard Woolfson, a child psychologist and spokesman for Munch Bunch which commissioned the research, as saying.

“It’s encouraging to learn that three quarters of parents read to their kids, because storytelling is one of the most effective ways for children to develop a wide range of skills, such as reading, writing, speech and creativity.

“It is sad, however, to see that one in ten parents never finds time to read with their children due to work and family life pressures.

“There are ways in which you can integrate storytelling into busy lives, for example telling a made-up story as you tuck your child into bed and allowing them to add to it can be great for developing their imagination and creativity,” he added.

The survey of 4,000 parents with children aged 2-11, was carried out to mark World Book Day on March 4 and sees Munch Bunch launch a nationwide search to find the UK’s best children’s story writers.

The bedtime stories that made it to the top 20 spot were as follows:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

2. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

3. BFG, Roald Dahl

4. Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

5. The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson

6. Famous Five, Enid Blyton

7. Matilda, Roald Dahl

8. The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter

9. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

10. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

11. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

12. Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves

13. The Witches, Roald Dahl

14. The Twits, Roald Dahl

15. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl

16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

17. The Cat in the Hat, Dr Suess

18. Hans Christian Fairy Tales, H.C. Andersen

19. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K.Rowling

20. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (ANI)