Sunday 2nd April is International Children’s Book Day, which celebrates Hans Christian Anderson, the author of many children’s tales including The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor's New Clothes. It aims to encourage children around the world to enjoy reading and to write stories of their own.

This day got the Hand on Heart Team thinking about what they read as children and who their Favourite authors were -

‘Enid Blyton was my favourite author when I was younger. My Grandma had kept a lot of books that my Dad and uncles had as children, and each weekend when I stayed at her house I would read Enid Blyton tales. My favourite one was Five on Finniston Farm.’ - Ellie

‘I loved Dr. Seuss when I was little. His stories were so wacky and they took you to a magical place where the Lorax really did exist. Although my favourite book was The Cat in a Hat!’ - Lauran

‘I was always a Harry Potter fan, I read all of the books and was an avid fan of the films and the whole Harry Potter world!’ - Lucy E

We even have a design that is inspired by a children’s book. The ‘I’ll Love You Forever’ collection is inspired by a book called ‘Love You Forever’ by Robert Munsch. Our collection contains a sterling silver necklace and a keyring that incorporates a handprint or two footprints into the quote, they even have space to personalise the piece with a special message.

As we’ve grown older, our taste in books has changed but we’ll always remember our favourites and encourage our children to love them as much as we once did. What tales were your childhood favourites and what do your children read now?