Describe a book that you loved reading when you were a child

A book I loved when I was a child was a collection of fairy tales that my mother gave me for my seventh birthday. It was a big hardback with a red cover and beautiful illustrations on almost every page, and I treasured it so much that I wouldn't let my cousins touch it.

The book included about thirty stories, many of them traditional tales from different countries, featuring clever foxes, brave princes, wicked witches and talking animals. My favourite was a story about a poor girl who outsmarts a greedy king by using her intelligence rather than her strength. At first my mother read to me every night as a bedtime story, using different voices for each character, which I found hilarious. Then, when I learned to read properly, I read it from cover to cover myself, and later went through it again, so many times that the spine began to fall apart.

There were several reasons why I loved it so much. Firstly, I had a vivid imagination as a child, and the pictures and descriptions took me to magical places. I'd lie in bed imagining that I lived in a castle or flew on a giant bird. Secondly, it was connected with my mother's voice and time spent together, which makes it emotionally special. Finally, I think it sparked an interest in reading generally. After that book, I started visiting the school library every week, and I haven't stopped since. I still have the book on a shelf at my parents' house, and I hope to read it to my own children one day.