Children’s books are something that we all can relate to, either we read them to our kids or remember them being read to us as a child.

Whether it’s the Gruffalo or the tales of Peter Rabbit, we all have our favourites, so we spoke to the public on Strand Street, Douglas, to get their views on children’s books.

David Malone, from Manchester, said: ‘I remember reading Enid Blyton when I was young.

‘Although where we grew up in Manchester, you only read a book at school, because you would be outside all the time.’

Jean, his wife, said: ‘I remember reading all those Mr Men books to our child.

‘I think it’s important for children to read for their education.’

David added: ‘I think kids probably don’t read enough nowadays.

‘They do a book week for children which is good but more children should read.

Jean said: ‘The Central Library in Manchester is good. They do free books on certain days and it’s brilliant there.’

Rachel Collister, from Kirk Michael, said: ‘Reading is very important and we always encourage it for all four of our boys, and they all love their books.

‘All the Usbourne books are lovely and Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo), we’ve got every one of hers.

‘I think a lot of kids use tablets and such now, but something I definitely encourage is to have a book, also some of the sound and texture books are lovely.

‘My boys read every night without fail, even my son with special needs, I read to him now and he reads the words along with me.’

Bob Bartlett, from Douglas, said: ‘The first book I got into when I was a child was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and then the one that my kids all loved was The Gruffalo.

‘I was a late starter when it came to getting into reading myself.

‘I was busy when I was self-employed but I broke my leg playing rugby and I was in the hospital for a long time and my wife said to me, “You better start reading” and I haven’t stopped since.

‘If I could go back, and start reading avidly when I was a kid, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you now, because I’d be a rich man.

‘I do think that kids probably don’t read enough books, they do a lot of reading but it’s more of the digital kind than the paper kind, but if they’ve got the imagination then they’ll get into it and hopefully they can go on to be better people.’

Two young parents, Tiffany Howard and Ashley Johnson, talked to us while out for a stroll with their six-month-old daughter Penelope.

Tiffany said: ‘When I was a kid, it was The Hungry Caterpillar, The Gruffalo and Mr Men.

‘At the moment, Penelope and I are reading a book called Where Are They?

‘It’s a very interactive book and we’re reading a lot of them at the moment and at the back of the book there’s a mirror and her reactions are just brilliant.

‘I think it’s really important and self-soothing for the babies if parents read to their children because they can hear their parent’s voice.

‘It definitely calms Penelope down and it’s all about them starting to interact and learning different colours and words that you mightn’t use every day.’

Ashley said: ‘I don’t remember what books I read as a child, except for Mr Men books.

‘I felt like kids don’t get read to enough and technology does get in the way.

‘It really needs to come back into play.’