Cinderella wins happily ever after

Cinderella has been voted Britain's favourite children's book.

The fairy tale about the downtrodden girl who overcomes ugly sisters and a wicked stepmother to find her Prince Charming edged ahead of Winnie-the-Pooh in second place and Little Red Riding Hood in third.

JK Rowling's bestselling Harry Potter books came in at number 11. In fact, none of the top ten was written after 1950, according to the survey carried out in the lead-up to National Children's Storytelling Day on April 23.

The top three stories were followed by Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Peter Pan, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Wind in the Willows.

The fact that more recent children's books failed to make the top ten could be down to the decision to survey adults rather than younger readers.

However researchers also questioned parents with children under ten.

They found 31 per cent rarely or never read to their children while 37 per cent thought it hard to make up a story for them. Given the chance of unlimited time with their child 24 per cent said they would rather sit down and watch television or a video.

'More families have two working parents,' said a spokesman for sweets manufacturer Fox's Cubs, which carried out the survey.

'After a day at work they have to prepare an evening meal, deal with homework and are often too tired to sit and read.'