BTW, I think your idea is great. I’ve been wondering what to do this summer that isn’t ‘school’ and I have a ton of books I’m dying to read to them–summer will be a great chance to just do that. (No, I hadn’t put a lot of thought into it yet.)
Oh, have you ever read Eleanor Farjeon? Go get The little bookroom and see what you think! She wrote lots of books and poems; they’re not easy to get now, but your library might have some.
OK, I"m going to stop now, really I am. I just keep thinking of things.
Did you see that movie, Nanny McPhee? Well, the Nurse Matilda books it was loosely based on are now back in print, and it turns out they’re very funny. They’re by Christianna Brand, and if you like Edward Ardizzone’s illustrations at all, you should definitely look into the book; she was his cousin and they grew up hearing Nurse Matilda stories together.
And speaking of Ardizzone, have you ever read his Little Tim picture books? They are great! The first one is Little Tim and the brave sea captain; lots of danger and ships and stuff. He wrote others too.
Now, we are going to eat dinner. Really we are.
Depends on what you mean by “book one.” Do you realize your stepping into a big controversy here? All seven are stand-alone stories, but I agree with the moajority opinion that has been expressed here and in other threads where the question has come up: read them in the order they were originally published (i.e. starting with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, not the chronological order. (Though The Magician’s Nephew happens first chronologically, it’s more satisfying if you’re already familiar with Narnia.)
This was the first thing I thought of, perhaps because I remember reading Oz books to my younger brothers when we were kids. If they like Wizard, you can keep going with the rest of the series.
Good one. I remember enjoying this one when my (I think) fourth grade teacher read it to the class.
Agreed. IIRC Nesbit was a big influence on C. S. Lewis when he wrote Narnia, though Nesbit’s children tend to have magical adventures in this world.
This is Book Five of the Chronicles of Prydain (which I see is also on your list). If you read these, do so in order—and they are very good. I’m familiar with some of the other books on your list, there aren’t any I’d veto, although Me and My Little Brain is best read after you’ve read one or more of the “Great Brain” books.
Yes, her Chronicles of Chrestomanci (of which this is one) are in the same vein as Harry Potter.
Yeah, but she did it first! (Some of her more devoted fans did quite a bit of muttering when HP came out; they felt it was too familiar. However, it’s not like ‘young boy discovers magical talents’ is a new storyline invention.)
Quickie comments on some of the books on your list
blyton titles – fun as expected
Wind in the willows - I think I was traumatized by this as a child, but obviously a classic for a reason.
Swallows and Amazons - LOVE THIS SERIES but its not to everyone’s taste. You might want to read the first chapter and see if it bores you (lots and lots of details about camping and sailing, like details about all the different knots they learn) because if it does, reading the entire thing aloud might put you in an early grave.
Half Magic ( eager) - I almost put Time Garden by Eager on my list. These will go quick as read-alouds, but fun.
Belle Prater’s boy (white) - my gut reaction is that this is a little above your kids’ interest level, given their ages. I really liked it, maybe in a few years.
Holes ( sachar) - I liked this very much, some parts might be a little scary.
A wrinkle in Time ( L’engle) – again, I think a little above age level unless your youngest is a sophisticated reader. Magic and stuff, but more philosophy and theory than Harry Potter and co.
Me and my little brain ( fitzgerald) – you don’t really have to read these in order, but this one is toward the end of the Great Brain series.
Great brain does it again – ditto
All of a kind family ( taylor) – very good, especially if your kids like “old-fashioned” stories.
Black Beauty ( Usborne version. very good for a nice condensed one, IMHO) Some of the condensed ones leave out the HIGHLY TRAUMATIZING horse death scene, hopefully this is one of them.
The egypt game ( snyder) Fun, light hearted, fluffy
Linnets and Valerians - oh my gosh, haven’t thought of this in YEARS, I remember loving it
from the mixed up files of basil frankenwiler - I could have sworn I put this on my list, good choice.
I have about 30 or more that are too old ( holocaust stories and WW2 or ww1 time period stories) and my daughter is trying to levitate the dog right now, so I am a little distracted. – I’m dying to know if Twenty and Ten (sometimes published with the title The Secret Cave) is one of your holocaust stories … it’s a good one and age appropriate (and not scary).
How are things going with your dog? 
Almost forgot: Danny, Champion of the World and Rascal are both books that virtually every boy I’ve ever given them to have loved.
I second Watership Down. If they like it, you can pick up Tales From Watership Down, which is a collection of short stories and rabbit myths.
Charlotte’s Web
Alice in Wonderland
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (skip the latin fish classification paragraphs)
The BFG (or almost anything else by Roald Dahl)
Good old Grimm’s fairy tales.
D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths. I loved the pictures in this one when I was a kid. I see they have a Norse book, too; gotta love those Vikings.
Perhaps Freddy the Pig will come around and recommend the books about himself. (If he doesn’t, I will.)
Shirley you realize that your kids are just going to have to stay 8 and 6 long enough for you to read all these books to them!
I manage the children’s section of the bookshop where I work, and I’m mentally scanning the shelves as I type…
Roald Dahl is awalys good - I loved him when I was a kid. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory might be good, or Matilda. Someone’s already mentioned Danny, Champion of the World and if they like that you might want to follow it up with his two autobiographies - Boy and Flying Solo.
Zizou Corder’s Lionboy trilogy is fantastic- set in a carless future, a boy who can talk Cat has to join up with a floating circus to try and rescue his parents, who might have invented a cure for asthma and return his new leonine friends to their homelands in Kenya. If they sat through and enjoyed Harry Potter, they should have no problem with this.
I’ve just read (in the interests of good customer service, of course :D) Odo Hirsh’s Hazel Green books. They’re quirky and fun, but I prefer his Bartlett books - an intrepid explorer and a taciturn strongman go on a variety of adventures. They’re short, but lots of fun.
Ooh, has anybody mentioned the Green Knowe books by L. M. Boston?
Of course, not all of those were classics, in the traditional sense of the word… so I also reccomend Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and the early Chalet School books, by Eleanor M. Brent-Dyer. (There are roughly one million billion of these in the series; the first few are easy to find)
Slightly on-topic (mildly embarrassing) hijack:
DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, READ THEM CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR!
I read this book at about 8 - and I was terrified of the Vermicious Knids. I mean nightmare terrified. I mean cold sweat, hide-under-the-bed terrified. The kind of terror that slips up your spine and paralyzes your entire body with fear!
(Actually, now that I look back, it’s probably better to be scared of Vermicious Knids than terrorism or nuclear proliferation or something like that. They’re like big liquid Hershey Kisses really.)
But I’m warning you: Read this book to them at your own peril!!! BEWARE I SAY!
End slight on-topic (mildly embarrassing) hijack.
I feel better now. The Doctor
I say, Shirley - you’re not a chap, are you?!
As a guy with pretty much all the Redwall books, I heartily recommend them. Bear in mind that there’s occasional death, though.
My Goodness, these kids are going to be well read! Or well read-to) .
I have only one to add. Just So Stories by Kipling. A book of short stories about animals. Fun to do.
If you like Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons then try some of the others in the series - my seven year old LOVED them and we have read them all a few times each.
I like Winter Holiday, Swallowdale and Secret Water but there are a few more if you can find them.
I want to add a series of books I’d read to The Monster: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patrcia C. Wrede. Great fun. Begins with Dealing with Dragons, where a Princess of a most proper kingdom decides that being a proper princess is far too much strain - so she runs off to become a dragon’s princess, instead.
I came in to suggest things by Diana Wynne Jones - *Lives of Christopher Chant, Charmed Life, Witch Week[/] (maybe hold off on The Magicians of Caprona for now, but it might be fine, and a lot of the other things that she’s written) - but since they were already mentioned, maybe The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye - it doesn’t have the magical element, but it’s a delightful story. It’s girlier than some, so your daughter may like it better than your son. Maybe something to read with just her if you can do that?
Also, maybe the Children of the Lamp books - there are only 2 out so far, the Akhenaten Adventure and The Blue Djinn of Babylon - they’re about a set of twins who find out they’re Djinn. Not high literature by any means, but they’re fun.
I guess I’m late to the party! You guys seem to have it all covered here, but I do have one recommendation that hasn’t been mentioned yet: The Tripod books by John Christopher.
I actually have a couple of others in mind which I can’t quite grasp. I’ll have to go home and look on the bookshelves.
For a six-year-old? What kind of evil sadist are you?
Seriously, Watership Down is one of my all-tie favorite books, but many animals are killed over the course of the book, often in fairly gruesome fashions. There’s a death cult in the book There are prophetic nightmares of genocide in the book. You do NOT want to read this book to a six-year-old; I’d hesitate before giving it to a nine-year-old to read.
Lloyd Alexander, though, is brilliant: I envy your reading of The Prydain Chronicles for the first time. Roald Dahl is also wonderful.
If you’d like something slightly less fantasy-oriented, consider Maniac Magee, a Newberry-winning book that touches on homelessness, race relations, and other issues in a light, entertaining fashion. There’s also The Watsons Go to Birmingham, a book about an African American family that travels from somewhere up north (Chicago, maybe?) to Birmingham during the mid-sixties, and somehow manages to make it a funny, charming book that is nowhere near as grim as it sounds from the plot synopsis.
Daniel