I’m reading James Herriot’s *All Creatures Great and Small *series to my sons, ages 11 and 7 (and to my husband). We’re almost at the end of All Things Wise and Wonderful, where Herriot has been disqualified as a pilot and is waiting to be released from the RAF. It makes great bedtime reading, because most of the chapters are an independent story.
My older son loves The Hobbit - I read it out loud to him twice, and he’s read it once on his own.
Oh my God, I can’t believe I haven’t done this! These were some of my favorite books and I haven’t read them in years. If I have time, I’m going to dig them out and start them with my son tonight.
I’ll warn you; you end up explaining a bit about cow obstetrics. “Where exactly is he inserting his arm?”
I can’t wait. 
My two-month old and I are about 2/3 of the way through Where the Sidewalk Ends. The first few weeks we read Baby411 together to learn about colic, crying, hiccups, tooting, crying, soy formula, eyesight, crying, sleeping, burping, etc.
Next up: the Owen and Mzee book about the little hippo found alone after the tsunami a couple years ago and befriended by a crabby old turtle.
Goodnight Moon. Every night, she rushes over, plucks it off her bookshelf, and hands it to me – “Moon, daddy, Moon!”
You’d think I’d be sick of it, but really, I’m not. She loves it, and I love her reactions to it (especially the way she puts her finger to her mouth for …the quiet old lady who was whispering “Hussssssh…”).
My kids (girl:11, boy:8) are both quite into humorous poetry at the moment, so it’s Edward Lear, plus a few assorted books of funny verse whose authors are either various, anonymous or I can’t remember.
Aah, yes - Schnitzel Von Krumm is a particular favourite here…
The current favourite (and has been since Christmas) is George and the Dragon accompanied by appropriate actions and sound effects. He always asks me to read George and loves pretending to be the dragon then listing off all the treats George gets from the princess for saving her. (He’s 3.5)
This thread makes me so nostalgic for when my teenager was little. The “Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle” books are hilarious when read aloud.
And for those who like sheep books, don’t forget “Sheep in a Jeep”
Currently in heavy rotation:
There’s a Monster at the End of this Book
Sneetches and Other Stories
Little Toot
The Little Engine that Could
Green Eggs and Ham
Llama, Llama, Red Pajama
You know what’s worse than reading the same Dr. Seuss book over and over again? Listening to your beginning-to-read child read the book to you, over and over again. It’s Dr. Seuss in slow motion.
My daughter’s not quite two. Current favorites:
In the Night Kitchen
The Lorax – she’s taken to saying “miff muffered moof” at random moments when we’re not reading
Ms. Rubinstein’s Beauty, by Pep Montserrat
Richard Scarry’s Best First Book Ever
Elephant Elephant: A Book of Opposites, by Francesco Pittau & Bernadette Gervais
She usually asks for 2-3 books a night before bed, and we go through a lot. Gotta love the library.
I’ll have to look up the Gruffalo – sounds great.
My daughter is 4.5 months old. I’ve been reading her ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking.
The boys (8 and 6) and I are currently finishing The High King (Book 5 of The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander. It is the 6 y.o’s choice for the next book/series and it looks like we’ll be starting The Indian In The Cupboard.
To themselves, the older one is on Harry Potter 1 and the younger is reading Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing (he fancies himself as Fudge and his older brother as “Pee-tah”).
I LOVED this book–but it gave me a lifelong fear of firecrackers.
We’re reading the Little House books to our 5-year old son (I started with Farmer Boy and now we’re reading Little House in the Big Woods). We’re also reading him Pooh; he’s only recently gotten the attention span for those stories. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He loves the Magic School Bus chapter books (SCIENCE! the chapter books are much better than the crappy short books based on the TV series), the Magic Tree House books (History!), and Jigsaw Jones (Mystery!)
Our 3-year old son likes Curious George, Library Lion, Click Clack Moo (Cows That Type), the How Does a Dinosaur Learn To . . . series, a new awesome book he got for his birthday–You Can Do Anything Daddy (“Daddy, would you save me from robot gorilla pirates from Mars?” “Certainly, son.” fantastic book), Eloise, Madeline, and the painfully tiresome, my-god-make-it-stop, What Do People Do All Day, by Richard Scarry. SAVE MY HUCKLE! I’m thinking of hiding it. In a cave. In the Himalayas.
I never got sick of rereading Goodnight Moon, most Seuss and the Dav Pilkey dragon books (as well as Frog and Toad) to my kids.
Books I could barely get through once–like Little Women, DragonRider; Eragon; Big Red (which I had loved as a kid-oh, well) and who knows what else.
Other favorites: The Phantom Tollbooth; A Little Princess; The Secret Garden; The Wolves of Willoughby Chase; the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and many more…
I loved Follow My Leader–I credit that book with stimulating empathic thought for me (I had never thought of how the guy who caused the blindness must have felt).
Great book.
Oh, and this: I hate Richard Scary with the intensity of ten thousand suns. I find him misogynist, conservative in the worst ways; and boring. I would never think of prohibiting someone else from reading his books, but I have been tempted more than once to burn ours. <shudders>
I highly recommend any of the Mr. Lunch books, especially Mr. Lunch Borrows a Canoe.
Well, he did have to help me with some of the longer words.