I’ve enjoyed reading the “Stick Dog” series by Tom Watson to my kids (and the sister series "Stick Cat). They’re formulaic, which sorta adds to the charm, funny and easy to read out loud. My kids have loved them too.
Between my son and daughter, i think i read Goodnight Moon every night for five years. Oddly, i never got sick of it.
I miss the tales of the Grimm’s Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen’s complete tales, Bambi, Maya the Bee, Struwwelpeter, Max und Moritz. Still found a couple to vote for.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins, a chapter book about a house painter who dreams of exploring the South Pole, and becomes the owner of a penguin. And then another. And then another, etc.
Oh, I gotta be the same tiresome dude I always am:
-Where are the books from the 21st century? You’ve got books from the 19th century, but AFAICT none from the last 25 years.
-Where are the authors of color? You’ve got one book that makes multiple use of the n-word (Hi, Peter Pan!), but AFAICT no authors that aren’t White.
So here are some add-ons:
-Sal and Gabi Break the Universe: I’ve been trumpeting this book to anyone who will listen for the past five years. It’s phenomenal–funny, smart, heartbreaking, twisty, playful with language, emotionally resonant, weirdly utopian (not only that, weirdly middle school utopian). So, so, so good. Everyone should read it, even if you don’t normally read kidlit. It’s that good.
-Bud, Not Buddy is 1999, so barely misses the millennium cutoff. But it’s a story of a Black boy who escapes from an orphanage in 1939 to find his missing father, and runs into all sorts of trouble including abusive foster families and near run-ins with cops, and it manages through all that to be funny as hell. It’s got what’s possibly the funniest scene I’ve ever read in any book ever, and if you’ve read the book, you know exactly what scene I’m talking about. It’s gorgeous.
-One Crazy Summer: speaking of historical novels that are way funnier than they have any right to be, how about this one of three sisters who travel to Oakland in 1968 to meet up with the mom who abandoned them, and she’s still super neglectful, so they go to the Black Panthers summer camp all day. It sure doesn’t sound like a blast, but it’s a blast.
-Coming on Home Soon: at the other end of the spectrum, sorta, is this Caldecott Honor book from 2004, about a girl during WWII whose mother goes to the big city to work. The girl misses her mom, and then a kitten shows up, and every goddamn time that goddamn kitten shows up I burst into tears. It’s not remotely funny, but it’s incredibly moving.
Even though I’d seen the movie a bazillion times, I didn’t actually read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz until I was an adult (like 10 years ago). I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I’ve got really fond memories of a number of the books listed – but while I’m still fond of them, I wouldn’t read or give some of them to a child now without a whole lot of explanation. (No, it’s not a nice romantic story to get married at 13 to a man who threatens you if he thinks you’ve expressed interest in somebody else!)
And some of the books I really think well of, though they’re considered children’s books, I didn’t read till I was an adult. And even some of those have bits that need to come with an explanation.
This is more obscure than you might think. I routinely use the phrase “he’s really Mike Mulligan’ed himself into that situation” (or some variation), and need to explain it most of the time. I refuse to admit my usage itself is the problem…
I think with a lot of these, audience age is pretty important. My 7 year will say “Harry Potter”. My 5 year old would say “Little House on the Prairie”. My 2 year old would vote for “anything by Julia Donaldson” or “any of the ‘Little Blue Truck’ books”.
A classic children’s picture book to add: The Story of Ferdinand. My brother and I always cracked up at that one picture of his face when he sits on the bee.
Soon to be a major motion picture, WTF?