I grew up reading Encyclopedia Brown but it was too dated by the time my kids came along.
I then moved into science fiction most of which I probably wasn’t really understanding but still enjoyed?
I should probably add The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum to my list.
Anybody remember Betty MacDonald’s Mrs Piggle-Wiggle books?
I always dug the Dorrie books by Patricia Coombs, about a little witch’s adventures.
I also checked Ghosts and More Ghosts out of the public library over and over again. It’s by Robert Arthur, who also wrote the Three Investigators series.
Plus the John Bellairs books, especially the Lewis Barnavelt books, as mentioned by @kitap. I always gravitated toward the spooky stuff.
I was going to mention the Bunnicula books by James and Deborah Howe, but they came long after my childhood. I have read some, though, and they’re quite funny.
I do. The first one especially was wonderful. I liked the ones with magical cures somewhat less. But that may have been just me.
More picture books:
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. All the Pigeon books are funny and my kids have loved them.
Also, the book I buy for all children. You can read it to them one time, and they’ll turn around and be ready to “read” it right back to you.
Go Away, Big Green Monster, by Ed Emberly.
My grandson and I have spent a lot of time lately with the Pigeon, both him reading to me and me reading to him at bedtime. We both enjoy them very much. Willems is able to convey a great deal of emotion with his drawings, and it’s fun for both of us to speak in an appropriate pigeon voice when reading the dialogue. “Fine.”
@DSeid, he just now finished reading Stellaluna to me and I can see why it appealed to you. We adopted my daughter (his mom) and found the same sort of value in Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss for her. It’s about adoption and yet not about adoption, and it absolutely spoke to her when she was young.
Are you familiar with the (not-kids’) book The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett?
I’m making my way through it right now and enjoying it. It’s sort of based on the works of a fictional British author named Edith Twyford, who is a very thinly disguised version of Enid Blyton. I would probably enjoy it more if I were familiar with the original books, but I don’t believe they were popular in the US, so I wasn’t.
Not generally a fan of puzzle books, and also epistolary novels, so I doubt I’d be into it from what I’ve read about it.
Fair enough, just thought I’d suggest it given the Blyton connection.
Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale. The classic “Roll Over, Roll Over” rhyme, but with some of the cutest illustrations I know.
Somebody said LoTR is for adults, but my under-10 kids are enjoying it just fine. They insisted we read them after we read The Hobbit. It’s elegantly written, but they rarely have to ask me to define anything. I’m certainly enjoying them too, never having read them before, so definitely a story with broad appeal.
Came in here to put this one up - remember it dearly from grade school 45+ years ago.
I don’t know why I forgot the Pigeon books. My older students still like to revisit them.
I read the Hobbit when I was somewhere around 8, and Shelob freaked me the hell out. I wouldn’t come near that book again until I read LOTR, which was when I was in my mid-teens. After finishing LOTR I went back to Hobbit and didn’t find it nearly as scary at about twice the age.
Kids vary a lot.
And what suits a 3 year old, a 7 year old, and a 12 year old may be three very different sorts of things. But I’ll turn it around: Most or maybe all really good childrens’ books are also worth reading by adults.
Unfortunately, I remember only two stories: the one with the kid who wouldn’t wash, and the one with the kid who wouldn’t clean his room.
We had a lot of Little Golden books. The Little Red Hen and The Poky Little Puppy come immediately to mind.
There was also a cute little book called Socks for Supper that I loved.
I would happily re-read all of the books I’ve listed, and I just turned 69. I hope to get a complete set of The Mad Scientists’ Club books before I finally croak.
I read When the Legends Die when I was in high school and loved it. I don’t know if younger kids would like it.
I think the first book I ever read was The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane. I would give anything to have a copy I could pass down to my future grandchildren.
I also wish I could get a copy of Cinnabar, the One O’Clock Fox so I could at least play the sheet music of the song inside it.
Yes, and altho I think the LotR is fantastic, is it really a children’s book?
My wife loves that series.
The film is also very good.
Same here.
Yes to the second, and altho A Wrinkle in Time is great, the sequels kinda sucked.
Great series- there are five altogether. Still good as an adult.
Yes! And he wrote quite a few sequels and several other similar books. A little scary, but the “good guys” win in the end. Still readable for adults.
The film is very decent. Why they couldn’t have chosen a chubby kid for Louis annoyed me, tho.
Fantastic!
The Tiffany Aching series also, along with The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents - all great for adults.
Shelob isnt in the Hobbit, she is in LotR- perhaps you mean the spiders in the forest?
I need to add-
Half Magic and other books by Edgar Eager.
The Borrowers. (I like to go back and re-read much loved series from when I was a kid, but these didnt hold up for my adult self)
The Phoenix and the Carpet and others by Edith Nesbit.
I mean, you know this board’s demographics.
But alas not even a mention of Ezra Jack Keats for the “old” folks.
See post #24. 
There’s a link to the series there. I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers them.