The Magic School Bus series was written by Joanna Cole, I believe.
A couple of others while I’m thinking of it (although the selections above are wonderful)
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Redwall by Brian Jacques (and his others as well)
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books - Betty MacDonald
The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare (This was one of the ones that got me interested in early American history, btw. The Bronze Bow is excellent, too.)
Pippi Longstocking was fun, too. 
Most of the above plus,
Any of Dick King Smiths’ books. He wrote Babe, (That the film is based on) but not Babe II (which was bad)
Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Secret Seven books.
Harry Potter
I LOVED Beverly Cleary when I was little. I still have all of her children books, from the entire Henry Huggins series to the Ramona series and more. I also like Ottis Spofford and Muggy Maggie. Didn’t Beverly Cleary write a new Ramona sequel with Ramona a bit older with her little sister, Roberta? I would love to see Roberta acting like the same little terror that Ramona was when she was five and terrorizing Beezus. Ramona Forever was the best in the series, although Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was very good as well.
The Babysitter Club (although is this a children’s book or young adult?). I still have all the books that I managedt to college. I think I stopped near #100, where Kristy closes BSC for a little while. My favorite character was always Kristy, but I also liked Claudia because of her uniqueness and all the candy she had stashed in her room.
Goosebumps: For me they were a short read, but I still loved them. My favorite was Say Cheese and Die.
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. Just read it. Trust me.
Eleanor Cameron’s series on Mr. Bass and the Mushroom planet. “WANTED (read the small notice, printed - oddly - in green): A small space ship, about eight feet long,built by a boy, or by two boys, between the ages of eight and eleven…”
Walter R. Brooks and his books on Freddy the pig and his friends. The paragon of porkers.
John R. Tunis’s sports novels. “The best I had today was my outfield, and that kid from Tompkinsville.”
(I never thought I would be using “Laura Ingalls Wilder” and “kick ass!” in the same sentence, but…)
Laura Ingalls Wilder books kick ass! I reread “Little House in the Big Woods” and “Little House on the Prairie” a few weeks ago when I was laid up after getting my wisdom teeth pulled, and I still enjoy the hell out of them.
I love the “Ramona” books and everything else by Beverly Cleary. “Socks” is particularly special to me because we named our old cat after the one in the book.
Let’s see… I was also into “Harriet the Spy” (raise your hands, people who read this book and then started a spy notebook of their own!), “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”, “Number the Stars”, Nancy Drew books, “Where the Red Fern Grows” (it made me sob too, Atreyu), Roald Dahl books, “The Cay” and the “Teetoncey” series by Theodore Taylor…
My kids are toddlers, so I’ve been reading a lot of toddler books lately. For kids that age, nothing beats Dr. Seuss.
I’ve also discovered the joys of Sandra Boynton’s board books. Dinosaur’s Binkit and Barnyard Dance! are the current faves here.
As a young girl, I myself devoured Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Judy Blume. Two other favorites, and I cannot remember the author, were Summer of my German Soldier and it’s sequel Morning is a Long Time Coming.
The Hardy Boys, but the earlier unabridged editions before they were mercilessly rewritten and hacked to pieces in the 60s.
Tom Swift, Jr
The Alvin Fernald books by Clifford B Hicks
The Three Invesigators
Brains Benton
Sir Rhosis
The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald
The Three Investigators series by various authors
the Trixie Belden series by various authors
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Mouse and the Motorcycle and Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary
Jenny and the Cat Club (can’t remember author)
Harry Potter series (of course!)
Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol
I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier
King of the Dollhouse (can’t remember author)
I did. It never took off and I only wrote a few things, but I did start one.
Another vote for Daniel M. Pinkwater .,… my own personal favorite being Young Adult Novel. Possibly the only Dadaist book written for young people.
I ran out and bought copies of these while my kid was still in utero: Make Room for Ducklings
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden Of Verses
The Velveteen Rabbit
Where the Wild Things Are
The only one I really want that I can’t find is Ogdan Nash’s Custard the Dragon.
Drummer Hoff and Arrow to the Sun are fantastic for younger kids. Another one, The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye was great-geared toward the 6-8 year old girl.
For older kids(girls mainly), Tamora Pierce’s Lioness, Wild Magic, and Protector of the Small quartets are fantastic-there are some strong women in those books, doing what they want to do, rather than what’s expected of them.
(had to head over to the AFPL website to search for a particular book series) Crystal Thrasher’s books about a girl during the Depression: The Dark Didn’t Catch Me, Between Dark and Daylight, A Taste of Daylight, and End of a Dark Road snagged my attention and wouldn’t let go. They can be depressing, and a bit dark, but I read them over and over again when I was in about 8th grade.
I’m sure I will think of many more-but that’s what I know of right now. I love kids’ books.
Wow, you all have managed to come up with many of my favorite children’s books (as well as some I haven’t read but perhaps will someday.)
Does anyone remember an illustrated book called (I think) “Best Friends”? It had bright drawings (watercolor, I think) and it was about a pig, a mouse (or rat?) and a rooster. They had a bicycle they rode together. I thiink the pig and the Rooster did the peddles while the mouse steered. It was some combination like that. Do you know where I can find it? And perhaps purchase it. It was my sister’s favorite book.
Oh, I loved the Great Brain books, too! Lloyd Alexander is also an absolutely magical, marvelous children’s writer. He’s most famous for The Prydain Chronicles, but my favorite of his is The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastion.
How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen and A Near Thing for Captain Najork by Russell Hoban (with fantastic watercolour illustrations by Quentin Blake). Actually, anything by Russell Hoban is good: adults, check out his Riddley Walker.
As far as classics go, I’d recommend The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
One of my all-time favorite books is ‘Monster at the End of this Book’ by lovable furry old Grover. It’s a good way to introduce small children to the wonders of post-modernism.
Classic: The Wind in the Willows.
Modern: Pish Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch, by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Great for just introducing the name to kids. The illustrations are really good kid-level versions of Bosch. They’ve also done a version of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with a girl in the title role. The Dillons did a couple of book covers for Harlan Ellison, such as the first paperback version of “The Essential Ellison”, where the cover is a surreal portrait composed of landscape elements and miniature people.
On my list of books to buy if I happen to think of them when in a bookstore is “Dominic” by William Steig. I read it when I was 10, and cried when I finished it. Not because the ending was sad, but because the book was over. No-one has yet mentioned the “Dark is Rising” sequence by Susan Cooper. Truly some of the freakiest books I’ve ever read. Really jump-started my interest in fantasy subjects.
My all time favorite, no question in my mind is ** ELOISE** by Kat Thompson. “I am ELOISE. And I am 6.” My mom loved that book and passed it on to my sisters and I. We are rabidly loyal to it as the greatest children’s book ever written.
However, mad props go out to ** Where the Wild Things Are**. Ever notice that the pictures get progressively larger until the Wild Rumpus, then then get smaller again until “And it was still hot.” ? I had a psych professor who was very into archetypal symbols and used Wild Things [id vs. superego] and Harold and the Purple crayon [moon=mother, the story is representative of a toddler becoming independant of thier mother…] pretty wild stuff.