Stardust is great...it was originally done as a storybook with pictures..but those editions are usually hard to find around here.

Where the Wild Things are...

I read it all the time as a child..... and it was the first book I bought for my son after he was born :) Just something about the simplicity of that fantasy...

'do not go, we'll eat you up, we love you so' :p Great book Jenna!

Any of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, the Judy Blume books, Animal Farm, Tolkien . . . :)

Maybe a bit old for the range you're looking for . . .

I love this thread ... whenever one of my friends or family has a baby, I skip on buying baby clothes or such .... instead I buy 3 great kids books ... the 2 I mentioned usually and another one ... but not having kids, I don't always know what to get as the third book .... so this is great to see all the other possibilities!!! thanks Lil!

where the wild things are , a light in the attic (shel silverstien ) and my all time fave is the narnia series by cs lewis now thats a great series, i still read it
~nikki~

Steph~ I am looking for all types of kids books! (gonna teach K-12th grade) Judy Blume got me through puberty:D

fzzy~ I do too. There are some excellent books that can even be specific for the way a child comes in to a family. I bought a book for a couple who recently adopted a baby girl from China, My Chinese Mamma Loves Me So was excellent!!!

nikki~ I have never read The Chronicles of Narnia I really should!

I used to have the Donna Parker Mysteries series! Oh, I loved those books!

Nancy Drew was a close second for me.

Wish I still had Donna Parker!

My favorite book as a child(I'm amazed that I can remember back that far)was "Blaze and the Indian Cave"

BTW,,,,,,,,,,,Blaze was a Horse........I've always loved reading about animals !!!!!!!!!!!

I remember reading a Blaze story Slow Ride!!!

*LOL* I thought I was the only one that read it

Two of my all time favorite boks as a child were:
The Trumprt of The Swan by E.B. White
and The Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. In fact...I think I'm gonna read them again.....
Great Thread Lilith... I love that I'll Love You Forever Book too. I'll usually buy that for any of my expecting freinds.

~Eliza

"Bambi" was my childhood favorite and still at/near the top of the list. Some of the Dr. Seuss books now compete ... especially, "Green Eggs and Ham." :D

Paddington Bear by Michael Bond

Although I love to read, I can't recall any particular children's book that I had that I read more than once. I did enjoy the Mary Poppins books and the Dr. Doolittle books. There wasn't as much great children's literature "way back when." When I was in High school my very favorite book that we were required to read was Catcher in the Rye!! I enjoyed it so much I ended up reading the rest of J.D. Salinger's books.

When my kids were young I encouraged them to read and out of three boys, two are voracious readers. The other is my sports nut and never has read as much as I would have liked him to.

When they were still of an age where "Mommy" had to read to them we enjoyed, Are You My Mother?, Because a Little Bug Went Kerchoo, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, Where the Wild Things Are, There's a Monster at the End of This Book.

My oldest son especially liked Chronicals of Narnia, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. He also loved The Hardy Boys, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madelyn L'Engle.

My middle son read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl until the book fell apart. He also loved Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and Superfudge, Bunnicula, The Celery Stalks at Midnight, Howliday Inn, How to Eat Fried Worms, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day, James and the Giant Peach, anything and everything by Shel Silverstein. He also loved Richard Scary's Best Word Book Ever.

Cabrylla suggests Charlotte's Web, Red Badge of Courage, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Where the Red Fern Grows,and Witch of Blackbird Pond.

Hope I haven't given too many suggestions.