Good books for the whole family...

mine are 6,8, and 12 and we're reading David Eddings "pawn of prophecy" and they are loving it, they actually ASK me to read it to them. the onlt down side is that there are 12 or 13 books in all and they're all 300 pages.

Thanks so much for the ideas...my son and I have already the Chronicles of Narnia but I will check into the others....I love the Charlotte's Web idea too....thanks again!!!

Ooh yeah, ditto Charlotte's Web, Roald Dahl and Chronicles of Narnia. Great books!

My daughter loves mysteries so we read Nancy Drew alot. She likes the originals but they also have others when Nancy is younger called Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew. Maybe the Hardy Boys or The Magic Treehouse books. I don't know if those would work for both of your kids or not.

 i second the chronicles of narnia. also reccomend the Whipping boy, the lame little prince, Red Wall,  and The Hobbit.  ohh dont forget Howls moving castle. that one even has an anime movie.

right now my nephew cant stop raving about the Beyonders. around here we can never go wrong with Pokemon. one of my sisters read the Percy Jackson and the lightenning thief books and said they were awesome (sort of like harry potter)

 depending on your child some fantasy novels more often thought to be for adults could be acceptable.  i reccomend David Eddings's series "The dreamers".  it's what i intend to read with my daughter and neice ( soon to be 6 & 8) over the summer. Though Eddings is usually considered an adult writer The dreamers has a simpler writing style, imagery that would be appealing to children and the "violence" is on the low end of PG and doesnt reach anywhere near what goes on in the last couple of harry potter books. it's very exciting for kids of all interests b/c you've got everthing from little girls being raised by pink dolphins to a diety riding a thunder bolt to get around to scurvy pirates.

also a good author to look into for kids is Peirs Anthony. for kids i highly reccomend "Geis of the Gargoygle."  about Gary Gar, a gargoygle who has faithfully stood his post at the mouth of a river for a LONG time, but now his river is dirty and he must change into human form to go and find a "Philter". Anthony is big on puns.

of course not all books by either of these authors is appropriate for kids, and just b/c i think it's ok for kids doesnt mean you will, so do a little research first.

Those are great ideas the others had. I loved all those when I was little. I remember we read and liked "Tales of a fourth grade nothing" and "Superfudge" when I was a kid too. I also remember liking "Freckle juice", "The mouse and the motorcyle", "Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of NIMH" (it wasn't until I became a scientist much later that I discovered that NIMH is actually the abbreviation for the "National Institute of Mental Health"), "The Indian in the Cupboard", "How to eat fried worms", "The Diamond in the Window" and "The Swing in the Summerhouse".

I have three kids (boys 7 and 6, and girl 4) and we are reading through Charlotte's Web now. They all seem to be really enjoying it.  We've also enjoyed the Magic Tree House books, and I think we'll go to Chronicles of Narnia, too, this summer.  Great question...looking forward to getting some good ideas here!!