Seems strangely appropriate (only one person gets ?+1, and it's not Madeline L'engle. ) I strongly recommend the whole series (well, the ones with those characters; technically she linked all of her fiction books, and the others generally lack the SF/Fantasy element, so while I can't say they're bad, I can't really say they're good, 'cos I was just looking for SF/Fantasy, though I didn't really know what the latter was at the time. )

Since I was just discussing it on Skype chat earlier, The Velveteen Rabbit, which I only today realized I may have imprinted on heavily (or, more likely, was simply predisposed; I think I'd already formed my belief that people are the only real and lasting part of the world, the most valuable part. )

The night before I started first grade I first read Tom Sawyer, and until around the time I graduated HS I ritually read it twice and Huck Finn once every summer (Huck may be more literary, but Tom is better kids reading, IMHO. ) Most Twain, in fact, from Connecticut Yankee to Calaveras County (though The Gilded Age is hardly kids reading. )

I still like the Uncle Remus stories, but perhaps they aren't PC anymore.

Bulfinchs Age of Fable is quite good, though it may have to wait until he's a little older (certainly the end note quotations from Milton and Virgil will be lost on most kids until near their teen years or later. ) Aesop is still good for kids on many levels, and I believe they're in the Age of Fable; Bulfinch also wrote (generally considered lesser quality) works entitled The Age of Chivalry (Arthurian) and The Age of Charlemagne.

I can't recommend specific versions like Bulfinchs mythological compendium, but some classics are considered such for a reason; Robin Hood is still good (though happy endings may be hard to find. ) Obviously The Hobbit, though probably not the Trilogy until older. Pooh, naturally.

Xanth books are good, at least the first couple dozen; after that it seems like Anthony's just re-writing the last one over and over again. But they're light, and they're fun, which I can also say of Robert Asprins Myth series.

I don't know if they still put out those kinds of things, but some of the books I read and re-read most often as a kid were massive, almost encyclopedic collections of short stories and excerpts numbering a dozen volumes or so. Each offering was topically grouped, historical narratives of famous people, myths and legends, sports, outdoors, etc. The two I have in mind are titled (since we still have them ) "The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls" published by The University Society, Inc. (c) 1958 and Grolier's "The Children's Hour" (the last volume of which is SF, and has the excerpt from A Wrinkle in Time that steered me toward that. ) Both of them also had a volume devoted to games, activities and crafts for kids, as well as a final volume with a parents guide and index. And I MAY have read the old Nancy Drew books, idly wondering how even a successful lawyer like Carson Drew managed to buy his kid a new roadster every few years during the Depression, but if it's ever repeated I WILL deny it. ' />

That's all I can come up with off the top of my sleepyhead and without checking other lists.