What is your favorite child's book?

[consortium11]

The first book I distinctly remember is The Skylighters by Graeme Garden. My parents took me to story hour at the local library when I was young and this illustrated book... about a small group of people who paint the sky (thus giving us sunsets etc etc)... has stuck in the mind ever since; to the extent that when I do see a dramatic sky I'll inveriably mention that "the Skylighters have been out...". I can't recommend this enough for smaller children.

The first series I really got into was the Tim and Tobias (also known as Tim and the Hidden People). This was a series designed to help children read and aimed at 4-7 year olds (although with a few novellas aimed more at age 9-11) which I was exposed to at school. I starts at a very basic level with simple stories (a little boy comes across a magic cat that allows him to see a hidden race of magical creatures) but both the stories and writing became a lot deeper and more complex as the series progressed. Another high recommendation as a series to help children read.

The defining series of my childhood was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques (RIP). A series of books aimed at slightly older children they are essentially heroic/high fantasy with the "good" races (i.e Humans, elves, dwarfs) being replaced with cute British woodland creatures (mainly mice but also otters, hares and moles etc) while the "evil" races (Orcs, goblins, trolls etc) replaced with vermin (Stoats, rats, foxes etc) based around an abbey known as Redwall. The books are near perfectly written for the type and age aimed at and while the stories can get a little repetitive that's to be expected for such a long series. Two of the books (Salamandastron about a siege of a badger fortress and The Bellmaker about a group of Redwall residents going to free a land from an usurper) are still high on my list of the favourite novels I've ever read... although I haven't looked at them in years which may mean that they don't hold up. Despite that I literally cannot recommend any of this series highly enough.

[Oniya]

Redwall has the enviable distinction of being good for a wide variety of ages.  I read some of them to the little Oni, and never felt like I was reading a 'children's' book.

[Phoenixrisen]

My favorite would have to be a story called "Kitten's First Moon" it's really cute. The little kitten thinks it's a saucer of milk...

[Lady of the Snow]

When I was young, I remember reading this one story that was part of a collection. It really bothers me that I don't remember the title at all, but it was a story about a demon in Hell who wants to be good, and thus escapes to the real world. He's feared by everyone around him, since he's a demon, but he finally manages to ask people and go to a local church. The pastor tells him that the matter of making a demon into a good being is beyond his help, and refers him to the Pope (this story takes place in Europe btw). The demon goes to the Pope, who tells him that it's a matter that only God can handle. So the demon speaks to God, and angels come down and get him, and judge him to be a good person, and file off his horns and give him a halo. A bunch of kids in Heaven make fun of him, but then the angels are like "Everyone's different. STFU" (not quite like that, but you get the idea).
Even though I'm not religious at all, I remember really liking this story. I just wish I knew its name. All I know is that it was a French story.

[Major Major]

For me, there was only one series that cut the mustard. The charming works from a railway-mad English Vicar named the Reverand Wilbert Vere Awdry.

The series needs no further introduction, beyond one sentence:

The Railway Series, home of Thomas the Tank Engine.

[little princess]

green eggs and ham
little match girl

[Malefique]

Dr Xargle's Book of Earthlets - funny as hell.  The Narnia books.  Paul Berna's A Hundred Million Francs, best kid's thriller ever.  Asterix the Gaul.  The Earthsea trilogy.  Dr Seuss, naturally, but also Hairy Maclary and Eleanor Farjeon's Cats Sleep Anywhere.  And one of the Swallows and Amazons books, Winter Holiday.  Oh, and all LM Boston's Green Knowe stories.   

[Beguile's Mistress]

My favorite book as a child was The Velveteen Rabbit.  I read it at least once a month for three years until my mother took it away from me.

[Oreo]

I got down to the last one and, how cute. MissTressy likes my favorite too, 'The Velveteen Rabbit'. After that it had to be 'Green Eggs and Ham'.