In which Annie (high school teacher, mother of two young girls and a younger boy) and her aunt Deborah (children's bookseller, mother of two young women in their 20s) discuss children's books and come up with annotated lists.

Lots of ages

Activity books:
Sticker books
and more sticker books

Audio books (and see our Audio Books page for more):
Ramona series, by Beverly Cleary (read by Stockard Channing)
Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling (read by Jim Dale)
Selected Shorts

Chapter books:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis 
More Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame 
The Serpent Slayer, by Katrin Tchana, illus. Trina Schart Hyman
The Doctor Dolittle books, by Hugh Lofting
Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling
The Little House books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder: 
Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer BoyLittle House on the PrairieThe Long Winter

Comics:
Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson
Fox Trot, by Bill Amend
The Far Side, by Gary Larson
Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
Cul de Sac, by Richard Thompson
Doonesbury, by G.B. Trudeau

Graphic Novels:
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan
With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child
Bone
Pogo

Historical visuals:
A Street Through Time, by Anne Millard, ill. by Steve Noon

Holidays:
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story, by Lemony Snicket
1939 Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg
Spot's First Christmas
Babar and Father Christmas
Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry
Jingle Bugs
The Story of Christmas, illustrated by Jane Ray
A Christmas Story, by Mary Chalmers
The Story of Holly and Ivy, By Rumer Godden, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, by DuBose Heyward 
The Third Gift, by Linda Sue Park

Humor:
My Life and Hard Times, by James Thurber
The Hole Book, by Peter Newell 
archy and mehitabel, by Don Marquis 
The Peterkin Papers, by Lucretia P. Hale

Music:
Mozart's Magic Fantasy
Beethoven Lives Upstairs
Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery
Peter and the Wolf (Jim Dale)
Peter and the Wolf (Leonard Bernstein)
Peter and the Wolf by Peter Malone
Tubby the Tuba, by Paul Tripp

Mythology:
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, by Ingri and Edgar Parrin D'Aulaire
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
Odd and the Frost Giants

Poetic Bible stories:
How God Fix Jonah, by Lorenz Graham

Schoolyard Rhymes:
I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book, ed. Iona and Peter Opie, ill. Maurice Sendak

Songbooks:
Getting to Know You!: Rogers and Hammerstein Favorites, ill. Rosemary Wells