In the July 5 edition of the Sunday New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof wrote an editorial entitled "The Best Kids' Books Ever."  It's worth checking out. I'm sure you can find it on line or find someone who has a copy. For those of you that want the shortened version, here is his list, "in ascending order of difficulty" and he says that he "can vouch that these are also great to read aloud."
1. Charlotte's Web
2. The Hardy Boys series (with a note that Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor loved the Nancy Drew books- as did I.)
3. Wind in the Willows
4. The Freddy the Pig series (except the first one)
5.  The Alex Rider series
6.  The Harry Potter series
7. Gentle Ben
8. Anne of Green Gables
9.  The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
10. Little Lord Fauntleroy
11.  On to Oregon
12. The Prince and the Pauper
13. Lad, a Dog, which he says "is simply the best book ever about a pet, a collie. This is to "Lassie" what Shakespeare is to Cliffs-Notes. The book was published 90 years ago, and readers are still visiting Lad's real grave in New Jersey- plus , this is a book so full of SAT words it could put Stanley Kaplan out of business." I'm shameless to include that statement, but anything to get kids reading- even if it's parents dragging them through this book for ulterior reasons. It also probably means the book is unavailable by now!

 
Enjoy summer.
All the best. See you soon.
Sincerely,
Colleen Filler