I wish I had more specific ideas for the 5-year range. Mostly I used to read them Dr. Seuss (me trying to plow through "Fox in Socks" was a highlight of the day), and any number of Little Golden Books on various subjects. Possibilities are endless. Simple words, lots of pictures. Little kids like familiarity, and will be tickled pink to have the same book read to them a hundred times. Reading to your kid with them looking at the book with you is a BIG plus for them learning to read themselves.

I have lots of ideas for older kids.

The Holling C. Holling books ("Paddle-To-The-Sea" and others) were favorites of mine when I was younger, but probably for kids older than kindergarten. Great stories, PACKED with illustrations and a healthy load of natural history.

Ramona and other stories about kids leading everyday lives bored the crap out of me as a kid, but I was a freak of nature that lived to plow through entire libraries of science fiction, fantasy, and science non-fiction. They're great books, I'm sure.

I liked McCloskey's Homer Price books, and a few books by Oliver Butterworth, the most famous of which is "The Enormous Egg," which, to the best of my knowledge, is the first book I ever read that declared that dinosaurs were related to birds.

Anything by William Pene Dubois, who wrote amazing fantasies and illustrated them, too.

The Mushroom Planet books, by Eleanor Cameron.

A depressing number of these classics are out of print. I have no idea why. As far as I know, only the first Mushroom Planet book is still being printed.

And of course, all the classics, like Dr. Dolittle, Mary Poppins, the Oz books, and many others.