I am reading out loud to children 3 and 6. Some books that we have already enjoyed are: Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, and The Jungle Books.
Great Answers!
Some additional info- There are our children and we live in SE Asia. I was raised in the US and the Bahamas, so I am trying to expose them to some of the books that I read as a child. Unfortunately my own parents are not around anymore to answer this sort of question. You folks are doing a great job of jogging my memory, plus some suggestions that are new to me.
Thanks so much.
Some of my favorites are:
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum
"Stuart Little" by E.B. White
"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
"A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahme
You can find these books and a lot more on a great list of classic children’s books. Here’s a link: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~dea22/classic.html
Happy reading to you! 
January 25th, 2010 at 6:36 am
aesop’s fables, and noddy!
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January 25th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Wow-I’m impressed that in our electronic age you were able to read a classic to that age group. I’m assuming they paid attention.
Less Lofty but fun nonetheless are the Judy Blume books, the fudge series in particular is great fun, especially if there are siblings in the group. "Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, Superfudge, etc."
One of the best read out loud books is "The Cricket in Times Square." My reading groups loved it!
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January 25th, 2010 at 7:40 am
The Secret Garden
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January 25th, 2010 at 8:25 am
The following may not be as old as the ones that you cite are already classics and are excellent to read aloud to children:
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch — or anything by him!
Anything by Dr. Seuss
Anything by Richard Scarry
Classic characters such as Curious George, Madeline, Babar, Amelia Bedelia.
Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
If you want older classics, perhaps some Winnie the Pooh or Pinocchio would be good. Kipling’s Just So Stories as well.
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January 25th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Here are some great old classics that I was brought up on, and still read today!
E Nesbit (classics are "The Railway Children" and "Five Children and It")
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUnesbit.htm
Elizabeth Goudge ("The Little White Horse" was a favourite of J K Rowling’s – and mine! – and "Linnets and Valerians")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Goudge
Frances Hodgson Burnett ("The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess")
http://www.ricochet-jeunes.org/eng/biblio/author/burrett.html
Don’t forget the Narnia Chronicles!
Almost-remembered are the Katy books by Susan Coolidge, "What Katy Did", "What Katy Did at School" and "What Katy Did Next".
I also loved George MacDonald’s "The Princess and the Goblin" and "The Princess and Curdie", and Louisa May Alcott’s "Little Women" series.
For more fantasy, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books are an exciting read; Alan Garner’s "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen" and "Moon of Gomrath" are quite scary. Both authors draw on British myth and legend.
I devoured them eagerly!
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January 25th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Heidi
Black Beauty
The Wind in the Willows
The Wizard of Oz, plus the rest of the Oz series
those gorgeous picture books by Beatrix Potter
Mother West Wind When Stories
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January 25th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Aesop’s Fables
Anne of Green Gables
Around the World in Eighty Days
Black Beauty
The Call of the Wild
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Gulliver’s Travels
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates
Heidi
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Kidnapped
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Little House on the Prairie (series)
The Little Mermaid
A Little Princess
Little Women
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Oliver Twist
Peter Pan
Pollyanna
The Prince and the Pauper
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Robinson Crusoe
The Secret Garden
The Swiss Family Robinson
A Tale of Two Cities
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Understood Betsy
White Fang
The Wind in the Willows
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
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January 25th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Some of my favorites are:
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum
"Stuart Little" by E.B. White
"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
"A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahme
You can find these books and a lot more on a great list of classic children’s books. Here’s a link: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~dea22/classic.html
Happy reading to you!
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January 25th, 2010 at 10:21 am
"the phantom tollbooth" by norton juster
"my father’s dragon" by Ruth Stiles Gannett
"the voyages of doctor dolittle" by Hugh Lofting
"island of the blue dolphins" by Scott O’Dell
and this isn’t really a classic, but it’s a fantastic older book.
"amy’s eyes" by Richard Kennedy
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January 25th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Black Beauty, written by Anna Sewell if I remember right; and the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. There were a bunch of Black Stallion books such as The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns, The Black Stallion’s Sulky Colt, The Black Stallion’s Filly. Awesome books.
I remember some great book about a Palomino mare that had an Appaloosa colt but can’t remember the title… um… er… Well, guess you can tell who loved horse books as a kid.
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