Which of the 'classics' do you recommend for my 5.5YO?

My little (5 and a bit) has just read The Railway Children and thoroughly enjoyed it!
I've got her the Naughtiest Girl books for Christmas and I'm hoping she enjoys them.
She's also enjoyed some abridged classics (she really liked Frankenstein!).

Not classics but I highly recommend Daisy and the trouble with books for this age. Also depending on what your child likes the Horrible Histories books are fun too :)

Pippi Longstockings was my absolute favourite to read with my 6yo DS, we both loved it and I’ve bought him the second book for Christmas.

he also loves the Narnia books, Charlotte’s Web, and all the Roald Dahls.

Paddington books.
My Naughty Little Sister series.
Humphrey the Hamster series.
Pippi Longstocking books.
Dr Dolittle.

Don't forget Heidi. I loved that book and so did DD

Faraway Tree Books, Wishing Chair books, Mrs Pepperpot books and Mr Twiddle. Naughty Amelia Jane...basically most books by Enid blyton was loved in our house when mine were 5.5!

Winnie the Pooh
pAddington

My DD was into The Secret Garden around age 5-6 from watching the film version. I remember having to edit the text quite a bit when reading it aloud - lots of old fashioned language about the servants in India iirc

Definitely the Faraway Tree books and also the Wishing Chair and Wishing Chair Again.

Oh god not the witches for a 5yo!!! It’s flipping terrifying.

My 5yo has enjoyed loads of Roald Dahls - the shorter ones are Fantastic Mr Fox, The Magic Finger, The Twits, Esio Trot, The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me. And then moving on to Danny the Champion of the World, Charlie and the Choc Factory, Matilda, the BFG.

He’s also really enjoying The Secret Seven (which I edit slightly as I read to screen out the overt sexism - “the children were scared” rather than “the girls were scared” - but otherwise it’s not as bad as I feared.

Also yes to Ursula Moray Williams, The Worst Witch, Dick King Smith!

Definitely clever Polly and the stupid wolf.

If you're just starting on Roald Dahl go for the George's Marvellous Medicine/James and The Giant Peach rather than The Witches. To me The Witches is much darker and less silly.

My about to turn 5YO is really enjoying Mrs Pepperpot (original books, not the picture books) and My Naughty Little Sister at bedtime. We have also read some of the Sara and Stephen Corrin Stories for Under Fives which was mine when I was a child. I’m going to try Milly Molly Mandy when I can finally move and unpack, and Alice in Wonderland will be soon after that.

I am so happy that she now enjoys story books without pictures (a very recent move). It has reopened so much of my own childhood delight I can share with her.

I started to read chapter books to ds at about that age. I went for authors I'd liked, and round things ds liked, which was history and adventure. We read a lot of older books, and I kept reading to him until he was about 12yo.

I think the first one I read to him was "Cue for Treason" by Geoffrey Trease.

After that we went through a lot of different authors:
Malcolm Saville
Noel Streatfield
Enid Blyton
Monica Edwards
Violet Needham
Antonia Forest
Biggles
Josephine Tey
Elizabeth Goudge
Joan Aiken
Narnia
Diane Wynne Jones
David Schutte

We also read Alex Rider and the Cherub books, but they are definitely for older.

What I'd do is start a book and read the first couple of chapters and see how he got on. If he was enjoying it, then he'd be begging for another chapter, and as he got older sometimes reading it himself. Occasionally I started a book and he finished it by the next evening.

I chose fairly carefully and rarely had a miss with him as he was fairly consistent what he liked.

The faraway tree

I just remembered DH read the Moomin books to DS, maybe starting when he was 5 or 6?
https://www.fatherly.com/entertainment/moomin-books-reading-order

The Magic Faraway Tree books
All of Roald Dahl books
Terry Pratchetts books for younger readers - Diggers, Truckers, The Carpet People, The Amazing Maurice, That's not my cow.

At that age I think we read:

Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf
The Faraway Tree

It’s only now they’re older (8/10) that we read the classics.

DC enjoyed Just So Stories at that sort of age, we had a recording in the car, they work well read aloud. May have been selected ones for a modern audience - so maybe read them yourself first and see which she'd like.

Second Winnie the Pooh, & Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf.
The Owl Who Was Afraid Of the Dark DS absolutely adored at 5 or 6, it was bedtime stories on loop for months on end. There are more in the series, but particularly that one.
Pippi Longstocking

Ballet Shoes and the other Noel Streatfeild children’s books are brilliant.

Dick King Smith IMO is completely brilliant and there are SO many, nearly all Of them about animals. The Sheep Pig is the most famous but I loved Sir Tumbleweed and Saddlebottom at that kind of age.

You can also get some nice compilations of stories for 5 year olds etc which would give her a flavour of lots of different writers and see which ones she like. I also loved folk tales from different cultures.

Just noticed someone suggested Tamora Pierce who I think is great but her books follow her characters into teenage years and young adulthood, relationships etc. so I’d wait until she’s quite a bit older!

To read to her - Winnie the Pooh. Anyone who only knows the Disney version might be surprised by AA Milne’s book, which has a lot of dry humour as well as charm.

For her to read - it might seem a bit young, but we were given a collection of Frog and Toad stories and DS was massively into reading them himself when he was about 5. They are just so lovely!

Ever Clever Eva
Katie Morag stories

Me and my 5.5 year old son are currently reading James and the Giant Peach. We usually do a few chapters a night as they're short and he is really enjoying it. I'll try more Roald Dahl after this one too as they're a nice length for that age.

The stream that stood still
The tree that sat down and the other one .The Borrowers