favourite longer books (with chapters) to read aloud with younger children?

[oregonianabroad]

Ds1 (4.5) loves having longer books read out loud to him, but it is a bit of a challenge finding things that he likes and that are suitable for his age. We read Fantastic Mr Fox, for example, and he was terrified (but loved it). We're reading the Faraway Tree now. Friends have suggested Narnia and The Hobbit -- are these too old for him?

I would say that he is a bit young for Hobbit and Narnia.

DS loved the Paddington books and Dick King Smith was a favorite too.

... forgot Winnie the Pooh.

Teddy Robinson - ideal for that age, such lovely books.

Milly Molly Mandy, also good - old fashioned but in a nice way (dd loved the bit about how excited MMM was to be taken for a ride in a car).

DD also liked Anna Hibiscus about a little girl in Africa, again like Teddy R and MMM each chapter is a story.

Don't know if you can still get hold of them, but other books we liked for reading out loud were Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Danny Fox - much less scary than Roald Dahl, but still a bit of excitement IYKWIM

I read Little House in the Big Woods to DS at about this age. I know it tends to be seen as a girls book, but it is all about the mechanics of life in frontier America, including how Pa cleaned his gun and made bullets. DS loved it.

We got to Narnia a little later (6 ish, I think) and Swallows and Amazons when he was 7.

Alberic the dragon series. Can't remember the author, but all mine loved them.

The Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel are great, really funny, although very simple. Anna Hibiscus is highly recommended. There are three books out so far and they all start "Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa." And I would say Anna Hibiscus is amazing too!

Thanks, all. Great suggestions.

Don't forget Winnie the Pooh- just put it on the shelf until adolescence. It's great for older children.

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark was a favourite with mine.

My Naughty Little Sister stories?

My naughty little sister
charlie and the chocolate factory
pippi longstocking

Gobbolino the Witches Cat and the Little Wooden Horse both by Ursula Moray Williams are lovely for that age

Wombles?

George's marvellous medicine, it's good fun 'doing' the Granny's voice!
Jeremy Strong is fun to read too My brother's famous bottom is a classic.

Brilliant, thank you -- keep em coming.

dd 5 loves the chocolate monster by jan page. lucy is always losing and her brother teases her.they are really being stolen by a monster who lives under the floorboards. she gets them back and persuades him to move to her brothers room by bribing him with chocolate

oh and mrs pepperpot stories...she shrinks to the size of a pepperpot at unfortunate moments

she didn't take to milly molly mandy (was much better in my mind than in reality!)

Clever Polly books are available secondhand.

A lot of Beverly Cleary's books are good for younger children - there are 8 about Ramona Quimby, there's also 1 or more about a little boy called Henry and there are others. I've just seen your username again, perhaps you know them already (the children's library in Portland is named after her).

Moomins! They're nearly all back in print now, I think.