Books for 6 year old and articulate 3 year old

[TheCatFromNorway]

My 6 year old boy and 3 year old girl really loved The Magic Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair, we've finished all of them and are looking for more chapter books to read with them. We've got absolutely tons of picture books and all the Ladybird reading scheme and he loves those but wants more story now.

I've got the Magic Tree House to try but the first book is dinos and he doesn't really like them (but the 3 year old does). I think he's a bit young for Horrible Histories but anything else simple but with a history angle would be good.

They both like things about talking toys like Toy Story, and I'm eyeing up Amelia Jane. Old Bear seems to largely be unavailable on the Kindle and I can't remember any other talking toy books (we're moving abroad imminently, so it needs to be books available on Kindle or iBooks).

They also like talking animals and are Julia Donaldson superfans.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm not a fan of anything farty/pants related/poo related.

I remember reading these to my younger sibling when we were around those ages:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/my-naughty-little-sister/dorothy-edwards/shirley-hughes/9780008726652

Oh thanks, I remember reading these stories, too!
I've also just remembered Doctor Dolittle and Mary Poppins, they might go down well.

We’ve just moved from Amelia Jane to Enid Blyton’s ‘Naughtiest girl…’ series because we finished all the Amelia Jane books.
My five-year-old daughter is enjoying listening to us read them to her at bedtime. Some parts are a bit old-fashioned that is quite good fun to talk about with her during.

Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat or Teddy Robinson?

Mary Mary by Joan Robinson is quite good fun.
We also read the naughtiest girl, but I think 3 might be a bit young for that.
the old nurse’s stocking basket is very gentle.

Oh and the Just So Stories, although I did find I needed to do a bit of on the hop editing.

Milly Molly Mandy - dated but that doesn't seem to prove a problem. Also Mrs Pepperpot

Worst Witch? The Owl who Was Afraid of the Dark. Maybe some of the Dick King Smith stories? Daisy and the Trouble with… series? Winnie the Pooh. Paddington. Flat Stanley.

The Alfie books might be good for the 3yr old at least (and the 6yr old might enjoy listening in!) - Shirley Hughes.

Same with Oliver Jeffers books.

Some short chapter books ideas (maybe 6 or a little older)…

• Flat Stanley
• The Sheep Pig and other Dick King Smith books
• Charlotte’s Web
• Stuart Little
• Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales or an adaptation (much sweeter than the Grimm brothers) - Tom Thumb, Thumbelina, the Ugly Duckling etc
• The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark series by Jill Tomlinson
• Janet and Allan Ahlberg books (Burglar Bill, the Jolly Postman, Funnybones and poetry etc)
• The shorter Roald Dahl books like James and the Giant Peach, George’s Marvellous Medicine, The Twits, The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me
• The Borrowers

Try Teddy Robinson- there is a whole series, although you will need to get second hand I think, as I think they’re out of print. Ditto Ponder and William.

Thanks all for so many suggestions! Open to any more. We're big fans of Oliver Jeffers picture books as the kids were born in Northern Ireland. Our favourite is Stuck and that's already packed. I think I'm going to hold off on The Naughtiest Girl... series for now (even though I love that series as one of the few examples of an Enid Blyton character getting some character development), I will definitely read that to them later though.
We have virtually every fairy tale going in various editions, and we're packing the Ladybird ones to take with us as they suit DS's reading ability and DD likes the pictures.

I'd try the Hidden Figures Book Series and Azzi in Between Series by Sarah Garlan and Anna Hibiscus series as well. These books below are a mix of historical fiction but done as fun stories and then just some good fiction as well, nice stories and some mysteries as well which I think are nice and really global stories so very interesting I think.

• The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India… by Barb Rosenstock & Claire A. Nivol

• Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli & Kadir Nelson

• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe

• Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country by Atinuke & Mouni Feddag

• Black and British: A Short, Essential History (Children’s Version) by David Olusoga

• Dream to Change the World: The Story of John La Rose by Ken Wilson

• Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove

• Hey You! by Dapo Adeola

• The African History Children’s Book Bundle by Kunda Kids

• Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush by Patrice Lawrence & Camilla Sucr

• Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford,

• Seeds of Freedom by Hester Bass
Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty & David Roberts
Zahra and the Lost Voices by Sufiya Ahmed

Ottoline? Quite short and quite short chapters from memory but they big hits here. They had a lot of drawings as well. They were also excellent ones for when they started to read alone.

DD6 and I loved Ottoline too. Also (although some of them might be a bit old for your 3 year old):

• The Claude books (excellent pictures too)
• Atticus Claw
• Mr Penguin
• Knight in Training

The Sheep Pig is wonderful if they like talking animals.

Have a look at https://toppsta.com/ lots of ideas on there and grouped by children’s ages. There are also reviews and giveaways. I used to love reading to my children when little. Enid Blyton & Roald Dahl are great. We also read the whole Harry Potter series when older!

Thanks all. Loads to get us going! Mr Penguin looks perfect for DS, he loves penguins. I've bought the first one to try it out with them both before getting the lot.