This autobiographical story from Tomie dePaola about visiting his grandma and great-grandma is one of the sweetest books anywhere. He has several others about his childhood that are great too, but my boys wanted to read this one over and over:
Amusing story about a pea who has to eat candy in order to get her vegetable dessert:
Really, REALLY funny book for kids and adults that my boys insisted we buy. They both quote from it:
I don't think I've ever seen 1st Brother laugh so hard as when we first read this book. He kept saying, "My neck is hurting!" because of the strain. It may go over the heads of kids younger than 6 or 7. We kept finding really clever things in the detailed pictures to laugh (more) at.
Both boys really liked this odd collection of funny sayings and rhymes. 2nd Brother liked "reading" it to us after several times through:
My boys didn't really care, but I was astounded by the historical information in this book. What a crappy day-to-day life poor George Washington had!:
I am loving non-fiction books written for upper elementary schoolers, specifically the Eyewitness series. Great information with lots of interesting pictures. This one on mummies covers Egypt but also other creepy stuff like the preservation of Lenin and Evita:
Also fantastic? Biographies written for kids. More than a Wikipedia entry but less than the uber-detailed adult versions, and again with more pictures. I read the very worthwhile
Uncle Tom's Cabin then the bio below about author Harriet Beecher Stowe, which was a great complement. We got a very simple one about Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, that the boys liked (pause for Bay Area parents to gasp about me reinforcing my kids' love of McDonald's), but other than that, I've been the one nerding out with these biographies.