I need good books for 7, 8, 9 year olds that read fairly well. Suggestions for older ages are good too. Other than not having romance in them, qualities desired might be morals and values, teaching good lessons, character, etc. Also, good quality, there's just no point in reading poorly written books.

On Jack London I have White Fang, plan on getting Call of the Wild. They seem appropriate, IIRC. Never read The Sea Wolf. Saw the TV movie with Charles Bronson and Christopher Reeve, thought it was good. Would like to read the book. Appropriate for kids?

What about Moby Dick? Never read it either, maybe I should.

The Phantom Tollbooth came in, our 8-9 year old read almost half of it in a day, so I clearly need more and or larger books.

I have the Chronicles of Narnia, not sure what ages are appropriate for each. Or if any other Lewis is good for per-teens.

Any Chesterton?

Jonathon Swift?

George MacDonald? I had gotten one from the library but a tantrum ensued and it was returned unread. Will try again.

Captain Horatio Hornblower?

The oldest is a girl, our son is 7 and not as advanced, but there's no harm in being prepared. She likes Nancy Drew.

I would like to have a hundred or more quality kid's books, we have little ones too, so they'll get used.

Also, is there such a thing as a children's dictionary?

Yes, there are children's and intermediate (Jr high) dictionaries and thesauri.

For book lists I would suggest checking out modg.org and looking at their lists under curriculum.

Catholic Heritage Curriculum has good reading material for those ages, including Father Brown mysteries geared to grade level.

Setonbooks is also a good place to look.

I'd pass on the SEA WOLF, MOBY DICK.

Narnia appropriate for all ages.

Chesterton, maybe THE COLOURED LANDS, but I dunno.

I think the current Gulliver is bound to be expurgated, so should be fine.

MacDonald, AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND, the Curdie books.

I am a fighting sail fanatic, but the Hornblowers are not what you are looking for, for that age.

I started on SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON at maybe 8.

Also, I made some suggestions in the book forum, on illustrated children's books.

A hundred books is a fair start.

Sea Wolf and Moby Dick, pass on altogether, or just not for kids?

For kids, IMO.

But heck, this could go on forever.

Kipling/JUNGLE BOOKS, both volumes.

They are peculiar to time and place. Sea Wolf is very Londonish, worth one read, but not for kids. MD is a difficult read,especially as chapters on oceanography and economics are interspersed with the chapters containing plot. Again, worth one read by an adult.

Harry Potter.

Moby Dick is deadly dull.

I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

It did give some great lines to Star Trek II.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Douglas Wiggin
Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, etc. - Lucy Maud Montgomery
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
Lots of fairy tales (e.g. Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, the "Fairy Books" edited by Andrew Lang, The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
The Sword in the Stone - T.H. White

I'll bet your library, public or private, in youth, looked much like mine. Plus a set of blue volumes.

If only! The only two I read on the above list growing up were:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

But I've read many of the others to my children.

They count. Regardless of age. I read several children's classics to my kids as well.

Well, every other chapter is.

I just finished Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and there aren't enough accolades to heap on this work. Even Mark Twain gave it his warm approval. I picked it up to put in my Grandpa's Hope Chest, and decided to read it myself. At first, I was amused. The more I read, the more I thought of it as an adult's children's book, like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The girl grows up chapter after chapter, with a lot of philosophizing along the way. The imagery is wonderful. The sour old aunt softens a bit, but not in a Dickensian way. The change is so subtle you have to be an alert reader to catch it.

My description is inadequate. Read it for yourself, then read it again with your kids/grandkids/neighborhood kids.

The problem with Moby Dick is not that it is dull, it is that it is incoherent. The novel is one of the first books written in the 'stream of consciousness' style, and thus the narrator rambles on and on for page after page changing the topic approximately once every three sentences and you quickly get to the point where the reader has no idea what the hell the narrator is talking about. I've tried to read it at least half a dozen times and every single time I give up before the end of the first chapter because I have become lost and have no idea what is going on.

Anyway, I recommend The Three Musketeers. I first read it when I was about that age and I've been hooked ever since. At the very least, show them the 1973-74 adaptation by Richard Lester 'The Three Musketeers' and its follow up 'The Four Musketeers'.

Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is also very good

Indeed, it is one of my all-time favorite books. In some corners of the Internet, my screen name is 'Edmund Dantes'. But that book is a difficult one than The Three Musketeers because it is very slow paced and there are large stretches where not much happens. It might be a little boring for kids that young, whereas The Three Musketeers is almost non-stop action.

Well there are abridged versions

Picard also quotes from it in Star Trek: First Contact.