There are so many fantastic books out there to choose from. Here are some of my favourite at the moment:

Picture Books

Not Now Bernard by David McKee  (This book, with its deceptively simple text, demands to be read over and over again. It's really poignant but funny at the same time. One of my all-time favourite books, and the one I most wish I'd written myself.) 

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak  (Beautiful language, wild but simple story, great illustrations. Fantastic.)

Scarlette Beane by Karen Wallace and Jon Berkeley (Some of the language in this is just beautiful to read -about a girl who would lie in her pram and 'listen to the flowers grow' and when she slept she 'dreamed of doing something wonderful'. A huge hit with every child I've ever read it to.)

Cockatoos by Quentin Blake  (A story about a silly, affable, man, who loses his cockatoos but never learns the lesson they're trying to teach him... It's a very subtle counting book where the text never mentions numbers; it's all in the pictures. It's a great book for getting children to argue with the text that tells them there were no cockatoos in this room, or this room, and there always are, hidden brilliantly by Quentin Blake.)

Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins  (Another of my all-time favourites. The words tell one story -Rosie the hen simply goes for a walk and comes home in good time to eat- and the pictures a very different one -a fox is trying to catch her but is constantly thwarted in his attempts. Children absolutely love 'reading' the real story, which is in the pictures.)

One is a Snail Ten is a Crab by April Pulley-Sayre, Jeff Pulley-Sayre and Randy Cecil  (A counting book with a real difference. I won't even say how as it's so exciting and funny to read for the first time. I doubt you'd be disappointed if you bought it. Really, really quirky, and very funny. I love it.) 

You Choose by Pippa Goodheart and Nick Sharratt  (This book doesn't tell a story but it's absolutely brilliant for getting children talking. They can spend hours looking at this book. It's almost like a catalogue of interesting people, and places, and food, and buildings etc to choose from -great to use in schools, too.)

The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr Seuss  (I think The Sneetches is probably my all-time favourite Dr Seuss story. If you like any of his others, but don't know this one, you're in for a treat.)

The Baby Who Wouldn’t Go to Bed by Helen Cooper  (Fantasy and reality mix beautifully in this lovely story about a baby/toddler who wants to stay up. My daughter had memorised the whole book word for word when she was two because she loved it so much.)

The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey  (It's hard to describe books by Mini Grey. Her stories are really unusual -this is a love story between the dish and the spoon from the original nursery rhyme- and her montage-type illustrations are amazing. This book won the Kate Greenaway medal, and very deservedly.)

We Love Bunk Beds by Paula Metcalf  (This is a recent favourite. Extremely warm and gentle, it describes the relationship between two sisters, who happen to be elephants, really beautifully. They are also uncannily like my two girls, so it is a real family favourite.) 

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton  (A fun story and really interesting illustrations.)

The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean  (A picture book for older children. This is brilliantly written -unusual and very funny, and amazingly illustrated. Really appealing to adults, too.)

No Matter What by Debi Gliori  (Everything written by Debi Gliori has warmth and love present throughout. This is a lovely, funny and poignant rhyming story about love. The American version has been changed at the end to remove reference to death. I'd highly recommend the original UK version, which handles death beautifully.)

When a Zeeder Met a Xyder by Malachy Doyle and Joel Stewart  (I just love this book. It is slightly Lewis Carroll-like in its telling, and uses rhymes and half-rhymes in a way that rarely happens with modern picture books. Joel Stewart's illustrations are absolutely perfect for the language and the story. I almost cried when I read this the first time as I thought it was so beautiful. It would probably appeal to older children, and plenty of adults!)

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler  (Probably my favourite Julia Donaldson book.)

The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child, captured by Polly Borland  (Not technically a picture book -the story works independently, but a highly illustrated story. It's a fun re-telling of the original, with fantastically intricate scenes that have been made for each page, using tiny props and cereal boxes and then photographed. They've even got the process in the back so you can see how it was made. Really good, and appealing to slightly older children.)

There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent  (This book came out in 1975 and it's got a real old-fashioned charm about it. 'Billy Bixbee was rather surprised when he woke up one morning and found a dragon in his room. It was a small dragon, about the size of a kitten.' It's just a really nice, sweet book.)

The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs  (An all-time classic. Lots of repetition for small children and everyone loves 'Rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta-'ing. All families should have one.)

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers  (I really like Oliver Jeffers' understated text -'Once there was a boy and one day he found a penguin at his door'- and his simple, but beautiful, illustrations.)

Millions of Cats by Wanda Ga'g  (Brings back lots of happy childhood memories. It's been in print for more than eighty years for a very good reason. Full of lovely phrases that repeat throughout the book: 'Cats here, cats there, cats and kittens everywhere. Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats'... I'm so pleased to have rediscovered it as an adult.)

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg  (Very simple rhyming text, with absolutely loads to spot in the pictures.)

Underwater Farmyard by Carol Ann Duffy and Joel Stewart  ('Under the blue-green fields of the Deep/ Bleat the bubbly baas of webbed-feet sheep,/ Grazing on seaweed,/ (Salty, nice)/ Swimming up and down in new-washed fleece.' Some combinations of author and illustrator are inspired. This is one. Perhaps it's Joel Stewart, who also illustrated When a Zeeder Met a Xyder as I think the same for that book, too. Just beautiful.)  

 

Wordless picture books

The Red Book by Barbara Lehmann  (Although four- and five- year-olds might be able to read this book alone and understand most of it, it's still one to share with a child at least for the first few times it is read. And it really appeals to younger children too when 'read' with an adult. A lovely, magical, moving story.)

Anno’s Journey by Mitsumasa Anno  (You can follow the journey of Anno throughout this book as he arrives by boat and then takes a horse through countryside and towns. There is so much in the illustrations to talk about and look at. A great book.)

The Arrival by Sean Tan  (This is really a wordless graphic novel and not intended for young children. In fact, it's more of an adult book, but it's amazing nonetheless and for anyone interested in picture books and how they work, this is well worth 'reading' extremely carefully.)

Clown by Quentin Blake  (A great story about a toy clown. Quentin Blake always captures so much in facial expressions.)

Mein schonstes Wimmel-Bilderbuch by Ali Mitgutsch  (Any of his wordless books are fantastic. They don’t tell a story running through the book, but each page is packed full of fantastic and ordinary things that are going on. Probably the best books I've ever known for getting children talking. A brilliant book to use in schools and at home. I am so glad I was introduced to them by a German friend. I'm really surprised they're not sold in UK bookshops, as far as I know, but you can get them easily online.)

 

Other children’s books

The Twits by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake.  (My all-time favourite Roald Dahl book. Hilarious and completely disgusting. Fantastic.)

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lingren, illustrated by Lauren Child  (Only recently rediscovered when we bought it to read to our daughter. Unfortunately for us, she wanted to read it for herself and liked it so much that she kept reading it while we weren't there so we kept missing bits. Very funny and surprisingly modern-sounding -it was first published in 1945, and Lauren Child makes an excellent pairing with Astrid Lingren.) 

Because a Fire Was in my Head edited by Michael Morpurgo and illustrated by Quentin Blake  (A great anthology of poems and rhymes for children. Illustrated in a really understated way by Quentin Blake.)