As everyone knows, reading to your children is very important. But how do you choose what books to read to your child? Here are some suggestions to help you. Before I start talking about book titles or series, I really want to recommend that everyone get a library card. Library cards are generally free at public libraries and it gives you the opportunity to read a wide variety of books to your child. At my local library, you can renew your books online if you need to. If you forgot to renew your books and you haven't finished reading them, there aren't any penalty fees for returning children's books late. I'm not sure if every local library offers these features but I find them very helpful.
The books you choose to read your child depends on your personal comfort zone. I am a big fan of the Great Illustrated Classics series of books. Granted, these books do make changes to the original texts. However, they have short chapters and large pictures that easily capture a child's attention. Through these books, my daughter has been introduced to King Arthur, The Wind in the Willows, Little Woman and many more. We will probably reread these books in their original form when she is a bit older but she is enjoying them for now.
Another series I adore is the We Both Read books. These are made for teaching children how to read. One page is for the parent to read and one page is for the child to read. If there is a word that may be difficult for the child to read, it will be in bold on the parent's page. It's wonderful to be able to read with my daughter instead of just reading to her.
As always, you can always fall back on books like Winnie The Pooh, Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein. Don't be afraid to read anything to your child. As long as you are comfortable with the material in the book, your child will most likely enjoy it as much as you do. How else will they learn that Disney's Tinkerbell is a lot nicer than the book version?
Feel free to leave any suggestions for additional books in the comments. It's great to see what other geeks are reading to their kids.