The little kids and I just finished Pippi Longstocking.  They enjoyed Pippi's antics and even I had to laugh out loud a few times.  Here is my favorite part:

Everyone in town has found out that Pippi is living alone in Villa Villekula, so two poilcemen are sent to fetch Pippi and take her to a childrens home.  This conversation follows:

"Don't you realize that you have to go to school?"  said the policeman.

"Why do I have to go to school?"

"To learn things, of course."

"What sort of things?" asked Pippi.

"All sort of useful things," said the officer.  "Lots  of useful things, like multiplication tables, for instance."

"I've been fine for nine years without any plutification tables," said Pippi.  "And I'm sure I can manage in the future, too."

"Yes, but think how sad it will be for you to be so ignorant.  What about when you grow up and someone happens to ask you what the capital of Portugal is and you can't answer?"

"Of course I can answer," said Pippi.  "I'll just answer like this:  If you're so desperately anxious to know what the capital of Portugal is, then by all means write a letter to Portugal and ask them!"

These are the kids current favorites:

Zach is enjoying I, Juan de Pareja, about a slave who studies under a great artist in 1600s Spain.  It's based on true people.

Luke rereads this one over and over and we have all learned a lot about flies, fleas, wasps, and other insects that Luke tells us about.

Today, I was folding laundry in my bedroom and had the windows open, (it's a beautiful 87 degrees today), and overheard this conversation between Luke and Max who were in the backyard, companiably swinging side by side:

Luke:  "Fleas suck blood,  they like cat fur the best because they're the fluffiest.  But they like dogs too, sometimes even people.  Even lions and tigers can have fleas.  Fleas can jump 200."   [I think he was reading that they jump 200 times their body length.]

Max:  "WOW!  Can they jump to the moon?"

Luke: "No, they can't jump  to the moon."

Max: "Oh."

Maddie's favorites stories lately are fairytales.   We have several different collections and her favorite is one called The Worlds Greatest Fairytales.  I can't find a picture of it anywhere because it's old, from the 60s, and is one of the many books the kids inherited from their Dad's picture books from when he was a little boy.  We like this version of Rapunzel, the pictures are beautiful.

Max's current kick is reading Harold and the Purple Crayon and George Shrinks over and over from the Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics.