Let's say you were raising a child.

[Mr. Skeltal]

Mrs. Skeltal and I have a lot of old college textbooks lying around but not much for young children unless they want to crack open a well worn copy of Dana's Mineralogy or an analysis of the 30 Years War.

Mrs. Skeltal is a prolific bookworm so I'm confident that she has a go-to list of good children books beyond things like Good Night Moon or Dr. Seuss. Harry Potter is inevitable in this kind of discussion because Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone is an easy read for kids and the books gradually get more complex as the series goes on, growing with the child's reading level. Chapter book series like A Series of Unfortunate Events are also good reads for similar reasons.

For very young children I would read them classic, self contained fantasy literature for bedtime. The Hobbit and The Silmarillion come to mind but I would need to branch that selection out beyond Tolkien.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Let the kid have free access to the book crates, they'll dump a book after 20 pages if it's boring. 2nd and 3rd graders love Stephen King and Lord of the Rings and those are good books to train reading comprehension because the kid wants to understand the story because they're interested. In 4th grade tell them that they're obviously reading grown up up books despite their age, they will feel very proud, then hand the kid The Jungle and tell them it's a very important book worth reading. It is a far more complex book so it becomes a natural topic to discus now and then.

That's how I grew up and I still think there's merit to that system.

 

[AmarettoPie]

I'd do the same I already do for kids: Point them to the collection I already own and tell them to have at it. No restrictions beyond a warning that something might have "nasty" or "scary" stuff in it depending on how old they are. Though to be fair, my current library is rather tame (if, perhaps, strange):

Spoiler: Spergy Sharing

I had more, but a plumbing flood wrecked my shit.

I'm a firm believer in indulging a child's curiosity when it comes to reading, discussing whatever it's about during/afterwards.

 

[naaaaiiiiillllll!!!]

Will add onto my previous post. Calvin and Hobbes. I grew up reading paperback repubs that fell apart after so much use. I bought this set after graduating college and still find glorious insight and comedy looking through them. If/when I have kids, they will have access to this wonderful part of life: