Great questions!!
My daughter used to love for me to read
"Best Best Friends" by Margaret Chodos-Irvine but *I* used to love to read Dr. Seuss's "Many Colored Days" and "Fox in Sox."
"...when a fox is in the bottle where the piddle paddles battle...with a noodle eating poodle..." lolol...I used to LOVE to read that book!
My kids are 15 and almost 13 now and are on to more teenagery books like "The Hunger Games."