A question for all of you! That means you!

noetic_toe reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask my flist about for some time. Though I've been reading to them every day of their lives as long as they've lived with us, my girls are not particularly advanced in the reading aloud that we do. I tend to lose them if I go much above their "level". They tend to still like the longer, more involved picture books, though I've been pushing chapter books a bit more recently. We read an abridged version of the Jungle Book not too long ago, and Mrs Piggle Wiggle Books. I read them The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and then started an abridged version of Peter Pan. Then I quit because I hated the editing of that one. We bought Mari a full copy of Peter Pan last year, but I lost them when I tried to read it to them. Luci still has trouble listening to even the longer picture books, so I realize she may just not be able to really sit and listen, but at least I'll be setting an example and atmosphere for reading which has always been my intent. I've often read to them, even when it was totally over their heads, but it has begun to irritate Mari tremendously when she doesn't understand all of what I'm reading about. She seems to think she SHOULD and therefore we have to stop every five seconds to explain things to her. I don't have a problem with that really, I can just see her getting frustrated and antzy sometimes.

So, what I need are suggestions for books that wouldn't be so above their heads that I lose them, but would still challenge them. Mari was five in December, Zoe was four in November, and Luci was three in December. I have some very, very literary people on my flist, at least one librarian and one married to a librarian, and several people that LOVE children's literature so I expect lots of suggestions here!! Don't let me down.