Picture books can have lovely worthwhile content but fewer words to overwhelm young ones. We've liked illustrated fairy tales like Jan Brett's books, the Six Swans, Tom Thumb. George and Martha books, Frog and Toad books, have fewer words to the page as well.

My daughter really got sucked in to the world of chapter books by abridged children's classics. The abridged Peter Pan rocked her world and we went on from there.