The Faraway tree series by Enid Blyton has wonderful characters (some laugh-out-loud ones! and beautuiful little stories for kids from, I would say 4 through 8:
http://www.amazon.com/Folk-Faraway-Tree-...4311&sr=8-1

Another Enid Blyton series is "the Find Outers". ANy of these 'detective stories' are really good, funny, and captivating with good characterisation, for boys (and girls -why not) from age 6 through 10 and older (heck, I love them myself. just beware - the main character, the brains of the outfit, is called Frederick Algernon Trottville - "Fatty" - which some may find offensive ?

http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Banshee-To...4607&sr=1-1