My dd devoured the Magic Tree House series when she was 3. She had the ability to read them to herself, but much preferred we read them to her. I should say that dd is VERY easily frightened by books and movies - but she rarely had a problem with these books.
From there, we graduated to the Encyclopedia Brown books. These are nice to read at night because each chapter is a self-contained story. There are occasional references to a bully (Bugs Meany) - but, as you can imagine, Encyclopedia, boy detective, always comes out on top.
DD also loved listening to the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books (MacDonald) on cd. These are books I remember from my childhood. Each chapter is a cure for a misbehaving child (the won't go to bedder cure, the show-off cure). These are entertaining, but gentle.
