I remember when I was a child, my grandma enrolled me in a book of the month club. The books were small, hard cover abridged versions of Disney tales--they had such beautiful pictures--Bambi, Alice In Wonderland, SnowWhite are just a few I remember. I still have some of them, I wonder if this club is still available? It was in the early 80's.
As for my fav children's books, it would be a toss between "The Giving Tree" and "Guess How Much I Love You"