Emil and the Sneaky Rat

This book by Astrid Lindgren is a hearty romp that will amuse the children just as much as the adults reading this to them - think what if Just William was Swedish, only with a far more elusive tone to the narration that lends an almost mythically folklorish bent to many of these tales; in which Emil, a young boy always getting into distinctly Emilian mischief, shocks and delights many people in his hometown and the surrounding villages. I highly commend this book for readers between five and eight as a rough bracket.