Visionary Literature
These books contain mythical treatments of important subjects, in a sufficiently contemporary form to be intelligible to chidren and adults today. I particularly recommend The Princess and the Goblin and Monkey.
Warning: reading these books to your kids may increase their intelligence.
Hans Christian Andersen
L. Frank Baum
Richard Francis Burton (translator)
Lewis Carroll
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm
Robert A. Heinlein (many books, especially the following)
C.S. Lewis (many books, especially the following)
George MacDonald (many books, especially the following)
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Booth Tarkington
Mark Twain
Wu Ch'êng-ên (translated by Arthur Waley)
See also Post-Human Science Fiction.