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So there are so many great books on this thread! A lot that I have, and some I will look for, but before I give my own list, I wanted to suggest that you hit up your local book sales either with your kids or without to find amazing books for cheap! I use https://www.booksalefinder.com to find booksales in my area. You can find so many children's books in great condition for super cheap. From $0.25 to at the most $2, and most sales have a Fill A Bag sale on the last day! I could spend hours looking through all the books! Plus most of the sales are supporting charity (schools, libraries, scholarships), it's really a win/win for everyone! I've been able to amass quite a collection of over 1,200 books in a short amount of time thanks to these sales (As well as thrift stores).

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Books that I don't see posted yet that I recommend:

1. Smitten by David Gordon - Just got this at a book sale yesterday and I'm in love!
   
2. Cleonardo, The Little Inventor - Sweet story about inventing and spending time with your parents.
   
3. Pssst! by Adam Rex - Amazing illustrations, funny and absurd story.
   
4. I Want My Hat Back By Jon Klassen - Funny book, don't want to spoil the ending.
   
5. Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury by Arnold Lobel - My favorite children books of all time! I have them all in separate large hardcovers, but this book has all 4 books in one, which is great for reading on the go!
   
6. Who Needs Donuts? by Mark Alan Stamaty - I found this book from this Reddit Group, and if you read the reviews so many are from people who loved the book as kids. The story is nice but simple, but the illustrations are crazy detailed and filled with jokes and weirdness. Reading the story takes a few minutes, but admiring the artwork details can take hours.
   
7. McFig & MCFly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge, and Death (with a Happy Ending) - I love this book, but most of the people I show it to are put off by the deaths in the book. If that doesn't bother you, I definitely think it's a keeper with an important lesson.
   
8. Billy's Booger by William Joyce - I love all of William Joyce's books, but this is by far my favorite. Autobiographical story about the author and how a school assignment changed the way he felt about writing.
   
9. The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen - Cute story about Circus Animals that accidentally escape from the circus and end up in a small town. I would also recommend Randy Riley's Really Big Hit by the same author.
   
10. "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going To Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas - This is another thrift store gem I found at a book sale/thrift store. If you enjoy a well written rhyming style, (without cheating and making up words like a certain Dr.), as well as a cute story with hilarious illustrations, this is the book for you!
    
    Books that I see others have posted that I want to add my vote to:
    
    
11. Chris Van Allsburg books - My favorite is The Sweetest Fig, remember it from my childhood, but it's like an episode of The Twilight Zone in picture book form, so be warned.
    
12. Imogene's Antlers
    
13. Hug Machine by Scott Campbell - LOVE this book! Loved it so much I bought the board book too so I can start reading it to my kids before they could walk. Believed they learned the word "hug" from this book!
    
14. There's Something There! Three Bedtime Classics - I saw that you posted how much you liked There's Something In My Attic, just wanted to let you know there's a book of all 3 stories combined in one book. (Got for cheap at a thrift store)
    
15. Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo - Great book, agree the illustrations are what makes it.
    
16. Millions of Cats - I also recommend The Funny Thing by the same author, Wanda Gag, but Millions of Cats is the best of her books, in my opinion.
    
    Let me know which of these books you like and I will recommend more!

I have a 9-year-old daughter, too. For Roald Dahl, don't miss Danny the Champion of the World, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (the latter is for older kids, so I'm not sure about the six more, but Henry Sugar is indeed wonderful).

Redwall is a bit on the graphic side. Best skim one first. A substitute for the time being is the Warriors series. My wife and daughter read them independently in unison (my wife reading after her bedtime) and discussed them.

Harry Potter is conspicuously missing from your list. Intentional? I hope you haven't pegged this one as having cruelty as its main theme. It's jam-packed with great themes of friendship, loyalty (within reason), trust, love of parents and family, standing up for what's right, and a whole bunch more. It's one of those book series you want a notebook for, to jot down quotes because there are so many gems.

Dear America is a fictional diary series of girls living in various periods in history.

The Mary Poppins series shouldn't be overlooked. It's quite different from the movie.

I'm putting my money on The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series, first book: Dealing with Dragons. The head-strong princess has no interest in the idiot prince she's supposed to marry, is quite comfortable once she's in the company of a dragon, and no thank you, she has no need for being rescued.

Also, The Mysterious Benedict Society series. It all starts with a newspaper ad seeking "gifted children looking for special opportunities."

The first book that comes to mind is:

"The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon"
Written by Jacqueline Davies, Illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Excellent story format autobiography of Audubon with beautiful illustrations. Great introduction to environmentalism as well.

Speaking of Audubon, any of the Audubon Society field guides are great to use with kids, even if they can't read the text. Ditto for the coffee table style books of his watercolors, such as "Audubon's Aviary: The Original Watercolors for The Birds of America" by Roberta Olson and The New York Historical Society. I worked at a summer camp that had a ahem fledgling bird watching program and the kids loved paging through the guides.

I'm a school librarian and all of our National Geographic Kids books, regardless of topic, are constantly checked out and on hold. They have a book about birding that looks pretty good. Birds of North America

For the little guys, I would recommend:

Charlie Harper's Count the Birds

Birds

If all else fails, you can use Angry Birds (in all its many current manifestations including the upcoming movie) as a gateway drug and angle in from there. :)

I may be misinterpreting what "low-stimulus" means for Story time, but I think Waiting by Kevin Henkes is a lovely, even-keeled story with moderate pacing and beautiful simple illustrations. Lots of consistency from page to page, but very nice.

Funny you posted this today. I actually just launched my 2nd book today on this very topic. It is about not being really good at something and putting in hard work and practice to get better. I would love to hear what you think!

https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Makes-Perfect-Vimal-Vachhani-ebook/dp/B08164DGCY/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=practice+makes+perfect+childrens+book&qid=1574371277&s=books&sr=1-17

Not sure about number 2, but I'm pretty sure Arrow to the Sun is the first book you're looking for.

For divorce, my favorites for this age group are Two Homes, Always Mom Forever Dad, and Living with Mom and Living with Dad.

For a transgender parent, I second the recommendation of Introducing Teddy. There aren't really any good picture books about transgender parents that I'm aware of, they all focus on trans or gender non-conforming children (or in this case, a teddy bear). Red: A Crayon's Story is also a fantastic metaphor for being transgender, but will definitely go over the 2-year-old's head (and maybe the 5-year-old as well).

Here's a few we've picked up for our daughter (these also count among her favorites):

Brave Irene by William Steig

Imogene's Antlers by David Small

I like me! by Nancy Carlson

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelman

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

Good Little Wolf by Nadia Shireen. This is a typical children's book and as I read it I thought i knew where the story would go, and boy was I surprised when I got to the end!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11407965-good-little-wolf

If you like Mo Willems then "That if Not a Good Idea" will also fit the bill.

https://www.amazon.com/That-Not-Good-Idea-Willems/dp/0062203096


Princess Pink and the Land of Fake Believe is a beginning chapter book series that will work. It's part of the Branches Scholastic series; it has lots of pictures and each book is a quick read. It is a series of fractured fairy tales where all the characters aren't what you expect them to be.

http://www.scholastic.ca/branches/princesspink.htm

The Paper bag Princess by Robert Munsch is another one. If you go to his web site you can listen to him read it.

http://robertmunsch.com/book/the-paper-bag-princess

Wild by Emilt Hughes seems to fit the bill

Could it be The Story of May by Mordicai Gerstein? It follows the journey of a young girl named May who interacts her family members who are different months on her way to meet her father December. Excerpts of the illustrations from the book, along with some more details about the story can be found on this blog.

[Amazon link to book] (http://www.amazon.com/Story-May-Mordicai-Gerstein/dp/0064433919/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410840973&sr=1-1&keywords=the+story+of+may)

Goodreads link

Link to another blog w/some pics of pages

They're called flip books. Here are some others...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wallace-Gromit-The-Dog-Diaries-Curse-Wererabbit/dp/0141318880

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coping-Girls-Boys-Peter-Corey/dp/0590550446/

https://www.bookdepository.com/Teachers-Tales-Terror-Traction-City-Chris-Priestley/9780956627698

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060271396/ref=aw_d_detail?pd=1

A Year in Brambly Hedge https://www.amazon.com/dp/0008241171/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YLoDDbVA0KXVH