Reddit mentions of Wayside School Boxed Set: Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, Wayside School is Falling Down, Sideway Stories from Wayside School

Try Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0380791714?pc_redir=1406918851&robot_redir=1

Given both like art, would a low-end drawing tablet be in the cards?

For Rylee, maybe an art kit composed of the following: Tachikawa nibs and holders and ink, or a finetipped pen set Deleter manga paper, and a grown up sketchbook a la trendy Moleskine or Pentalic or classic art student hardcovers like so. As she develops as an artist she'll learn more whether she likes different sizes, thicker or thinner paper, or toned paper. Maybe throw in a few making of books from her favorite series (like IDK this one for Avatar the Last Airbender or this one for Spirited Away.) Getting a good making of book for a movie or animated film can be life changing. For me, even though I read it years after Brother Bear came out, this was an enlightening read about the movie making process and has some seriously gorgeous art. I haven't read the one for Moana yet so I have no idea whether it leans more toward text (like the making of Hunchback of Notre Dame did...so very little art in that book) or pictures, but it's more recent than Brother Bear. And yes, most of us artists have these books on our shelves, albeit with different movies/series depending on taste. Some of the Marvel movies have excellent making of books too. ;)

I'd recommend some drawing books, but the ones I know all have nudity in them and I don't know how you'd feel about that. I'd caution against 'how to draw manga' books as a general rule, but I owned a few and some art very, very good at teaching how to direct the eye for storytelling.

For your younger, I'd suggest many of the same things, except maybe not the nibs and ink because sharp and messy. If you get either of them colored art supplies, I'd either make sure they get the exact same set of markers or colored pencils, or get one markers, the other colored pencils. It can be rough sharing an interest with a sibling. And maybe some Sideways Math from Wayside School (I'd also suggest all three Wayside School books, they're brain bendy in a good way). Another brain tickling book (for me it was, anyway) was the Phantom Tollbooth. Maybe a how to draw horses book. A making of book or two about movies she liked - Frozen, maybe? IDK. Maybe a Goldiblox set to get her engineer brain in gear. Oh! I forgot about Spirit, the animated horse movie no one remembers.

And I found them HERE on Amazon if anyone wants to actually play by the rules.

Get those kids some books!

My suggestions are more advanced for a brand new reader, but were a staple of my elementary years:

• Who is Bugs Potter? is one of my all-time favorites. Really, anything by Gordon Korman! He's amazing.
  
  • Also, the Wayside School series
    
  • and Bunnicula!

Are you still hardcore jonesing? Go ahead and buy all three of them for only 12 bucks. Come on, it's worth it. Think of the nostalgia!

I completely support the library card suggestion. My parents got my brother and I one when we were very young, and we loved it. We also loved going to the events in the library--guest readings and summer programs and such. But we could spend hours there, browsing, and would leave with handfuls.

Some books that I enjoyed when I was young were the [Wayside School books] (http://www.amazon.com/Wayside-School-Boxed-Set-Stranger/dp/0380791714/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334001442&sr=1-1) by Louis Sachar. I haven't looked through them in well over a decade, but when I was young, I believed they were incredibly funny and terribly clever.

Roald Dahl was also an inspiration. Maltilda is especially dear to me. As was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG.

I loved Judy Blume's Fudge books--especially Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I also loved Beverly Cleary's books.

I was a little too old when I realized they existed, but my younger brother enjoyed Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books.

The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh. This book sparked my love of science fiction. I can't wait until my nephews and niece are old enough to read it.

Also the [Wayside School Books] (http://www.amazon.com/Wayside-School-Boxed-Set-Stranger/dp/0380791714/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382359948&sr=1-3&keywords=sideways+stories+from+wayside+school)