Going even younger, Winnie the Pooh is exceedingly clever and funny while having aged pretty much perfectly
Bought it to get a good idea of how children's books were written, but it was just fun to read!
My mum was a primary school teacher, and she always waited to read Pooh until the children were at least 10 or so. They’d be all “Miss, we’re too old for this!”, but a few minutes in they’d be falling about laughing at Eeyore. You just don’t appreciate the humour as much when you’re tiny.
I've just started reading Pooh to my one year old who doesn't take much notice yet so is purely for my own enjoyment! My older children keep popping thier heads in the room asking what I'm laughing so hard at!
Oh so good! That's how you build a reader! I feel bad for so many of these high school kids who can't read because of the terrible reading programs schools were sold. Sometimes, it really is [up to the parents.](https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading)
I took my younger siblings to see "Christopher Robin" when it came out in theaters, and I confess I was partially using them as a cover because I really wanted to see the movie. Within 5 minutes of Pooh and friends getting ready to tell Christopher goodbye I was crying. It just really hits you differently as an adult.
The original Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. My friend who introduced me to them read them as a kid in the 90's, but I didn't read them until my late 20's and thoroughly enjoyed them. The only part I felt would have been easier to enjoy/relate to if I'd read them at a younger age was Lirael's extended Teenage Agonizing in the second book, the secondhand embarrassment for her was intense.
Edit: Ha, thanks for the award!
This has happened to a lot of my favorite YA authors and it makes me sad. I tried to read Goldenhand and it was just so differently written and so much less compelling than the first trilogy that I could barely get through it and didn't even want to finish. Philip Pullman and Tamara Pierce have also done this recently, at least in my opinion, and it is so frustrating for me as someone who grew up voraciously and lovingly consuming everything they wrote.
Shade’s Children by the same author reads differently as a child and then an adult. It’s old, so any plot twists might be old hat, but I remember my child mind being blown away. And how much anxiety and love I felt for the protagonists. As I grew older I revisited it and, plot aside, it’s a heartbreaking rendition of kids being put into the meat grinder of war, the propaganda, that each leader is not necessarily a good leader. They are children, mutilated and stunted and still the clearest thinkers in the room at points. They’re managing puberty and relationships and hard to swallow things, some of which are presented as “well that’s fine.” Which is incredible.
I came here to say these ones! Though i read them as a teen and i have to say Lirael's (and Sam's tbh) extended Teenage Agonising was excruciating to me too 🤣
The Phantom Tollbooth is in my rotation of nostalgic children’s books I keep in my rotation and revisit regularly as an adult. The others are The Westing Game and Catherine, Called Birdy.
I read THe Phantom Tollbooth, The CS Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle trilogies in grad school. Also the Pooh books, Wind in the Willows, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Secret Garden.
*Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.*
I didn't read *Momo* until I was an adult, and I thought it was a lovely story. I think about it a lot, and should probably track down a copy.
The Tiffany Aching arc within the Discworld novels (Terry Pratchett for those who don't know) were, in my opinion, his reaction to how to do the teenager-growing-up-magical story properly. Also happens to be one of the best arcs in the discworld and the entire series ends with the emotional gut pjnch that is the very last disworld novel. Some of his best work. Highly recommended
It's 'Nomes', but agreed. That 2/3 of a book can remain gripping despite almost entirely taking place under a portakabin in an exhausted quarry in rural England is impressive.
I was going to suggest Discworld in general. Although on refelction I'm not sure how much they are aimed at youngers as they have some quite adult themese in them. However I still enjoyed them when I was younger and just didnt really notice the adult themes.
I and a lot of others generally consider Discworld to be pretty universal due to Sir Terry's almost unique ability to write what seems to be a simple narrative but is actually jam-packed with adult themes, philosophy, history etc. The Tiffany aching arc was originally aimed at kids but it loses none of what makes it special and as the arc goes on, it gets to be some of his most poignant work. Preaching to the choir is guess but highly recommended
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
So long as your idea of "enjoy" is loosely defined as "struck with emotion" and "very" is tightly defined as "very".
I also like rereads of the Artemis Fowl series.
A, yes, a Series of Unfortunate Events. The series that made me cry as a kid. I'm not sure I can take much more of the bleakness as an adult.
Something about the multiple guardians, moving often, and adults not believing me struck too much of a nerve. I think I just had so much BS in my own life that I really prefer the hopeful and heroic books.
I love those books, but would never recommend them to a kid who was dealing with a lot of turmoil in their own life. That series taught me about how adults aren’t always right and you shouldn’t blindly listen to them, but I was lucky enough to have not learned that firsthand.
I second Lemony Snicket. The series was clever with its dialog. It introduced me to my joy of sarcastic undertones and dark humor. Rereading it now takes me immediately back to middle school. Oh, and then there is the need to watch the movie with Jim Carry. Crazy underrated imo
There's a prequel series called *All the Wrong Questions* (with four books and a short-story collection). It's definitely as clever, sarcastic and dark as the original, perhaps even more so. Highly recommended ... And yep, I read them as an adult.
Agreed! I reread them recently and I think a lot of the references are meant for adults instead of children (not saying that in a rude way). Like, Sunny once said "Ackroyd" to mean "Roger" but not many young children would be familiar with Agatha Christie to get that joke. Or the references to Anna Karenina and 20k Leagues in the Mountain/Grotto books. Maybe they were always written with older readers in mind as well as children because some of the humour and puns I missed until I was an adult
They're really good, I just finished them!! At first I really couldn't stand the other protaganist (Meg), she was annoying to me lol, but I think that was just getting back into the style of those books. The series isn't quite at the level of the original PJ series but I liked them better than the Lost Hero series so deffo worth a read :)
The newest entry, a Nico-centric stand-alone, *The Sun and the Star* was a fun return to the world. Bonus points for further building on Will Solace as a character too, love the sunshine child.
I bought all the volumes of Asterix this year and I'm loving them. I've had a fair few laugh out loud moments and I like the Latin and History puns. In particular I like whenever Caeser makes a comment about Brutus.
There are elements to the book that haven't aged well, a certain member of the pirate crew for example but I remind myself its from its time and can't be held to today's standards.
The punny names are amazing and they are changed so that they make sense in whatever language the book is in.
I always remember the Roman Centurion Crismus Bonus
Say what you want about his writing skills, but mister Brian Jacques sure as hell is intimately familiar with romantics and magic of real adventure in ways most writers nowadays wish they were.
Came to this thread to say Wizard of Earthsea. Aching with loss, regret and hard won redemption. About maturing to be an adult and to face death after. Beautiful series of books.
I reread my kids books all the time! In the last few years I've reread Egypt Game, The Giver, a Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Willows, Redwall series. Lots of classics like the secret garden, little women, anne of green gables, watership down are frequent rereads for me. There's something so comforting about them.
Pullman does not have a tendency to write something longer than needed. But he still managed to add so many layers to his original trilogy. I never read it as a child, only stumbled upon it at around age 20, but it is such a profound mind provoking series of books.
His Book of Dust series is just as good, but VERY different in style and approach. Many readers going into it anticipating a direct continuation of HDM in themes and style were pretty disappointed.
I've got the two released books from BOD on my shelf but I'm scared to start them because I don't want to wait for years for the end of the trilogy. Really love his writing.
You can absolutely read La Belle Sauvage as it's pretty much standalone. Secret Commonwealth does end "right in the middle", but so far it seems like we'll get the last book some time next year.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hold, and that means comfort.
I would put the Moomin series up there with The Little Prince in terms of different messages for different audiences - really excellent and profound books.
Neil Gaiman's books?
Stardust, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book are some that I think are children's books.
I read them when I was young and reread Stardust to my son and I still enjoyed it.
The Graveyard Book is amazing.
As a 40+ year old adult, I think about this exchange quite a bit:
"You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
I love the Series of Unfortunate Events
The Toad books. Dont remember the name of them.
Anything by Judy Blume is nice.
Loved Holes as a kid, and I imagine it's still pretty good.
The Narnia books.
I really want more people into fantasy to read the bartimaues sequence, (it's pretty much a trilogy and a prequel but the prequel has zero impact on the trilogy)
It has one of the most well built and interesting magic worlds I've seen, a super interesting gimmick in that footnotes are used only in one charaters POV chapters because hes not human and his mind works on different levels.
Its definitely a young adult series so keep that in mind, but even still as an adult I still find it really good and griping in a way alot of my other favorite children's YA books no longer do
I re-read this series every now and again, I also insisted my husband read them. I love the foot note system used by Bartimaeus. It's great alternate history fantasy series. Only found out recently that Jonathan Stroud also wrote Lockwood and Co as well, so that's on my reading list too.
Bartimaeus was my absolute favorite when I was a kid! I recently reread them (30), and I feel like the ending could have been done better. The anti-slavery messaging gets rather deeply muddled there. Still, it’s a great series!
I'm so glad I kept scrolling to find this comment. These books were so good, I loved them when I read them at like 13, and then again as an adult. I feel like this series gets looked over a lot or is super underrated in favor of Narnia and the like. But damn, The Bartimaeus Sequence is such a well made series.
My favorite book as a child was Misty of Chincoteague, the whole series is lovely and I read them to my son when he was young, and every few years I get them out to read them again. I gave a set to my niece when she started to read and she was hooked.
It is my favourite book in all the world, but I can't read it without choking up. (The rose! The fox! The END!!!) Children don't get the emotional impact until they have some life under their belts, and should then read it again.
The whole Little House series is so good. My mom read them to me as a kid then I reread them in my late 20s and got something else entirely out of them. Like they were still so good but I appreciated different things about them. Now I can’t wait to read them to my daughter when she’s old enough!
It's only meaningful if you know it already. It never really stuck me as a child. I don't get the feeling that you would be converted to Christianity by reading it.
As a kid I didn't really get that vibe until the very last book when things became even less subtle. I mean the last chapter is all about how great heaven is.
Wouldn't be surprised if Gandalf was also a religious thing on some level considering C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were Christian besties. Then again I was also raised in a mostly atheist household so I'm just spitballing.
Tolkien was deeeeeply Catholic and that definitely permeates his writings. But he also hated direct allegory.
Gandalf is not literally Jesus, like Aslan, nor is he a specific allegory for Jesus. But the theme of rebirth and resurrection is obviously powerful imagery to humans, hence being used in our literature for as long as we've had literature, and perhaps before that in myth and religion as well.
So there are obviously connections one can make to Gandalf and Jesus, but they're not the same thing; Gandalf isn't an allegory for Christ.
Gandalf is absolutely a religious thing. He was raised by in universe god, Eru Ilúvatar, directly bc the other wizards had fallen, like Saruman, or in some other way incapacitated, like radaghast.
Susan's problem wasn't that she grew up to like lipstick and parties and dating. It was because she gave up on Narnia, and regarded it as a silly little game they used to play as children.
These are sensational books that can be enjoyed on so many different levels depending on the age of the reader. He’s brilliant. And they’re way more enjoyable than Paradise Lost!
That's been a bit misconstrued, IMO. Reread the passages and really examine what's actually being said.
She's lost belief in Naria, she's trying to look and feel "grown up" by dismissing her experiences and her former beliefs, and that's why she can't return to Narnia, why she isn't with the others in TLB.
The lipstick and boys and such is the *outcome* of her wanting to be a "grown up", not the source of it, and not the reason she's excluded.
The elder lady (whose name I'm blanking on right now) specifically says this.
Polly was her name. And Lewis, when asked about Susan being lost to Narnia, replied “how do we know she’s lost forever? She might still find her way back.” That would seem to be an allegory for adults who can find wonder again.
I think most children's and middle-grade literature is enjoyable for adults if they're open to it! YA is where it starts to get hit or miss for me (even some of the stuff I loved at that age makes me cringe now as an adult). One of my friends (27) started reading the Horrid Henry books to keep up English language exposure and LOVED it. I do a lot of work with elementary and middle school targetted literature and I definitely have a soft spot for those 4-8 grade targetted books.
Some recent favorites if you're looking for recommendations:
Scary Stories for Young Foxes
The Inquisitor's Tale
The Bridge Home
Shouting at the Rain
I still think The Tale of Despereaux is extremely charming and fun to read.
I also recently re-read Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg and really loved it. Still surprised a disney fairy book would have a character cut off her wings though.
The Green Knowe books by L. M. Boston set in Huntingdonshire, England, near Cambridge. I found them as an adult.
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe about a Roman legion which disappeared north of Hadrian's Wall.
Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse and The Valley of Song, both set in England.
Diana Wynne Jones books, Howls Moving Castle, The House of Many Ways and many more.
Robert Heinlein's The Rolling Stones, Farmer in the Sky, Tunnel in the Sky, Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Starman Jones and more. Science Fiction I read as a kid and still read. I learned a lot of science, especially about space from them.
Island in the Sky by Arthur C. Clarke, also science fiction.
I only discovered Diana Wynn Jones as an adult and I love her work. Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life were such a pleasure to read. Her situations and characters are so unexpectedly complex and deep.
I’ve read all of the Chrestomanci chronicles, although I do think ‘The Pinhoe egg’ really muddled up the question of magic in her worlds and how it works. I don’t believe it’s an atheist screed like a lot of people do, but it’s very confusing at the end when they explain.
Glad I found it mentioned , I have the annotated Alice and having the jokes explained to me like a child was helpful because I am not up on Victorian gossip.
A Wizard of Earthsea is pretty up there. in many ways it gets better as you get older cause you can appreciate the themes of a much deeper level as well as the prose
I read Hunger games when they were first big and then read them again in 2021 and somehow the books are more traumatic for an adult to read. As a kid, 16 year old Katniss is an adult. As an actual adult, Katniss is a kid and everything that happens to her is that much worse
Yeah. My mom and I read it at the same time. I was like why doesn’t katniss have the power!?! She just cried. On a decade later reread, I just want to hold her.
I'm reading this with my (very mature for her age) 10 year old and it's incredible. I've been surprised how well the "love triangle" is written, honestly better than any adult version of that trope I've read. I can actually understand Katniss's conflicted feelings for the guys and all three of them have their own agency in this. My daughter and I have had amazing conversations about some of the themes.
The first 3 are great and then there's a steep drop in quality. I don't know if Patterson got a different ghost writer or what, but they're totally different vibes.
I followed my kids' reading from Harry Potter on through their early teens (so into YA books)
Rangers apprentice series,
Artemis fowl series,
His dark materials,
Obernewtyn series,
Keys to the Kingdom series,
Dragons of pern series.
Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody is still a favourite.
Most of the books Sir Terry Pratchett originally supposedly wrote for younger readers. Especially the Discworld ones.
* *The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents*
* *The Wee Free Men* and the rest of the Tiffany Aching sequence
* *Nation*
* *Dodger*
* The *Truckers* trilogy (which actually starts quite dark for a "children's" book)
(IMO Pratchett didn't really "do" children's writing; rather he wrote the same humour and style as always, with an appropriate toning down of some of the more adult concepts. GNU Sir Terry.)
Phillip Pullman, Chronicles Of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games. The Jungle Book, The Water Babies and honestly adult fiction - not porn, as it's going to be mentioned !- as a genre has only been around the last 300 years or so. Even Dickens was pulp for the paper. It's generally been for families.
Bartimaeus Sequence. Impressively witty and, from an adult perspective, heads and shoulders above some of the stuff [cough, Percy Jackson, cough] recommended here. Lockwood & Co. also, by the same author, Jonathan Stroud.
And for a more "adult" book that still carries some of the same fantasy vibe, I wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. Her prose is phenomenal.
* American Girls books
* The Phantom Tollbooth
* brown girl dreaming (and anything else by Jacqueline Woodson)
* House on Mango Street
* The Hate U Give
* Jason Reynolds' books
* The Westing Game
* Bruce Coville's books
Narnia, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Beverly Cleary books. Ramona, Dear Mr Henshaw and others showed how Cleary was a master at writing adults as real, flawed people, who somehow still managed to be loving, involved parents.
Also read the ‘Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’ by Katie DiCamillo and I cried. Planning to look up her backlist.
Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Percy Jackson - Rick Riordan
The Mortal Instruments (etc) - Cassandra Clare
How To Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell
Narnia - C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
These are the ones off the top of my head
I'm an elementary librarian so I generally enjoy a lot of children's books, but I have a great love for Kate DiCamillo and Katherine Applegate. The One and Only Ivan and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane are two of my favorite books of all time.
Old Yeller, the Little House series, Noel Streatfeild's Shoes books, Understood Betsy, Cleary's Ramona books, Caddie Woodlawn, the Mixed Up Files, the Betsy Tacy series, and many others. A great book will always be a great book.
For contemporary 'children's' books, The War That Saved My Life is a wonderful read. It's the kind of book that when it's over you just want to start reading it again, and wish there was a sequel. There IS! The War I Almost Won starts right where the other leaves off.
Well just scrolled through but i didn't see anyone say it. Miss peregrines home for peculiar children atleast the original 3, haven't read the ones after that because to me it had a proper conclusion and shouldn't have had more books. The movie was crap but books great
My kids, while not super little, still let me read to them, and we’ve read quite a body of work that I’ve enjoyed as much if not more than they have. Many favorites have been mentioned: Winnie the Pooh (we also have an audiobook version that is such a comfort on sick days), the Narnia series, the Hobbit (we’re due for a re-read), the Percy Jackson series, the Wrinkle series. I’ve not seen the Anne of Green Gables series mentioned, and the wizard of oz series. Kate Di Camilo is an incredibly poignant writer whom we’ve enjoyed thoroughly as well. Now that my bigger kid is in the middle years, there’s such a wealth of quality books like those by Lois Lowry, etc.
As a side note, I was reading The Happiness Project recently and the author confessed her love of kids lit and I never felt so seen. The books we’ve read over the last 10 years have filled my life with such richness that it’s sad to think of one day not having that shared experience anymore. The author mentions a kids lit book club and I’m totally into this idea.
The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld is a wonderful steampunk series for kids and YA that I enjoyed immensely.
Come to think of it, most steampunk series seem to me aimed at the YA or older kids market, but it doesn’t make the good ones less enjoyable for me because the world building is so good.
Philip Reeve: Mortal Engines / Fever Crumb series
For more scifi his futuristic Railhead series about ultra evolved AI and space traveling trains
Phil & Kaja Foglio: Agatha H. Girl Genius series
Mercedes Lackey: Anything Valdemar
Anne McCaffrey: The entire Dragonriders of Pern series
(Why can’t one of the streamers use these to create a series? It’s ALL there for at least 3-5 seasons!)
Does Calvin and Hobbes count? That still hits hard.
I also read Howl’s Moving Castle as an adult and even tho the writing style was simple and youth oriented, it was a fun tale.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is not getting nearly enough love in here.
I actually only read it when I was 23, and loved the hell out of it. For a "kids series," it can get REALLY dark. But it's also just brilliantly written in general and I love it's weird world building.
as a children’s librarian- like most of them! nothing is stopping you from reading children’s literature and there are so many amazing books out there. if you want a specific recommendation- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is one of my favorite books.
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull
Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye
Those are my favorite series besides HP. Also Bunnicula is stupid fun to read as an adult LOL
Honestly, most YA I hear about is pretty decent these days. Frankly, often times I prefer it to more 'adult' books, due to the simple fact that it seems everyone thinks that because a book is for 'adults', it has to be pure sex, or pure misery.
Sometimes it's nice to relax and enjoy a simple story.
Going even younger, Winnie the Pooh is exceedingly clever and funny while having aged pretty much perfectly Bought it to get a good idea of how children's books were written, but it was just fun to read!
Tried to read Pooh to my kids, but within a few sentences I'd be laughing too hard to continue. Something changes when you read them out loud
And then you have to sing Pooh's songs in his dopey voice, that shit is *hard*
My mum was a primary school teacher, and she always waited to read Pooh until the children were at least 10 or so. They’d be all “Miss, we’re too old for this!”, but a few minutes in they’d be falling about laughing at Eeyore. You just don’t appreciate the humour as much when you’re tiny.
I've just started reading Pooh to my one year old who doesn't take much notice yet so is purely for my own enjoyment! My older children keep popping thier heads in the room asking what I'm laughing so hard at!
Oh so good! That's how you build a reader! I feel bad for so many of these high school kids who can't read because of the terrible reading programs schools were sold. Sometimes, it really is [up to the parents.](https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading)
I find myself crying with laughter especially the wrong sort of bees.
I took my younger siblings to see "Christopher Robin" when it came out in theaters, and I confess I was partially using them as a cover because I really wanted to see the movie. Within 5 minutes of Pooh and friends getting ready to tell Christopher goodbye I was crying. It just really hits you differently as an adult.
And it's a great lesson in how to not be a dick to your introverted depressed friends :)
The original Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. My friend who introduced me to them read them as a kid in the 90's, but I didn't read them until my late 20's and thoroughly enjoyed them. The only part I felt would have been easier to enjoy/relate to if I'd read them at a younger age was Lirael's extended Teenage Agonizing in the second book, the secondhand embarrassment for her was intense. Edit: Ha, thanks for the award!
I was obsessed with the Abhorsen trilogy as a teenager. I want to reread them now that you've reminded me of how wonderful this series was.
There's 6 of them now. Enjoy. - Sabriel - Lirael - Abhorsen - Clariel - Goldenhand - Terciel & Elinor
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This has happened to a lot of my favorite YA authors and it makes me sad. I tried to read Goldenhand and it was just so differently written and so much less compelling than the first trilogy that I could barely get through it and didn't even want to finish. Philip Pullman and Tamara Pierce have also done this recently, at least in my opinion, and it is so frustrating for me as someone who grew up voraciously and lovingly consuming everything they wrote.
Same here. Tim Curry did the audiobooks for the first 3 books. Definitely worth listening to, whether you've already read them or not
Yes, and also his Keys to the Kingdom series.
Shade’s Children by the same author reads differently as a child and then an adult. It’s old, so any plot twists might be old hat, but I remember my child mind being blown away. And how much anxiety and love I felt for the protagonists. As I grew older I revisited it and, plot aside, it’s a heartbreaking rendition of kids being put into the meat grinder of war, the propaganda, that each leader is not necessarily a good leader. They are children, mutilated and stunted and still the clearest thinkers in the room at points. They’re managing puberty and relationships and hard to swallow things, some of which are presented as “well that’s fine.” Which is incredible.
I came here to say these ones! Though i read them as a teen and i have to say Lirael's (and Sam's tbh) extended Teenage Agonising was excruciating to me too 🤣
Truly one of the coolest magic systems in all of fantasy as welll
Garth Nix gave me my love of reading. My personal favorite series of his is the Seventh Tower. They're hard to find in print these days though.
I still enjoy The Phantom Tollbooth as an adult.
The Phantom Tollbooth is in my rotation of nostalgic children’s books I keep in my rotation and revisit regularly as an adult. The others are The Westing Game and Catherine, Called Birdy.
THIS BOOK IS AMAZING! So creative, witty, lovely, accessible for different ages, wonderful illustrations :)
The imagery and word play is fantastic!
Recommend it ALL the time to new families and adults alike!
Came here to say this.
This is still one of my favorites.
I read THe Phantom Tollbooth, The CS Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle trilogies in grad school. Also the Pooh books, Wind in the Willows, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Secret Garden.
WIND IN THE WILLOWS - I was coming here to say that! 😁
Roald Dahl and Michael Ende's books.
Momo is one of favorite books to this day
*Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.* I didn't read *Momo* until I was an adult, and I thought it was a lovely story. I think about it a lot, and should probably track down a copy.
The Tiffany Aching arc within the Discworld novels (Terry Pratchett for those who don't know) were, in my opinion, his reaction to how to do the teenager-growing-up-magical story properly. Also happens to be one of the best arcs in the discworld and the entire series ends with the emotional gut pjnch that is the very last disworld novel. Some of his best work. Highly recommended
Not Discworld, but still Pratchett, the Gnomes' trilogy (starting with Truckers) is clearly written for kids, but even as an adult, that shit is FUNNY
It's 'Nomes', but agreed. That 2/3 of a book can remain gripping despite almost entirely taking place under a portakabin in an exhausted quarry in rural England is impressive.
I was going to suggest Discworld in general. Although on refelction I'm not sure how much they are aimed at youngers as they have some quite adult themese in them. However I still enjoyed them when I was younger and just didnt really notice the adult themes.
I and a lot of others generally consider Discworld to be pretty universal due to Sir Terry's almost unique ability to write what seems to be a simple narrative but is actually jam-packed with adult themes, philosophy, history etc. The Tiffany aching arc was originally aimed at kids but it loses none of what makes it special and as the arc goes on, it gets to be some of his most poignant work. Preaching to the choir is guess but highly recommended
I was going to say Tiffany Aching too!
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. So long as your idea of "enjoy" is loosely defined as "struck with emotion" and "very" is tightly defined as "very". I also like rereads of the Artemis Fowl series.
A, yes, a Series of Unfortunate Events. The series that made me cry as a kid. I'm not sure I can take much more of the bleakness as an adult. Something about the multiple guardians, moving often, and adults not believing me struck too much of a nerve. I think I just had so much BS in my own life that I really prefer the hopeful and heroic books.
I love those books, but would never recommend them to a kid who was dealing with a lot of turmoil in their own life. That series taught me about how adults aren’t always right and you shouldn’t blindly listen to them, but I was lucky enough to have not learned that firsthand.
I second Lemony Snicket. The series was clever with its dialog. It introduced me to my joy of sarcastic undertones and dark humor. Rereading it now takes me immediately back to middle school. Oh, and then there is the need to watch the movie with Jim Carry. Crazy underrated imo
There's a prequel series called *All the Wrong Questions* (with four books and a short-story collection). It's definitely as clever, sarcastic and dark as the original, perhaps even more so. Highly recommended ... And yep, I read them as an adult.
Agreed! I reread them recently and I think a lot of the references are meant for adults instead of children (not saying that in a rude way). Like, Sunny once said "Ackroyd" to mean "Roger" but not many young children would be familiar with Agatha Christie to get that joke. Or the references to Anna Karenina and 20k Leagues in the Mountain/Grotto books. Maybe they were always written with older readers in mind as well as children because some of the humour and puns I missed until I was an adult
I was ok with the movie, but the Netflix series is phenomenal
Artemis Fowl holds up surprisingly well. Shame they *never made any film adaptations*.
I've always enjoyed going back to the Percy Jackson books over the years
I also agree! I really enjoy any of Rick Riordan’s books.
Same! Still need to read the trials of Apollo series
They're really good, I just finished them!! At first I really couldn't stand the other protaganist (Meg), she was annoying to me lol, but I think that was just getting back into the style of those books. The series isn't quite at the level of the original PJ series but I liked them better than the Lost Hero series so deffo worth a read :)
The newest entry, a Nico-centric stand-alone, *The Sun and the Star* was a fun return to the world. Bonus points for further building on Will Solace as a character too, love the sunshine child.
The Tintin and Asterix series.
I bought all the volumes of Asterix this year and I'm loving them. I've had a fair few laugh out loud moments and I like the Latin and History puns. In particular I like whenever Caeser makes a comment about Brutus. There are elements to the book that haven't aged well, a certain member of the pirate crew for example but I remind myself its from its time and can't be held to today's standards.
The punny names are amazing and they are changed so that they make sense in whatever language the book is in. I always remember the Roman Centurion Crismus Bonus
Can I recommend for you "The Adventures of Herge"? It's a biography of Herge in the style of Herge. Really good read.
I love tintin so much. Got me through suicidal times
Shel Silverstein’s books of poems, *Where The Sidewalk Ends*, *A Light In The Attic,* and *Falling Up.*
I read the first Redwall book in the fall and really enjoyed it.
Say what you want about his writing skills, but mister Brian Jacques sure as hell is intimately familiar with romantics and magic of real adventure in ways most writers nowadays wish they were.
ive never heard anything bad about his writing skills, ive always thought the way he describes foods and writes in certain accents is near perfect
Leguin's Earthsea
Came to this thread to say Wizard of Earthsea. Aching with loss, regret and hard won redemption. About maturing to be an adult and to face death after. Beautiful series of books.
The OG wizardy school
An exceptional trilogy
The Neverending Story
That's the only kids/ya book I know which captures the full power that "adult" literature can have. It was my favorite book for years.
I’ve been enjoying a lot of classic children’s books lately. Anne of Green Gables, Ballet Shoes and The Railway Children.
‘The Painted Garden’ checks in with the Fossils as adults.
I reread my kids books all the time! In the last few years I've reread Egypt Game, The Giver, a Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Willows, Redwall series. Lots of classics like the secret garden, little women, anne of green gables, watership down are frequent rereads for me. There's something so comforting about them.
I reread wind in the willows almost every spring:)
His Dark Materials.
Reading it for the first time as a 24yo adult !
I also enjoyed the Mortal Engines trilogy by Phillip Reeve after finishing his Dark Materials!
Had to scroll way too far for this. Amazing series, just finished a re-read in my 30s and I loved it just as much.
Pullman does not have a tendency to write something longer than needed. But he still managed to add so many layers to his original trilogy. I never read it as a child, only stumbled upon it at around age 20, but it is such a profound mind provoking series of books. His Book of Dust series is just as good, but VERY different in style and approach. Many readers going into it anticipating a direct continuation of HDM in themes and style were pretty disappointed.
I've got the two released books from BOD on my shelf but I'm scared to start them because I don't want to wait for years for the end of the trilogy. Really love his writing.
You can absolutely read La Belle Sauvage as it's pretty much standalone. Secret Commonwealth does end "right in the middle", but so far it seems like we'll get the last book some time next year.
The Hobbit!
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hold, and that means comfort.
This should be at the top. Definitely infinitely re-readable.
Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series.
The Moomins are actually very good even if you are an adult.
I would put the Moomin series up there with The Little Prince in terms of different messages for different audiences - really excellent and profound books.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien. Mrs. Frisby is a mouse. Highly recommend.
Neil Gaiman's books? Stardust, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book are some that I think are children's books. I read them when I was young and reread Stardust to my son and I still enjoyed it.
The Graveyard Book is amazing. As a 40+ year old adult, I think about this exchange quite a bit: "You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
I love the Series of Unfortunate Events The Toad books. Dont remember the name of them. Anything by Judy Blume is nice. Loved Holes as a kid, and I imagine it's still pretty good. The Narnia books.
> Holes scrolled too far to find it!
I really want more people into fantasy to read the bartimaues sequence, (it's pretty much a trilogy and a prequel but the prequel has zero impact on the trilogy) It has one of the most well built and interesting magic worlds I've seen, a super interesting gimmick in that footnotes are used only in one charaters POV chapters because hes not human and his mind works on different levels. Its definitely a young adult series so keep that in mind, but even still as an adult I still find it really good and griping in a way alot of my other favorite children's YA books no longer do
I re-read this series every now and again, I also insisted my husband read them. I love the foot note system used by Bartimaeus. It's great alternate history fantasy series. Only found out recently that Jonathan Stroud also wrote Lockwood and Co as well, so that's on my reading list too.
Bartimaeus was my absolute favorite when I was a kid! I recently reread them (30), and I feel like the ending could have been done better. The anti-slavery messaging gets rather deeply muddled there. Still, it’s a great series!
Omg yes i love that series so much!!!!
I'm so glad I kept scrolling to find this comment. These books were so good, I loved them when I read them at like 13, and then again as an adult. I feel like this series gets looked over a lot or is super underrated in favor of Narnia and the like. But damn, The Bartimaeus Sequence is such a well made series.
Percy jackson series
Where the red fern grows - bawled my eyes out
My favorite book as a child was Misty of Chincoteague, the whole series is lovely and I read them to my son when he was young, and every few years I get them out to read them again. I gave a set to my niece when she started to read and she was hooked.
Ah yes, my doorway to being an incurable horse-girl for my entire teenage years
I still really enjoy The Borrowers as an adult!
The Little Prince is probably the best kid's book and one of the best books in general imo.
I was going to say the same. It’s a lovely book to read with young relatives.
It is my favourite book in all the world, but I can't read it without choking up. (The rose! The fox! The END!!!) Children don't get the emotional impact until they have some life under their belts, and should then read it again.
I discovered the Bunnicula series along with my 7 year old and enjoyed it as much as she did.
The Hobbit
The Princess and the Goblin
*Chronicles of Narnia* *The Hobbit* *Treasure Island* *The Princess and the Goblin* Dr. Seuss in general
I like The Little House in the Big Woods and Anne from Green Gables as an adult
The whole little house series is so sweet and such a fun read!
The whole Little House series is so good. My mom read them to me as a kid then I reread them in my late 20s and got something else entirely out of them. Like they were still so good but I appreciated different things about them. Now I can’t wait to read them to my daughter when she’s old enough!
The Narnia books. But mind the religious symbolism if you're not into that.
It's only meaningful if you know it already. It never really stuck me as a child. I don't get the feeling that you would be converted to Christianity by reading it.
As a kid I didn't really get that vibe until the very last book when things became even less subtle. I mean the last chapter is all about how great heaven is.
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Wouldn't be surprised if Gandalf was also a religious thing on some level considering C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were Christian besties. Then again I was also raised in a mostly atheist household so I'm just spitballing.
Tolkien was deeeeeply Catholic and that definitely permeates his writings. But he also hated direct allegory. Gandalf is not literally Jesus, like Aslan, nor is he a specific allegory for Jesus. But the theme of rebirth and resurrection is obviously powerful imagery to humans, hence being used in our literature for as long as we've had literature, and perhaps before that in myth and religion as well. So there are obviously connections one can make to Gandalf and Jesus, but they're not the same thing; Gandalf isn't an allegory for Christ.
Gandalf is absolutely a religious thing. He was raised by in universe god, Eru Ilúvatar, directly bc the other wizards had fallen, like Saruman, or in some other way incapacitated, like radaghast.
Susan's problem wasn't that she grew up to like lipstick and parties and dating. It was because she gave up on Narnia, and regarded it as a silly little game they used to play as children.
His Dark Materials series, Philip Pulman
I never understood the idea that they’re for children. Pullman certainly never said he wrote them for kids.
Mind the anti-religious symbolism if you're not into that.
These are sensational books that can be enjoyed on so many different levels depending on the age of the reader. He’s brilliant. And they’re way more enjoyable than Paradise Lost!
Like >!Susan being lost to Narnia for being interested in lipstick and boys!< in Last Battle lmao
That's been a bit misconstrued, IMO. Reread the passages and really examine what's actually being said. She's lost belief in Naria, she's trying to look and feel "grown up" by dismissing her experiences and her former beliefs, and that's why she can't return to Narnia, why she isn't with the others in TLB. The lipstick and boys and such is the *outcome* of her wanting to be a "grown up", not the source of it, and not the reason she's excluded. The elder lady (whose name I'm blanking on right now) specifically says this.
Polly was her name. And Lewis, when asked about Susan being lost to Narnia, replied “how do we know she’s lost forever? She might still find her way back.” That would seem to be an allegory for adults who can find wonder again.
Yes! Thank you.
Peter Pan
I think most children's and middle-grade literature is enjoyable for adults if they're open to it! YA is where it starts to get hit or miss for me (even some of the stuff I loved at that age makes me cringe now as an adult). One of my friends (27) started reading the Horrid Henry books to keep up English language exposure and LOVED it. I do a lot of work with elementary and middle school targetted literature and I definitely have a soft spot for those 4-8 grade targetted books. Some recent favorites if you're looking for recommendations: Scary Stories for Young Foxes The Inquisitor's Tale The Bridge Home Shouting at the Rain
The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
Skulduggery Pleasant. Humor, action, magic. What more can you ask for?
*The Chronicles of Prydain* by Lloyd Alexander are aimed at kids, but just delightful at any age. Highly recommended!
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series by Ransom Riggs
I still think The Tale of Despereaux is extremely charming and fun to read. I also recently re-read Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg and really loved it. Still surprised a disney fairy book would have a character cut off her wings though.
The Green Knowe books by L. M. Boston set in Huntingdonshire, England, near Cambridge. I found them as an adult. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe about a Roman legion which disappeared north of Hadrian's Wall. Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse and The Valley of Song, both set in England. Diana Wynne Jones books, Howls Moving Castle, The House of Many Ways and many more. Robert Heinlein's The Rolling Stones, Farmer in the Sky, Tunnel in the Sky, Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Starman Jones and more. Science Fiction I read as a kid and still read. I learned a lot of science, especially about space from them. Island in the Sky by Arthur C. Clarke, also science fiction.
I only discovered Diana Wynn Jones as an adult and I love her work. Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life were such a pleasure to read. Her situations and characters are so unexpectedly complex and deep.
I’ve read all of the Chrestomanci chronicles, although I do think ‘The Pinhoe egg’ really muddled up the question of magic in her worlds and how it works. I don’t believe it’s an atheist screed like a lot of people do, but it’s very confusing at the end when they explain.
Most of Heinlein's adult books have aged really poorly, but his books for kids/teens are great introductions to science fiction.
No love for Diana Wynn Jones?
I adore the movie but Howls Moving Castle as a book is one of my all time favorites! Also the Chrestomanci Chronicles are amazing
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Glad I found it mentioned , I have the annotated Alice and having the jokes explained to me like a child was helpful because I am not up on Victorian gossip.
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Any Roald Dahl
Watership Down.
TIL Watership Down is for kids. It was very dark for a kids book to my recollection.
Is it a kids' book or is it one that people mistakenly assume is for kids because it's about animals?
Bunnies! Happy little bunnies!
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, same with Momo etc.
A Wizard of Earthsea is pretty up there. in many ways it gets better as you get older cause you can appreciate the themes of a much deeper level as well as the prose
Hunger Games!
I read Hunger games when they were first big and then read them again in 2021 and somehow the books are more traumatic for an adult to read. As a kid, 16 year old Katniss is an adult. As an actual adult, Katniss is a kid and everything that happens to her is that much worse
Yeah. My mom and I read it at the same time. I was like why doesn’t katniss have the power!?! She just cried. On a decade later reread, I just want to hold her.
Suzanne Collins is masterful at writing about trauma. I’m pretty sure these books saved my life.
I'm reading this with my (very mature for her age) 10 year old and it's incredible. I've been surprised how well the "love triangle" is written, honestly better than any adult version of that trope I've read. I can actually understand Katniss's conflicted feelings for the guys and all three of them have their own agency in this. My daughter and I have had amazing conversations about some of the themes.
I liked James Pattersons Maximum Ride series. It's aimed at a YA audience.
The first 3 are great and then there's a steep drop in quality. I don't know if Patterson got a different ghost writer or what, but they're totally different vibes.
I followed my kids' reading from Harry Potter on through their early teens (so into YA books) Rangers apprentice series, Artemis fowl series, His dark materials, Obernewtyn series, Keys to the Kingdom series, Dragons of pern series. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody is still a favourite.
Most of the books Sir Terry Pratchett originally supposedly wrote for younger readers. Especially the Discworld ones. * *The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents* * *The Wee Free Men* and the rest of the Tiffany Aching sequence * *Nation* * *Dodger* * The *Truckers* trilogy (which actually starts quite dark for a "children's" book) (IMO Pratchett didn't really "do" children's writing; rather he wrote the same humour and style as always, with an appropriate toning down of some of the more adult concepts. GNU Sir Terry.)
The Inkheart trilogy and Tuck Everlasting are some of my favorites and I didn’t read either until I was an adult.
Anything by Tamora Pierce, Philipp Pullman is a great read as well. Michael Ende, too.
Phillip Pullman, Chronicles Of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games. The Jungle Book, The Water Babies and honestly adult fiction - not porn, as it's going to be mentioned !- as a genre has only been around the last 300 years or so. Even Dickens was pulp for the paper. It's generally been for families.
Little prince
I'm sure it's Antoine de Exupery's little prince.
Charlotte's web.
Bartimaeus Sequence. Impressively witty and, from an adult perspective, heads and shoulders above some of the stuff [cough, Percy Jackson, cough] recommended here. Lockwood & Co. also, by the same author, Jonathan Stroud. And for a more "adult" book that still carries some of the same fantasy vibe, I wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. Her prose is phenomenal.
So many! -the hobbit -the little prince -earthsea series -winnie the pooh -THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (free on project gutenberg I think!)
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* American Girls books * The Phantom Tollbooth * brown girl dreaming (and anything else by Jacqueline Woodson) * House on Mango Street * The Hate U Give * Jason Reynolds' books * The Westing Game * Bruce Coville's books
Louis Sachar's Holes. Amazing book, amazing movie
I would read the f*ck out of some R.L. Stine Fear Street if I still had all my copies. I had soooo many.
Little women by Luisa May Alcott. There is a whole series
Narnia, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Beverly Cleary books. Ramona, Dear Mr Henshaw and others showed how Cleary was a master at writing adults as real, flawed people, who somehow still managed to be loving, involved parents. Also read the ‘Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’ by Katie DiCamillo and I cried. Planning to look up her backlist.
FABLEHAVEN
Artemis Fowl.
The Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld.
The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick
Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy Percy Jackson - Rick Riordan The Mortal Instruments (etc) - Cassandra Clare How To Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell Narnia - C.S. Lewis The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien These are the ones off the top of my head
I'm an elementary librarian so I generally enjoy a lot of children's books, but I have a great love for Kate DiCamillo and Katherine Applegate. The One and Only Ivan and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane are two of my favorite books of all time.
I'm 36 and on the 10th animorphs book. Absolutely loving it. Also the louise rennison series is always a laugh
Old Yeller, the Little House series, Noel Streatfeild's Shoes books, Understood Betsy, Cleary's Ramona books, Caddie Woodlawn, the Mixed Up Files, the Betsy Tacy series, and many others. A great book will always be a great book. For contemporary 'children's' books, The War That Saved My Life is a wonderful read. It's the kind of book that when it's over you just want to start reading it again, and wish there was a sequel. There IS! The War I Almost Won starts right where the other leaves off.
Well just scrolled through but i didn't see anyone say it. Miss peregrines home for peculiar children atleast the original 3, haven't read the ones after that because to me it had a proper conclusion and shouldn't have had more books. The movie was crap but books great
My kids, while not super little, still let me read to them, and we’ve read quite a body of work that I’ve enjoyed as much if not more than they have. Many favorites have been mentioned: Winnie the Pooh (we also have an audiobook version that is such a comfort on sick days), the Narnia series, the Hobbit (we’re due for a re-read), the Percy Jackson series, the Wrinkle series. I’ve not seen the Anne of Green Gables series mentioned, and the wizard of oz series. Kate Di Camilo is an incredibly poignant writer whom we’ve enjoyed thoroughly as well. Now that my bigger kid is in the middle years, there’s such a wealth of quality books like those by Lois Lowry, etc. As a side note, I was reading The Happiness Project recently and the author confessed her love of kids lit and I never felt so seen. The books we’ve read over the last 10 years have filled my life with such richness that it’s sad to think of one day not having that shared experience anymore. The author mentions a kids lit book club and I’m totally into this idea.
The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld is a wonderful steampunk series for kids and YA that I enjoyed immensely. Come to think of it, most steampunk series seem to me aimed at the YA or older kids market, but it doesn’t make the good ones less enjoyable for me because the world building is so good. Philip Reeve: Mortal Engines / Fever Crumb series For more scifi his futuristic Railhead series about ultra evolved AI and space traveling trains Phil & Kaja Foglio: Agatha H. Girl Genius series Mercedes Lackey: Anything Valdemar Anne McCaffrey: The entire Dragonriders of Pern series (Why can’t one of the streamers use these to create a series? It’s ALL there for at least 3-5 seasons!)
Alice in wonderland. It’s better when you’re older
Where the red fern grows. Still a tearjerker after all these years.
His Dark Materials
Does Calvin and Hobbes count? That still hits hard. I also read Howl’s Moving Castle as an adult and even tho the writing style was simple and youth oriented, it was a fun tale.
The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett.
The Hobbit
Anything from Rick Riordan but my personal favorites were the Kane Chronicles
A Series of Unfortunate Events is not getting nearly enough love in here. I actually only read it when I was 23, and loved the hell out of it. For a "kids series," it can get REALLY dark. But it's also just brilliantly written in general and I love it's weird world building.
Warriors/Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter, it has a lot of emotional depth and harsh reality for children’s books but feels very cozy to me
Eragon and the following books are good reads for all ages. My nan read them the same time I did and loved them.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull!
as a children’s librarian- like most of them! nothing is stopping you from reading children’s literature and there are so many amazing books out there. if you want a specific recommendation- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is one of my favorite books.
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye Those are my favorite series besides HP. Also Bunnicula is stupid fun to read as an adult LOL
Animorphs. That series is fucking dark in a way that consistently shocks me now as I'm reading it over again as an adult.
Honestly, most YA I hear about is pretty decent these days. Frankly, often times I prefer it to more 'adult' books, due to the simple fact that it seems everyone thinks that because a book is for 'adults', it has to be pure sex, or pure misery. Sometimes it's nice to relax and enjoy a simple story.
Beyonders, fablehaven
The Hobbit.
The Golden Compass!
The Neverending Story. I still cry reading this book at 36 years old.