# Do You Read Juvenile Literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986 "2011-11-15T06:18:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/21 "2011-11-15T15:53:05Z")
I read it all the time. I love Susan Cooper and I usually enjoy Philip Pullman. I always browse the YA section at the library. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/22 "2011-11-15T15:58:00Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > another quick thought - I think there is much to be gained from reading “Tuck Everlasting” and “The Giver”. more interesting and insightful philosophical thoughts than in many ‘adult’ fiction books I’ve read than were purportedly covering similar ground. Yes, good call. They are wonderful books. I do, and I love them enough that I’m actually in grad school to become a children’s/YA librarian. I’m re-reading the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor right now. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/23 "2011-11-15T16:04:28Z")
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” -C. S. Lewis While I don’t _completely_ agree, I have a great deal of sympathy with the sentiment. There’s some kids’ books that I have definitely outgrown, or at least wouldn’t get as much out of now as when I was a kid. But the really good books for young readers still have a lot to offer older readers as well. I’ve been including juvenile literature as part of my literary diet for as long as I’ve been reading. As an adult, I’ve re-read favorites from childhood, read books that I should have read in childhood but somehow missed, and investigated some of the newer stuff that’s been written since I grew up, from the latest “big things” to less widely known stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/24 "2011-11-15T16:18:01Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” -C. S. Lewis > > While I don’t _completely_ agree, I have a great deal of sympathy with the sentiment. There’s some kids’ books that I have definitely outgrown, or at least wouldn’t get as much out of now as when I was a kid. But the really good books for young readers still have a lot to offer older readers as well. I think there’s also a different way of appreciating stuff you liked as a kid. I always enjoyed Maurice Sendak as a kid. But now that I’m older, I can appreciate what he did on a higher level – things like how he structured the objects he was drawing on the page – that I never even knew about when I was much younger. Or stuff like how difficult it is to write a really good early reader. Frog and Toad may not be War and Peace, but when you really think about it, writing a book for kids who are just learning to read that’s funny with fairly well developed characters is seriously hard. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/25 "2011-11-15T16:49:01Z")
Not often. I read and enjoyed the Harry Potter books, and I like Terry Pratchett’s YA stuff, but I’ve not been exposed to much YA lit since I was a child myself, and I don’t seek it out. I read _Percy Jackson & the Olympians_ and thought it was dumb and didn’t bother with the rest of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/26 "2011-11-15T18:00:37Z")
Sometimes you re-read books and they suck. A Wrinkle in Time was my all-time favorite childhood book, and when I re-read it, I absolutely hated it. All of the kids were whiny little shits, and Charles, a little stuck-up Mary Sue. I was all :(. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/27 "2011-11-15T18:08:06Z")
Juvenile, young adult, adult, I read it all. I think I even have a Boynton book or two that are aimed at early readers, just because they’re fun to read ([Hippos Go Berserk](http://www.amazon.com/Hippos-Go-Berserk-Sandra-Boynton/dp/0689834349/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321380358&sr=8-1-spell) and [But Not the Hippopotamus](http://www.amazon.com/But-Not-Hippopotamus-Sandra-Boynton/dp/0671449044/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321380358&sr=8-2-spell), anyone?). ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/28 "2011-11-15T18:12:05Z")
I’ll read just about anything if it looks interesting. I read _The House With a Clock In Its Walls_ recently because of the Edward Gorey illustrations, and that was intended for middle graders. _The Amazing Maurice_ is one of my favorite Pratchett books, and I believe one of his favorites. And I’ll reread favorites from when I was a kid like the Chronicles of Prydain or Narnia. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/29 "2011-11-15T18:18:04Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Juvenile, young adult, adult, I read it all. I think I even have a Boynton book or two that are aimed at early readers, just because they’re fun to read ([Hippos Go Berserk](http://www.amazon.com/Hippos-Go-Berserk-Sandra-Boynton/dp/0689834349/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321380358&sr=8-1-spell) and [But Not the Hippopotamus](http://www.amazon.com/But-Not-Hippopotamus-Sandra-Boynton/dp/0671449044/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321380358&sr=8-2-spell), anyone?). Oh no, it’s [Blue Hat Green Hat](http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Hat-Green-Sandra-Boynton/dp/0671493205) for me all the way. I love children’s lit. From wordless boardbooks all the way up to YA, I read it all, and love every minute of it. @ **FS** - I was seriously tempted to become a Children’s/YA librarian also, but I’m in a fairly secure place now, and don’t want to move, so I’m just doing a concentration. Term before this one, I “HAD” to read and review 50 YA books from across genres. It was awesome. Next term I get ‘diversity in picture books’ and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/30 "2011-11-15T18:33:44Z")
Yes, I do, though more YA than juvenile. I think YA has come so far in nuance since I was a YA myself. I’ve got no problem with browsing through the juvenile section either. For the YA readers, check out [Forever Young Adult](http://www.foreveryoungadult.com/) if you haven’t already. I attend the local book club and we have a great time reading a different YA novel each month. And the age range of the group runs from mid 20s to almost 40. 🙂 ETA: For those in library school - I am a librarian, but academic, not public. I took the YA Lit class for fun though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/31 "2011-11-15T18:39:32Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > @ **FS** - I was seriously tempted to become a Children’s/YA librarian also, but I’m in a fairly secure place now, and don’t want to move, so I’m just doing a concentration. Term before this one, I “HAD” to read and review 50 YA books from across genres. It was awesome. Next term I get ‘diversity in picture books’ and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. Very cool, **Lasciel**! I took a really wonderful graphic novels class last summer. So much fun. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/32 "2011-11-15T19:14:46Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > I’ll read just about anything if it looks interesting. > > I read _The House With a Clock In Its Walls_ recently because of the Edward Gorey illustrations, and that was intended for middle graders. I think I have most if not all of Bellairs’ books, plus a few by Brad Strickland, who wrote a couple of sequels based on Bellairs’ notes after he kicked it. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. He did write an adult novel, called [The Face in the Frost](http://www.amazon.com/Face-Frost-John-Bellairs/dp/158754105X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321384172&sr=8-1). I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/33 "2011-11-15T21:52:53Z")
I love children’s and YA lit. I’ve still got a whole bunch of books from my childhood that I reread often when I need “comfort books” (mostly paperbacks from the Arrow and TAB book clubs, along with several Three Investigators books and a whole slew of Trixie Belden). I haven’t read too much recent stuff (though I did finish \*Lemonade Mouth \*recently after watching the Disney movie and enjoying it). Not sure why I like it so much–maybe because it’s cleaner (in the sense that the plots are less convoluted for the sake of being convoluted) and has less overt sex in it (sex scenes, especially explicit ones, bore me). My taste in adult novels tends toward horror, mystery, science fiction, and the occasional nonfiction piece, but I always find myself going back to my childhood/teen years when I just want to curl up with a nice warm book. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/34 "2011-11-15T22:17:26Z")
Good literature is good literature. Good juvenile literature is good literature. I first read _The Wind in the Willows_ about ten years ago. I’m 55. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/35 "2011-11-15T22:27:24Z")
Yes, sometimes. I never got around to reading \*\*\*\*Sounder \*\*\*\*or _ **Wizard of Oz** _ or _ **Island of the Blue Dolphins** _ as a kid, so I’ve read them as an adult, as well as stuff like _ **HP** _ that didn’t exist when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/36 "2011-11-15T22:59:03Z")
Yup. I just read 5 Moomintroll books in a row; got them for my birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/37 "2011-11-15T23:27:35Z")
Any love for children’s lit from earlier years/centuries? Looks like _The Wind in the Willows_ (1908) is the earliest kidlit fave mentioned thus far. My addictions: **Chronic:** [Horatio Alger, Jr.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Alger,_Jr.) stories for boys, published from the Civil War up to the end of the 19th century (and beyond, posthumously). Formulaic plots, lousy writing, and hints of latent ephebophilia all contribute to the well-deserved oblivion of these books in modern juvenile literature, but somehow they’re still enormously fun and likeable in a weird way. **Periodic:** Louisa May Alcott (_Little Women_, _Eight Cousins_, etc.) and Laura Ingalls Wilder (the _Little House_ books). Somewhat dated but well structured and well written, and consequently still popular today, with recent film and TV adaptations. If you like the better-known titles by these authors it’s worth seeking out the lesser-known ones. **Occasional:** Martha Finley’s _Elsie Dinsmore_ novels (and related series like the _Mildred Keith_ books) from the mid- to late 19th century. Frankly horrific girl-readers propaganda for hard-core Protestant fundamentalism back before _The Fundamentals_ was even written, but worth it mostly for the unintentional hilarity of the dialogue and plots. Creepy paternal possessiveness and melodramatic family feuds (periodically leaving our heroine seriously ill and/or at death’s door over such profound points of religious doctrine as whether little Elsie is allowed to play a waltz on the piano on Sundays) unmask these nominally wholesome moral tracts as crypto-Gothic forerunners of modern schlock like V. C. Andrews novels or the _Twilight_ books. The Finley franchises have been [recently revised and updated](http://www.alof.com/meet_the_heroines.html) (with abridged books and a line of dolls a la “American Girls”) for the current crop of conservative-Christian girl readers, who have some interesting surprises in store for them if they ever decide to investigate the original novels by Finley. **You’d think I’d be interested in rereading these but actually I never have:** The L. Frank Baum _Oz_ books. Anybody else tried picking these up again as an adult? Was it worth it? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/38 "2011-11-15T23:32:51Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > **You’d think I’d be interested in rereading these but actually I never have:** The L. Frank Baum _Oz_ books. Anybody else tried picking these up again as an adult? Was it worth it? From June: [The Oz books are seriously screwed up](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=612565) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/39 "2011-11-15T23:43:26Z")
I often re-read the Narnia books, the Harry Potter series, the Little House series, and other juvenile series. And of course, the greatest of them all: [ul] [li]_[Rocket Ship Galileo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Ship_Galileo)_[/li][li]_[Space Cadet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadet)_[/li][li]_[Red Planet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Planet_%28novel%29)_[/li][li]_[Between Planets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Planets)_[/li][li]_[The Rolling Stones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones_%28novel%29)_[/li][li]_[Farmer in the Sky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmer_in_the_Sky)_[/li][li]_[Starman Jones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starman_Jones)_[/li][li]_[The Star Beast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Beast)_[/li][li]_[Tunnel in the Sky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_in_the_Sky)_[/li][li]_[Time for the Stars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_for_the_Stars)_[/li][li]_[Citizen of the Galaxy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_of_the_Galaxy)_[/li][li]_[Have Space Suit—Will Travel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Space_Suit%E2%80%94Will_Travel)_[/li][/ul] RIP, RAH. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986/40 "2011-11-16T01:37:52Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > **Occasional:** Martha Finley’s _Elsie Dinsmore_ novels … I read a bunch of those a while back. It was like a train wreck; I couldn’t stop myself from looking at the horror! I do like old-fashioned children’s lit, and my e-reader is crammed with Charlotte Yonge and “Golden Hours.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-juvenile-literature/602986.md?page=3)