# It's just a kid's book!! Well, so are these. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031 "2005-07-18T20:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/1 "2005-07-18T20:28:38Z")
I keep hearing people say this about the Harry Potter series, as if books for kids are automatically lesser, or something. So I want a list of really good books that are ostensibly for children, but are just as good (or even better) than “regular” literature. I’ll start with Little Women and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/2 "2005-07-18T20:31:41Z")
The Chronicles of Narnia ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/3 "2005-07-18T20:33:03Z")
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/4 "2005-07-18T20:33:48Z")
Grimm’s Fairytales. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/5 "2005-07-18T20:34:29Z")
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (and Tom Sawyer). ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/6 "2005-07-18T20:37:56Z")
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien1 ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/7 "2005-07-18T20:45:29Z")
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/8 "2005-07-18T20:48:52Z")
Aesop’s Fables, Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Books” and “Just So Stories”, Gene Stratton-Porter’s “Freckles”, Marshall Saunders’ "Beautiful Joe"Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy, Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series, Diane Duane’s So You Want to Be a Wizard series and the offshoots “Book of Night With Moon” and “To Visit the Queen”, not to mention the Norby the Robot series to name a few. I’m going to read Brian Jacques’ [Redwall series](http://www.redwall.org/) someday too. Ah, mustn’t forget Eragon by Christopher Paolini, it was long, but the story was good. And I liked Mister Monday by Garth Nix too. I intend to read the next books in both those series. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/9 "2005-07-18T20:50:53Z")
**At The Back of the North Wind** , by George MacDonald.\* - If I recall his name correctly. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/10 "2005-07-18T20:54:28Z")
**Lord of the Flies** ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/11 "2005-07-18T20:58:16Z")
“My Pet Goat” ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/12 "2005-07-18T21:00:45Z")
A Wrinkle In Time, A Wind In The Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L’Engle. The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/13 "2005-07-18T21:02:36Z")
All Roald Dahl’s books ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/14 "2005-07-18T21:03:36Z")
_Island of the Blue Dolphins_ by Scott O’Dell _Walk Two Moons_ by Sharon Creech _Holes_ by Louis Sachar _The View From Saturday_ by E.L. Konigsburg _An Old Fashioned Girl_ by Louisa May Alcott _Hatchet_ by Gary Paulsen _Watership Down_ by Richard Adams _The Prydain Chronicles_ by Lloyd Alexander ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/15 "2005-07-18T21:16:15Z")
My Lady and the other worthy posters have covered most of the titles that I’ve thought of, though I must add The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley I also wanted to share a few quotes attributed to C.S. Lewis that I try to keep in mind: No book is really worth reading at age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty–except, of course, books of information. The only imaginative works we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read at all. …a children’s story which is only enjoyed by children is a bad children’s story. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifth, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a time table. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/16 "2005-07-18T21:18:27Z")
All the **Mary Poppins** books by P.L. Travers. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/17 "2005-07-18T21:22:36Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a time table. Sing it! ITA. _The Phantom Tollbooth_ by Norton Juster _The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger_ by Noel Langley \*\*A Secret Garden \*\* and _A LIttle Princess_ by ??? (mind went blank on me) **Wolves of Willoughby Chase** --ack! again with the no memory! **Julie of the Wolves** and the rest of the series **Old Yeller** **Last of the Mohicans** and and all Kipling We could do this all day… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/18 "2005-07-18T21:29:18Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > \*\*A Secret Garden \*\* and _A LIttle Princess_ by ??? (mind went blank on me) > **Wolves of Willoughby Chase** --ack! again with the no memory! Frances Hodgson Burnett and Joan Aiken, respectively. I’d say the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix, Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, and Narnia by CS Lewis are the very top of the heap. Though I’d like to wedge Diana Wynne Jones and the brilliant Robin McKinley in there somewhere. And His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman is a good 'un. And no forgetting EB White. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/19 "2005-07-18T21:34:21Z")
_Incident at Hawk’s Hill_ by Allan W. Eckert _The Sara Summer_ by Mary Downing Hahn _The Maze at the Center of the Castle_, but I can’t seem to find this book anywhere (even though I _know_ I read it over a summer once) so I don’t know the author. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/20 "2005-07-18T21:49:40Z")
I’m using “kid’s books” to try and get my youthful-minded but not-into-reading boyfriend to expand his horizons a little bit. For Valentine’s day he received: **The Giver** by Lois Lowry and **A Light in the Attic** by Shel Silverstein During a recent visit we were talking about something random and I linked the conversation to one of the books of the **a Wrinkle in Time** series… he’d never even heard of them. I scurried over to the bookshelf, grabbed a stack of three paperbacks, and plunked them in his hands to read on the plane ride home. Good thing he has a long commute now. He’s at my mercy. _rubs hands wickedly_ Also, my ex’s favorite book is **Interstellar Pig** by the famous author **Ms V is too damned lazy to Google**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031.md?page=2)