# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/61 "2005-07-19T13:54:43Z")
> [@Lissla Lissar](#): > > I absolutely adore Chaim Potok, but I don’t think The Chosen is a kid’s book. It’s a coming-of-age-novel, certainly, but not for kids. [The Diary of a Young Girl](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385480334/qid=1121780546/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/002-9029472-4817667) by Anne Frank could probably also be described as another coming of age novel, but children seem to grasp a lot of it. And, to an adult: _“…memories mean more to me than dresses.”_ We can only wonder what an author she might have become. > [@Lissla Lissar](#): > > Has anyone mentioned L. M. Montgomery? The _Anne_ series, the _Emily_ series. :smack: I’m heading up to Prince Edward Island next week for my annual summer vacation with my aunt. I can’t believe I didn’t think of her :smack: Some references have been made to books that are out of print. For those interested, I’ve found a few sites that collate used/out of print book services: [Bookfinder.com](http://www.bookfinder.com/) and [Addall.com](http://used.addall.com/) best to all, plynck ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/62 "2005-07-19T14:41:38Z")
Gah! I’m too late to be the first to recommend John Bellairs and William Sleator! Hmmm…did anyone say John D. Fitzgerald’s Great Brain series yet? I recently re-read a couple of beloved childhood favorites: Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp (ghost story!) and The Mad Scientist’s Club by Bertrand or Bertram Brinley. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/63 "2005-07-19T15:16:29Z")
What about SE Hinton’s books? The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, etc. I guess you could call her more young adult than pure children’s but I know many who enjoyed them around 5th-6th grade. Plus I would say Harry Potter is venturing into Young Adult territory now too. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/64 "2005-07-19T16:20:49Z")
62 posts and no mention of _The Wind in the Willows_? ---
**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 19, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/65 "2005-07-19T18:07:12Z")
[The Last Silk Dress](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440228611/qid=1121796317/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7147546-0878345?v=glance&s=books) by Ann Rinaldi. I was grounded and my stepmother made me read it as a way to fill up my time. The funny thing was, I absolutely _loved_ it and have since read it several times (even as an adult). ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/66 "2005-07-19T19:02:32Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Marshall Saunders’ “Beautiful Joe” And likewise “Black Beauty” by Anna Sewell. I still haul that one out and re-read it from time to time. > [@FaerieBeth](#): > > Watership Down by Richard Adams This technically isn’t a children’s book. Our local library, for instance, houses it in the adult fiction section. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/67 "2005-07-19T19:36:33Z")
_Watership Down_ was written to be, as Adams called it, “a children’s book adults could enjoy.” It was originally published under Penguin UK’s child label, “Puffin” but after they found out how many adults were buying the book it was moved to the adult label. The story itself, incidentally, is based off of stories Adams made up to amuse his daughters during the long drive to see plays. As his daughters aged, they convinced him to put the stories into novel form. ---
**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 19, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/68 "2005-07-19T19:37:26Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Ewwww. Make sure to get an insulin shot first. Mr S tracked this one down (along with its sequel, “The Girl of the Limberlost”) because his mother had always talked about what a wonderful book it was. I’ve read “The Girl of the Limberlost”. Definitely soapy. 🙂 My great-grandmother loved that book. When I was about 4th grade, there was a bookmobile that would stop a couple of blocks away from Grandma Reed’s house. One time I went there and “Limberlost” was available in the van. I tried to check it out, but I only had a children’s library card and was “too young” to check out an “adult” book. Mom ranted that any child who had read “Little Women” multiple times should be able to read “Girl of the Limberlost”. (I think I had read the entire “Little House on the Prairie” series at least once by then as well.) I got an adult library card within a few weeks. 😃 > [@C.S.Lewis](#): > > 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:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/69 "2005-07-19T19:38:35Z")
> [@Lissla Lissar](#): > > Has anyone mentioned L. M. Montgomery? The _Anne_ series, the _Emily_ series. Oi, couldn’t get past the first 3 chapters of Emily of New Moon (or whichever that book is called) it was WAY too depressing. Oddly enough, I think it was the teacher swatting down her yearning for learning that killed it for me. OTOH, I _LOVED_ The Blue Castle. Loved it loved it loved it. Such a great book. Pretty much the only romance novel on my bookshelf, which is weighed down with the likes of CS Forester, JRR Tolkien, William Forstchen, and David Weber (guess what kind of books I normally read?) 🙂 Also liked a couple of the short stories of Montgomery’s that we had to read for our Lit class (There was one I remember about a couple who hadn’t talked to eachother in years and years, but I don’t remember the name of it) As a side note, can anyone recommend some of L.M. Montgomery’s more cheerful stuff to me? I know I like SOME of her stuff, yet I couldn’t even get into the Emily books. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/70 "2005-07-19T19:40:58Z")
I just read _Homer Price_ by Robert McCloskey to my daughter – it’s six related short stories, by the guy famous for picture books like _Make Way for Ducklings_. If I were an English prof I’d teach this alongside _Winesburg, Ohio_ – really great stuff about small-town life in the 30s (I’m guessing) from an inventive young kid’s perspective. As a New Yorker I’d like to recommend _The Pushcart War_ by Jean Merrill – pushcart vendors declare war on huge trucks in the streets of NYC by shooting their tires with blowguns. I think the only reason this is sold as kid’s lit is that it’s funny and around 100 pages long. Lastly, any of the longer works by Daniel Pinkwater hold up great for adult reading. _Young Adult Novel_ is one of the funniest books ever written. A group of high-school outsiders declare themselves Dadaists. (“As an expression of our indifference, we flooded the library and held war canoe races.”) The “Snarkouts Boys” books are pretty great, too. ---
**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 19, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/71 "2005-07-19T19:45:59Z")
> [@Ithaka](#): > > It doesn’t hold a candle to such things as The Hobbit, Huck Finn or Dark Materials. > > Ok, HP is better than a lot of other things, but it just isn’t _that_ good. When I see someone seriously comparing pretty much any book in this thread to Huck Finn, then I’ll be a little worried. To say that a book is average because it doesn’t hold a candle to a novel that is often considered the greatest American novel ever doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s like saying the Beatles are average because they didn’t write Beethoven’s Ninth. The other two books/series are more interesting cases. I’m not a fan of _The Hobbit_. It’s not a bad book, but I found it a little tedious. Definitely nowhere near the brilliance of LotR. My only quarrel with Pullman is the lack of joy in his trilogy. Well, and he’s more than slightly heavy-handed at times. Enjoyment-wise? I’d rank HP higher than Pullman. Pullman is deeper and better written. HP is more open hearted and whimsical. I’d recommend that any reader try both. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/72 "2005-07-20T03:38:13Z")
I mentioned John Bellairs. I still don’t think _The Chosen_ is a kid’s books. Excerpt from randomly flipping open: _So I began coachng Danny in math. He caught on very quickly, mostly by memorising steps and procedures. He wasn’t really interested in the why of a mathematical problem but in the how. I enjoyed coaching him and learned a lot of experiemental psychology. I found it fascinating, a lot more substantial and scientific than Freud had been, and a lot more fruitful in terms of expanding testable knowledge on how human beings thought and interacted…_ That’s near the end, before the political descriptions of Reuben’s father’s fight for Zionism. _Emily_ was very depressing. The _Anne_ series is my favourite, especially _Anne of Green Gables_ and _Rilla of Ingleside_. _Rilla_ is painful, but it’s a clean pain- loyalty and endurance and loss. _Emily_’s problems are caused by malicious people, and they rankle in the mind. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/73 "2005-07-20T15:37:23Z")
> [@Lissla Lissar](#): > > I still don’t think _The Chosen_ is a kid’s book. I don’t disagree and I apologize if I gave the impression that I did. Some of the books were starting to inch up into books for adolescents, and I just wanted to add another one. There are also [The Hall Family Chronicles](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Jane%20Langton/002-9029472-4817667) by Jane Langton. She visited our school once after The Diamond in the Window was published to read to our class, and I’ve always loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Ithaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Ithaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ithaka)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/74 "2005-07-20T15:52:11Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > When I see someone seriously comparing pretty much any book in this thread to Huck Finn, then I’ll be a little worried. To say that a book is average because it doesn’t hold a candle to a novel that is often considered the greatest American novel ever doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s like saying the Beatles are average because they didn’t write Beethoven’s Ninth. I take your point but I think the comparison I’m making is more like saying Oasis is average because they’re not the Beatles. Sure, Oasis are ok and did a few storming songs, but at their height people were giving them way too much adulation. (Does that make sense?) This is all personal opinion anyway and not what the thread is mainly about. Sorry to have hijacked. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/75 "2005-07-21T14:29:01Z")
> [@Ithaka](#): > > I take your point but I think the comparison I’m making is more like saying Oasis is average because they’re not the Beatles. Sure, Oasis are ok and did a few storming songs, but at their height people were giving them way too much adulation. > (Does that make sense?) > > This is all personal opinion anyway and not what the thread is mainly about. Sorry to have hijacked. I would hardly consider Huck Finn to be a children’s book, though. Its style is not all that accessible. _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ is much more of a kid’s book. (I’d rank some of the Harry Potter books above _The Hobbit_ any day. _Lord of the Rings_ was great in spite of Tolkien’s failings as a novelist. To me, _The Hobbit_ was overcome by them.) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031/76 "2005-07-21T18:18:57Z")
Has anybody mentioned Laura Ingalls Wilder? How about T.H. White? William Pene du Bois? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-just-a-kids-book-well-so-are-these/313031.md?page=3)