# Kid lit you read as an adult **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039 "2009-05-01T22:30:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/1 "2009-05-01T22:30:49Z")
(Also included are movies, TV, magazines, etc). I’ve been getting Ranger Rick since I was about seven, and I still get it. The pictures are just gorgeous to look at. And even though the articles are geared towards tweens, they still can be fun and informative. I still think the Sesame Street movie _Don’t Eat The Pictures_ is funny. And I’m not the only one, apparently. The top reviewer on Amazon says she likes to watch DETP, too- and she’s 27. And I’m looking foward to the publication of the last Percy Jackson book. Er, that is to say, my brother will want to take it out of the library, and when he’s not around someone might very well read it. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/2 "2009-05-01T22:33:29Z")
As a teacher, I read tons of kids’ lit. My recent favorite is _Diary of a Wimpy Kid_. It’s genuinely funny, especially the bit about the protagonist’s role in _Wizard of Oz_. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/3 "2009-05-01T23:18:09Z")
Of course I read **Harry Potter** , and I still find the original book to be the most charming, capturing a wonderful childlike sense of whimsy and discovery. I’m currently “at critical mass” on **The Graveyard Book**. Although the plot is more simple and the events simply and briefly told, and the “twists” have been obvious even to this sometimes oblivious grownup, it is still a delight. I find myself wishing my daughter were older so she could read this and \*\*Coraline \*\*right now, without being traumatized. Oh are we doing TV and movies too? My husband and I like **Phineas and Ferb** altogether too much. (Aren’t we a little old to be watching it? Yes, yes we are.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/4 "2009-05-01T23:27:15Z")
Books- Roald Dahl and Frank Baum still hold up great. TV - Worzel Gummidge. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/5 "2009-05-01T23:38:31Z")
I suppose what you consider “kid lit” is partially determined by how old you are. At my age, I consider anything teenagers read as “kid lit.” Having said that, I didn’t read _Tarzan_ until I was in my 40s, and I instantly regretted not having discoveredthe series when I was much younger. It is better than the movies. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/6 "2009-05-01T23:45:00Z")
Trying to limit it to “new kid lit” and not just “kid lit I loved as a kid and still love,” I would have to say I very much enjoy Carl Hiaasen’s juvie novels, “Hoot,” “Flush,” and “Scat.” Really, they’re not that much different than his adult novels, which I also like. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/7 "2009-05-01T23:51:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As a teacher, I read tons of kids’ lit. My recent favorite is _Diary of a Wimpy Kid_. It’s genuinely funny, especially the bit about the protagonist’s role in _Wizard of Oz_. Another teacher here. My kids lurve those Wimpy Kid books. Especially the boys. I read the first one to get a taste and can see the appeal–nerdy kid, humor, gross stuff, drawings–hey, if it gets my boys eager to read, I’m all for it! There is a LOT of excellent kid lit that I enjoyed the first time as an adult. Aside from Harry Potter (whose appeal crosses age barriers), I’ve been moved to tears by **Kensuke’s Kingdom** , **Number the Stars** , **Where the Red Fern Grows** , and many more middle elementary-targeted titles. Want to read a kids’ picture book that will knock your socks off–try **Pink and Say** by Patricia Polacco. Seriously. Read it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/8 "2009-05-02T00:03:59Z")
I still love Susan Cooper’s _Dark Is Rising_ series. I have the anthology with all the books in one binding. Some of the writing is beginning to stand out as notably juvenile, but it’s still very good. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/9 "2009-05-02T00:05:56Z")
I am a fan of Terry Pratchett, and I think his kid-lit books are among the best he has done–especially _The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents_, but also the Tiffany Aching books. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/10 "2009-05-02T00:15:49Z")
I’ve really enjoyed Kenneth Oppell’s “Airborn” series…I bought them for my son and wound up reading them myself. Very well done books. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/11 "2009-05-02T00:36:27Z")
I’m also a big fan of [David Wiesner’s](http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/wiesner/home.html) books, especially his ones without words, such as Three Pigs and Sector 7. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/12 "2009-05-02T01:09:25Z")
Oh, heavens. Lots. I love YA and kid’s fiction, sci fi, and fantasy. I read the _Old Kingdom_ trilogy, by Garth Nix, several years ago, and loved it. Ditto _Fire and Hemlock_ by Diana Wynne Jones- dark, spooky, thoughtful. I didn’t read the the _Little House_ books or LotR (although that’s not really kid’s stuff) until I was twenty, and loved both series. I wish I’d read Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a child, instead of endlessly re-reading _Little Women_. I would have had fewer Victorian Invalid fantasies. I recently read _Skellig_, by David Almond, and _Tom’s Midnight Garden_, on the advice of Nick Hornby (does anyone else read his Books Read column in the _Believer_, or their collections? They’re fabulous), who was extremely excited to find out that kid’s lit contains reams of stellar novels. _Skellig_ is particularly good. I highly recommend it. It’s about a boy who’s family has just moved into a new, beat-up house, and his baby sister is very sick. There’s an attached garage full of junk, and in it he finds a strange winged creature with a burning need for Chinese takeaway, and meets a little girl with a passion for William Blake and owls. Excellent book. I don’t know if this counts, because I started reading the _Tillerman_ saga, by Cynthia Voigt, when I was eleven or so, but I read _Come a Stranger_ and _Sons from Afar_ a couple of years ago, and they’re as good as the rest of the series. Lovely writing. ---
**Author:** ![TheVioletCreep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@TheVioletCreep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheVioletCreep)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/13 "2009-05-02T01:30:50Z")
I just cried over The Little Prince recently, what a heavy book for children. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/14 "2009-05-02T02:35:04Z")
I read quite a few of the YA books my dd brings home. My current favorites are anything by Shannon Hale (the Goose Girl, The Princess Academy, etc.) and the Artemis Fowl series (it is starting to loose steam a bit, but the first three are just plain good fun.) And of course HP. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/15 "2009-05-02T05:26:10Z")
_Haroun and the Sea of Stories_ is cool. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/16 "2009-05-02T05:30:33Z")
> [@TheVioletCreep](#): > > I just cried over The Little Prince recently, what a heavy book for children. I read that as a child, but I’m not convinced it’s a children’s book. ---
**Author:** ![Myrrajh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/17 "2009-05-02T06:11:23Z")
Harry Potter, and I also enjoyed the Charlie Bone series (4 books by Jenny Nimmo). Oh, and all the Narnia stories. I have those in a beautiful one volume set with gold-edged pages. I have two seasons of The Muppet Show on DVD, and Muppet Christmas Carol (Michael Caine at his best, IMO, very touching performance), and Muppet Treasure Island is one of my favorites. If I ever catch Bugs Bunny while channel surfing I just have to watch it. That never gets old. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/18 "2009-05-02T06:23:45Z")
I’ve always been partial to Alfred Hitchcock’s _The Three Investigators_ series. Would love to own the set. Oddly, never took after _Nancy Drew_ or _The Hardy Boys_. And of course, _Harry Potter_. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/19 "2009-05-02T07:31:41Z")
I re-read some Christopher Pike books recently, and was surprised at how adult they were for books geared to teens. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/20 "2009-05-02T08:25:55Z")
The movie version of _The Last Unicorn_ was marketed to kids. I’m not sure that it really should have been. My daughter enjoyed it very much as a child, but I think that I enjoyed it even more. _Labyrinth_ was also a movie that I enjoyed even more than she did. On the other hand, I really only wanted to see _The Dark Crystal_ once. I was awestruck by Disney’s _Beauty and the Beast_. I loved LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy, and spent quite a lot of time on Earthsea as a child and teen. I read just about anything by Diana Wynne Jones. I’ve also read everything by Terry Pratchett except for _Nation_, which I’m saving for a special need since it’s his last book. I really didn’t like the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was a kid, but lately I’ve been searching them out and re-reading them, or reading them for the first time. I guess I appreciate the time and the hardships now that I’m older. I’m not terribly fond of the Harry Potter books, or the movies. I’ll read them if I have access to them, but I won’t pay for the books. When my daughter lived at home and worked in a used book store, she borrowed them from the store (which was allowed) and I read them too. My husband apparently loves the movies, as he will watch them any time they’re on TV. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039.md?page=2)