# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/21 "2009-05-02T11:16:11Z")
> [@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_. Cheese Touch. ---
**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, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/22 "2009-05-02T11:50:26Z")
> [@shirley ujest](#): > > cheese touch. dammit! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/23 "2009-05-02T12:00:38Z")
When I was a kid, I was reading spooky stories, mythology, Poe & struggling through Shelley’s Frankenstein, Stoker’s Dracula & even some Shakespeare (we had none of the great kid-level adaptations that abound today, except for Lambs’ Shakespeare)- I had no time or patience for “children’s literature” (granted. And so in my late 20/early 30’s, I discovered the greatness of The Velveteen Rabbit, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, Winnie The Pooh, etc. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/24 "2009-05-02T12:37:07Z")
I still love Beverly Clearly and Roald Dahl from my childhood, and Lemony Snicket. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/25 "2009-05-02T12:39:17Z")
I’m reading Prince Caspian for the first time right now. I figure I’ll make my way through all the Narnia bookss. They don’t seem to be that long. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/26 "2009-05-02T13:00:36Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > 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. I agree! Man, what a terrific illustrator. I got “Tuesday” and “Flotsam” for my son and was blown away by the artwork and Mr. Weisner’s ability to tell a large, fairly complex story (especially in “Flotsam”) without using a single word. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/27 "2009-05-02T16:20:34Z")
I’m a librarian, so quite a lot. I recently read _Elly_, which is a memoir of the Holocaust written for 9+ kids–she was a young teenager when she entered Auschwitz. I also found a new children’s classic–_Seven Little Australians_ is almost unknown here, but I managed to get it and enjoyed it very much. I read a few YA review blogs, so I always have new YA books on my wishlist. _The hunger games_ is my favorite of the last couple of months. Diana Wynne Jones is my all-time favorite author. I’m thinking I need to read _Time of the Ghost_ again. Since I’m also a mom, I see quite a bit of kid media–yesterday my 6yo wanted to watch _Return of the Jedi_ (again, she’s a Star Wars fan) and I talked them into watching _Anne of Green Gables_ again because I wanted to see it too. My friend had just borrowed and returned it, which obviously made me need to see it. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/28 "2009-05-02T17:51:51Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > 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. I’m rereading these right now. I actually had a dream about Will Stanton the other night (one of those kind where you don’t remember anything but you have it), so I pulled out the books to read! They really are great. > [@Lissla\_Lissar](#): > > 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. This made me Laugh Out Loud! Too funny. I’m off on another Little House trek this summer (to De Smet and Walnut Grove for a whole week!). I try to go every other year to one homesite, but having a baby derailed me a bit. I’ve also found that the older I get, the more I dislike Louisa May Alcott. Trying to think of what I love that I found as an adult, instead of endlessly listing what I reread from childhood… I really enjoyed Lemony Snicket. I don’t know that I’ll ever reread them, but they were sure fun while they lasted. Harry Potter, of course, and I never read Narnia until I was an adult. I only recently sat down to actually read “Where the Wild Things Are” and really love it. Probably lots more, but I reread so much kiddie lit, it’s hard to know when I found what. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/29 "2009-05-02T18:33:00Z")
I recently bought some Roald Dahl books after a conversation I had about books with a colleague. First I bought ‘Boy’ which I never read as a Kid. Then I bought a box set of books. Some I’ve read as a kid, some I haven’t… Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator - Read (I think) BFG - Read Danny the Champion of the World - Read. George’s Marvelous Medicine - Reading (not read before) Twits - Not read. As for other Children’s books… His Dark Materials. the Tiffany Aching (sp?) books. Harry Potter. And of course Discworld. Which as everone knows is aimed at grown-up children. Based on the grown-up books I’ve read. I think the best literature is written for Children. ---
**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, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/30 "2009-05-02T18:41:01Z")
> [@](#): > > And so in my late 20/early 30’s, I discovered the greatness of The Velveteen Rabbit, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, Winnie The Pooh, etc. As a child, my only exposure to Peter Pan was in plays and the Disney cartoon. I was browsing a used book store a few months ago, found the original book version, bought it, and read it. Ick. Yuck. My dear Og, what utterly nauseating prose. While parts of it were very clever and interesting, other parts were just vomit inducing. The mother had a secret kiss in the corner of her mouth? The mother went through her kids’ minds after they were asleep, tidying up their thoughts? I’m not going to give quotes, because I’m not about to reread that rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/31 "2009-05-02T18:46:02Z")
I love YA books! But my favorite totally-not-written-for-my-demographic book is the utterly brilliant _Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type_. It’s at about a 5 year old level, but I don’t care. It totally cracks me up. I made it one of my staff favorites when I worked in a bookstore and sold a ton of copies of it. No one can resist _Click Clack Moo_! ---
**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:** [May 2, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/32 "2009-05-02T18:48:09Z")
Love Roald Dahl! I still read the Babysitters Club books and a lot of other horrible ones–my excuse is that it’s to snark on them on the blog. Really! I just reread Harriet the Spy for the…I don’t know what time. I LOVE that book. And it’s almost better as an adult. There’s a lot that I didn’t think was all that funny or spot on as a kid. I’m rereading the sequel, the Long Secret, right now. ---
**Author:** ![dujo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dujo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dujo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/33 "2009-05-02T19:32:16Z")
I didn’t discover Daniel Pinkwater until I was 15 or 16. So I was sort of a kid but a bit old for the books and I’ve continued reading his stuff as an adult. I like YA fiction generally but _Lizard Music; Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars; The Last Guru_ and _Young Adult Novel_ are among my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/34 "2009-05-02T20:00:05Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I love YA books! But my favorite totally-not-written-for-my-demographic book is the utterly brilliant _Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type_. It’s at about a 5 year old level, but I don’t care. It totally cracks me up. I made it one of my staff favorites when I worked in a bookstore and sold a ton of copies of it. > > No one can resist _Click Clack Moo_! I do like _Click Clack Moo_. I also really like the Pigeon books my Mo Willems, like _Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!_ Simple and brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039/35 "2009-05-02T20:05:24Z")
I still love Disney comics (mostly Uncle Scrooge), and right now I’m reading **The 13 and 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-lit-you-read-as-an-adult/495039.md?page=1)