# What kids/YA fiction have you re-read as an adult and liked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519 "2009-06-02T23:15:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/1 "2009-06-02T23:15:18Z")
I’ve re-read _Little House in the Big Woods_ and _Little House on the Prairie_ by Laura Ingalls Wilder recently for the first time in many many years and I’m almost embarassed how much I’ve enjoyed them. Even though the main character’s a little girl and the plot and writing are simplistic, it’s fascinating reading from a historical standpoint. Any number of history books will tell you how many people settled in Wisconsin or on the Indian lands of the Great Plains or migration patterns, etc., but what’s cool about these books is it zooms in on just one such family. Reading about hog slaughtering, or Christmas in a poor (but not impoverished) family ca. 1870 or descriptions of the larder and how potatoes were roasted in the ashes, etc., is something you’ll never get in history books. I also read _Across Five Aprils_ by Irene Hunt recently, which is technically a Young Adult’s book though I don’t really understand why as it goes in with my favorite Civil War novels with no asterix beside it. For those not familiar it’s the story of a farm family (like the Ingalls far from rich but not impoverished by the standards of their time & place) in the southern tip of Illinois during the Civil War. Four of their menfolk fight for the North, one for the Confederacy, and what I particularly love is the use of dialect and the complete absence of Greek columns and hoop skirts. It’s another great slice of life (closely based I understand on the experiences of the author’s grandfather). What other children’s/YA books would you recommend for adults as good reads in and of themselves? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/2 "2009-06-02T23:24:50Z")
_A Wizard of Earthsea_ and Ursula K. Leguin’s others in the series. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/3 "2009-06-02T23:35:41Z")
Does Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland count? I used to have the box set of those Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I remember not liking Farmer Boy as much as the others because it was so large 🙂 Doesn’t Mary eventually go blind in one of the books? Maybe I’ll have to read those again 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/4 "2009-06-02T23:43:44Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Doesn’t Mary eventually go blind in one of the books? It’s not covered when it happens; one of the books opens with a recounting of all the things that went horribly wrong since the last book – very startling to open the book and read that. I love The Phantom Tollbooth anytime; it has great word- and idea-play that’s fit for any age. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/5 "2009-06-02T23:44:31Z")
Harriet the Spy and the sequel/companion, the Long Secret both hold up really well. Most Madeleine L’Engle books. And any and all Maurice Sendak. (Love that guy.) ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/6 "2009-06-02T23:52:00Z")
“The Wind In The Willows” is a wonderful book at any age… “Summer Of My German Soldier” is also worth re-reading as an adult. (I guess it goes without saying that “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn” is something that improves upon each subsequent reading) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/7 "2009-06-03T00:07:00Z")
I’m reading the Little House books to my six year old daughter, and yes, they are wonderful. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/8 "2009-06-03T00:11:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve re-read _Little House in the Big Woods_ and _Little House on the Prairie_ by Laura Ingalls Wilder recently for the first time in many many years and I’m almost embarassed how much I’ve enjoyed them. Even though the main character’s a little girl and the plot and writing are simplistic, it’s fascinating reading from a historical standpoint. Any number of history books will tell you how many people settled in Wisconsin or on the Indian lands of the Great Plains or migration patterns, etc., but what’s cool about these books is it zooms in on just one such family. Reading about hog slaughtering, or Christmas in a poor (but not impoverished) family ca. 1870 or descriptions of the larder and how potatoes were roasted in the ashes, etc., is something you’ll never get in history books. I never read these as a boy. I guess I thought of them as “girl books” (and the TV series did nothing to convince me otherwise), but when I read _Little House on the Prairie_ as an adult, I really liked it and thought it would have been the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid. And I think these books (or others like them, if there are such) ought to be required reading for all kids, to give them a sense of historical perspective and show them how everyone routinely lived without so many of the things they take for granted. [QUOTE=tr0psn4j] Does Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland count? [/QUOTE] Sure, why not! It may be better appreciated by adults than by children. _Charlotte’s Web_ is one I re-read as an adult, and was struck then (as I hadn’t been as a kid) by how well-written it is. ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/9 "2009-06-03T00:11:39Z")
The Bunnicula series. I loved these in elementary school, but sold a lot of old books to a used book store a few years back. I remember how amusingly absurd they were and bought myself a copy of Bunnicula. Still highly entertaining, although fine literature they’re not. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/10 "2009-06-03T00:19:45Z")
> [@RedRosesForMe](#): > > The Bunnicula series. I loved these in elementary school, but sold a lot of old books to a used book store a few years back. I remember how amusingly absurd they were and bought myself a copy of Bunnicula. Still highly entertaining, although fine literature they’re not. Oh, I love those. Harold the dog is actually pretty witty in his observations. And Chester’s just plain hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/11 "2009-06-03T00:33:10Z")
My girlfriend and I are reading the Key’s to the Kingdom series to each other, and I think Garth Nix’s other series, Sabriel, would hold up well. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/12 "2009-06-03T00:35:12Z")
The Prydain Chronicles. They were my favorites as a kid, and I recently picked up a set off Amazon. They are still my favorites. _Lisa and Lottie_, the original source for _The Parent Trap_. I read it as a young girl before I had ever heard of or seen _The Parent Trap_. When I finally did see the movie, I thought it was a far inferior ripoff of the earlier book. I searched for years for the original, but couldn’t find it because I had the wrong title. When I finally found it and reread it, I liked it even more than I had originally, because I could understand all of the nuances related to WWII. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/13 "2009-06-03T00:49:48Z")
When I was younger and visited a friend’s house, I would always read this one book she had. When I grew up, I forgot the title and thought it was lost to the mists of time. Fortunately, my sister remembered the title, and now I have [it sitting on my bookshelf](http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Castle-Expanded-Marian-Cockrell/dp/0595092969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243990045&sr=1-1). I also liked the **Little House** books, and I have all of the L. Frank Baum \*\*Oz \*\*books. Rereading them now, I can see how Shaggy Man would be arrested as a child abductor, but they’re very enjoyable books. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/14 "2009-06-03T02:25:00Z")
A couple of years ago I read _Winnie the Pooh_ in Bulgarian. Since it’s a children’s book, I was surprised at how many words I needed to look up, but there’re a lot of descriptive words that I didn’t use as part of my daily vocabulary (which is pretty conversational; I’ve never taken a proper class where we read and wrote things) and it was slow going. The result was that I was often hugely delighted to come to a mystery word, look it up, and find that the sentence I was reading was so clever and amusing, like the moment you’ve figured out a crossword clue that’s been baffling you. Anyway, I was surprised at how deep and philosophical it was. I resolved to live my life more like Pooh Bear and less like Eeyore. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/15 "2009-06-03T02:43:36Z")
I read _The Dark is Rising_ series again recently. My favorite is the the second book, with the same name as the series. I particularly enjoy how Cooper weaves the feel of winter and Christmas into the storyline. I also enjoy Madeleine L’Engle’s\* Kairos\* (a.k.a. _A Wrinkle in Time_) series. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/16 "2009-06-03T02:48:23Z")
Ummm…Harry Potter? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/17 "2009-06-03T03:17:05Z")
Many of the books mentioned already, plus … _Little Women_ and _Little Men_, I still think this is great. I probably like it even more now, when I read it as a kid, I was frustrated by some of the attitudes that I thought were terrible, for example the different expectations for girls and boys, and the girls had to be all prim and proper. As an adult, I understand the context and can put things in perspective. Also the _Anne of Green Gables_ series, which I was startled to realize is now over 100 years old. Compared to other books for children of that time, AGG is amazingly fresh and funny. I do think this has more girl appeal, though. I love all of Elizabeth Enright’s books, _Thimble Summer_ and _Gone Away Lake_ and the sequel, and the Melendy series (starting with _The Saturdays_). The writing is top-notch, and deceptively simple. A lot of the events, especially in the Melendy books, are laugh out loud funny. Daniel Pinkwater’s books have held up extremely well, in my opinion. I’m still reading them as they come out. The titles from my own childhood are among my favorite books ever: _Lizard Music_, _The Hoboken Chicken Emergency_, and _Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars_ are surreal gems. A title that is rather recent that I think all sorts of adults would enjoy is _The Green Glass Sea_ by Ellen Klages. This is about two girls growing up during WWII, and their parents are scientists and so they live at Los Alamos. Great for science and/or history geeks. (Although it doesn’t really count for the OP – it is new so I did not personally read it when I was a child … but it’s so good I wanted to mention it) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/18 "2009-06-03T05:54:41Z")
**Sampiro** , you’re definitely not the only adult to dig the Little House books. My mom collects **all** the books related to that family; I believe the latest ones are written by a descendent of Laura’s. I missed out on a lot of books meant for kids and young adults when I was growing up (My folks were impressed that whenever schools tested reading comprehension, I scored six grades ahead of whatever grade I was then in. I think I’ve mentioned my dad buying me [John Jakes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jakes#The_Kent_Family_Chronicles)’ books when I was **seven** before) because I was encouraged to read books meant for adults as soon as I could understand them. So, there are a lot of kids’ books I’ve only read for the first time as an adult. Of the few I read growing up and still like Cynthia Voigt and Katherine Patterson’s books continue to resonate with me. Try **Homecoming** by Voigt and **Jacob I Have Loved** by Patterson. And I have to agree about **Bunnicula** - I re-bought all of those books for myself a few years ago 🙂 ---
**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:** [June 3, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/19 "2009-06-03T07:39:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I never read these as a boy. I guess I thought of them as “girl books” (and the TV series did nothing to convince me otherwise), but when I read _Little House on the Prairie_ as an adult, I really liked it and thought it would have been the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid. And I think these books (or others like them, if there are such) ought to be required reading for all kids, to give them a sense of historical perspective and show them how everyone routinely lived without so many of the things they take for granted. > Sure, why not! It may be better appreciated by adults than by children. > > _Charlotte’s Web_ is one I re-read as an adult, and was struck then (as I hadn’t been as a kid) by how well-written it is. Oddly enough, I didn’t much care for the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a child, though I did read a couple of them in class. A couple of years ago, though, I picked up LHotP in a used-book clearance section for a buck. Now I am slowly tracking them down and reading them. I was particularly impressed by how the girls were expected to behave. They were allowed a lot of freedom in some ways, but were expected to give things up for the baby sister, things like beads that they’d found at an abandoned Native camp. And the girls were very excited to get very small gifts at Christmas, things like having a mug of their own (they’d previously had to share one mug or cup), small cakes, and a penny. I’ve just re-read _Farmer Boy_, and I am somewhat bemused at the fact that Father Wilder uses and advocates only positive reinforcement and gentleness when he trains his horses and oxen, yet he thrashes (or at least, has thrashed in the past) young Almanzo, the POV character. Again, it’s interesting to see how kids were expected to behave in that time. I’m gobsmacked that the girls habitually wore hoop skirts to do farm chores. I would think that the chores would be burdensome enough to do in simpler clothes, never mind trying to do them in skirts that are held out by wooden hoops. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519/20 "2009-06-03T09:21:04Z")
Pretty much anything I enjoyed as a kid I’ve picked up as an adult and enjoyed, even really kiddie stuff like “The Monster at the End of the Book”. Also: The Rainbow Goblins The Night Rainbow Michael Ende stuff - Momo, Neverending Story Anything by the “Young Adult Novel” guy Anything by the “Interstellar Pig” guy [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kids-ya-fiction-have-you-re-read-as-an-adult-and-liked/498519.md?page=2)