What was your favorite childhood book?
You know, the one that you checked out 800 times from the library? The one where the cover totally disintegrated? The one that you could have recited in your sleep?
I have a deep, abiding love for those books. And I think these children’s books are 100% worth rereading as adults.
Why You Should Reread Children’s Books
When I would return home for summers in college, my brain fried from finals, I would start hunting for something fun to read. And I would almost always spend those first few days lost in a book I’d loved as a kid.
After all, what’s more comforting after a stressful season than an old literary friend?
As I’d open the worn pages, I’d slip back into the world of Hogwarts or Avonlea or Bybanks, Kentucky. I would settle deeper into my chair and smile when I came across that long-forgotten scene. There would be no surprise plot twists, no edge-of-the-seat binge reading. (I’d read this before, after all.) But there would be those small moments I’d forgotten. Lines of dialogue would be funnier than I remembered. Characters’ actions would strike me anew. And I would remember, all over again, why I loved the book enough to return to it.
Beyond that sweet familiarity, though, these books were centering. As I reoriented to a new season, they reminded me of who I was.
Sound hokey?
Maybe. But if you were a reader as a kid, I think you know what I mean. As our favorite bookseller Kathleen Kelly says, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”
Think of the allusions from children’s books that have accompanied you through your life. Anne comes to mind every time you walk under blossoming cherry trees. Wilbur and Charlotte comfort you when friends leave too soon. Pathways to Narnia appear when you forage in deep closets.
Returning to the source of these references feels like coming home.
When I reread those familiar stories, they remind me of things that once were – and still are – important. As this delightful article from the Atlantic says, “Childhood books offer an opportunity to sit down in the river of time, if just for a moment, and ponder the full scope of one’s life.” We see where we’ve been: the dreams we aspired toward, the wonder we felt at the great wide world, the friends we loved, the family we bickered with, the adventures we sought.
And we see what matters still, even if we have forgotten in the adult clouds of responsibilities and work and social media and laundry and Amazon browsing.
As we all argue like crazy people over the pandemic and the coming election and the racial climate and the general dumpster fire of 2020, I think we could all stand to come back to ourselves. To step back in time and remember what once was – and still is – important.
These books are some of my very favorite children’s books that are worth rereading as an adult. All of them will stand up to your refined adult tastes. (Some might have become even better.)
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Children’s Books Worth Rereading as an Adult
1. The Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, this couldn’t be more obvious. But I’m including it anyway. Every few years, I board the Hogwarts Express and revisit the world of Quidditch and patronuses and Butterbeer, and each time the books become more and more dear. (And if you’ve only watched the movies? I beg you, read the books. The world is much more complete, and you’ll adore the Wizarding World even more.)
2. The Anne of Green Gables series – L.M. Montgomery
What is there to say about Anne that has not already been said? These books are just a delight, whether you’re a 10-year-old reading about Anne’s escapades for the first time or an adult returning to them. If you’re looking to go beyond the familiar stories, I’d firmly recommend you read past the first two books in the series. The later books about Anne’s college and early teaching years don’t get enough love, in my opinion. They were deeply comforting to me when I read them during my freshman year of college.
3. Walk Two Moons – Sharon Creech
From ages 9-12, Sharon Creech was my very favorite author. She wrote realistic fiction that had a little mystery, spunky characters, and a whole lot of heart. Nearly all of Creech’s work is wonderful (Bloomability and Heartbeat are other honorable mentions) but Walk Two Moons is especially tender. This book follows a girl as she goes on a road trip with her grandparents in search of her mother, while her father moves from the farm she used to call home. It 100% deserved the Newberry. Plus, the main character’s grandparents get funnier with each reread.
4. The Chronicles of Narnia series – C.S. Lewis
My family had these audiobooks on CD, and I spent almost a decade of my life falling asleep to them at night. As a kid, I loved the magic of discovering the eternal land of ice and snow and Mr. Tumnus and the beavers, and I was utterly terrified of the White Witch. As an adult, I’ve had to try not to cry while reading scenes of the stories with tutoring students. Aslan’s words, especially, continue to resonate and make these classics I will always return to.
5. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’Engle
This was another book we listened to on audio over and over. This book gains new flavor with every reread. The story of three children’s multi-dimensional travel through time and space to save their father is weird, yes. It doesn’t translate well to the TV screen. But the book holds these surprising allusions and profound moments that have stuck with me since childhood. After I was no longer a teenager, I started to see Meg and Calvin and Charles Wallace in my students, and it made me even more in awe of their bravery and determination.
6. Matilda – Roald Dahl
I am sensing a theme here, because the audiobook of this classic was another cassette tape (remember those?!) that we nearly wore out. I enjoy just about everything Roald Dahl writes (Boy is another favorite), but this one takes the cake. Matilda was spunky and read big books and used her intellect to right wrongs. I would adopt her if I could.
7. Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
From the opening line (which I can still quote to this day), this book about unlikely friendship and love and loss is just a treasure. Charlotte is the wise old friend we all need. Plus, as a kid from a rural community, I’ll always love a book with a good county fair scene. Rereading this one is on my own fall bucket list this year.
8. Winnie the Pooh – A. A. Milne
Let’s be very clear: the original book is NOT the same vibe as the animated Disney show. I once picked this off the shelves at an AirBnB and was utterly delighted to find that A. A. Milne is secretly snarky. His humor flies way over children’s heads and will leave adults silently chuckling when they aren’t sighing over how utterly precious these stories are.
Love these! Another for me is Wind in the Willows. That book seems to come up in my life at lots of important moments.
I’ve honestly never read Wind in the Willows – I should add that to my list!