Reading Children's Books as an Adult

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I was a fairly avid reader as a child but feel I missed a lot of the children’s classics like Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, Anne of Green Gables etc.

I’m thinking I might read them now as a (fairly mature!) adult. Has anyone else done this? It isn’t too weird is it?!

And if you have done / would do it, are there any books you’d recommend?

Thanks.

I mostly got Monica Edwards from jumble sales, nit the library. I was reading one of the Lone Pine books earlier in the week (Shropshire, though,) and am slightly regretting not having brought the next one or two. (I am home on Sunday, so I will survive the wait.)

2011 is recent...

Looks as if the BBC Eagle of the Ninth is on YouTube, for anyone who wants to check it out. I'm only on a small screen at the moment, but it looks like the whole serial is there.

I tried re-reading Malcolm Saville a while ago, but couldn't get into them. A shame, because I loved the books as a child.

I never read the original Gone Away Lake, but I still have ‘Return to Gone Away’ which is a lovely book!

It's showing on C4 at 02:45 tonight, which probably means it's on All4 currently.

A good book is always worth reading, as long as you do read. I worked for a time as a school librarian, so I made a point to read some of the more recent books. I'd recommend books by Sally Gardner and Annabel Pitcher, especially Maggot Moon and My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece

At primary age, I was captivated by the US author Edward Eager. I found his Magic series in the library myself. I've never heard of anyone else who has read them. Half Magic - what a brilliant idea!

I never stopped reading children's books... mainly because there was more variety in the plot than in YA fiction and books aimed squarely at women (I was not, and am still not, into romance). Also, there is a magic about them that is missing in books aimed at older audiences.

Oh, and as a fair chunk of MN seem to still read The Chalet School books, I think you'll have the backing of a lot of people on here!

I have read them - favourite was Knight’s Castle… they are okay but I preferred E.Nesbit - who certainly influenced him in his writing… e.g. magic city is her book which we can assume inspired Eager write Knight’s Castle

I liked the Bastable Children stories but I didn't know about Magic City. I don't know what the Nesbit books would read like now?

I tend not to be bothered by stories that are out of date / not in tune with the modern world - I am happy to read them as if their time… so I am probably not a good judge… but still enjoyable from my perspective…

I think it was them that I remember being in a house that had an overwhelming smell of mutton cooking!

"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." - C. S. Lewis
"There are good books which are only for adults, because their comprehension presupposes adult experience, but there are no good books which are only for children.” - W. H. Auden
There's many many more quotes expressing the same sentiment :)!

Hm. Never even heard of him. Thanks!

I was reading another thread about atmospheric books for Autumn - it made me think of a children's book, I still have, The House with the Twisting Passage by Marion St John Webb. I was always intrigued by the title, for a start.

Jenny stays with her aunt, who is the caretaker of a manor house, and entertains herself by exploring the corridors and imagining who could live behind the doors. When later, she returns to the house, it has been populated with characters like her pretend ones - but not quite! What is exciting is that she gradually visits them, one by one, and they each tell her a story - The Yellow Silk Dress, The Tattooed Man, The Crack'd Mirror ...... it fascinated me and it was a bit creepy.

His dark materials