Reading Childhood Favorites As an Adult

[Anonymous]

Is anyone else worried that the reason we and our families think these stories are boring is because we all have poor attention spans due to screens??

[Anonymous]

I read plenty of the classics when I was a young, but most of my favorite books were what I would consider light reading today.

As a young boy, I loved all the Gordon Korman books from the "MacDonald Hall" series to my favorite "I Want to Go Home". I'm not sure I would really enjoy reading those again today. I'll keep the memories though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read plenty of the classics when I was a young, but most of my favorite books were what I would consider light reading today.

As a young boy, I loved all the Gordon Korman books from the "MacDonald Hall" series to my favorite "I Want to Go Home". I'm not sure I would really enjoy reading those again today. I'll keep the memories though.

I came here to post about "I want to go home" can confirm it holds up!

[Anonymous]

Re-reading Westing Game with my kid right now and IMO it still slaps! I’m curious about Phantom Tollbooth.

[Anonymous]

What's funny is that when I was a kid, I actively disliked many of the books that people here liked as kids.

I'm glad to hear Witch of Blackbird pond held up. I still have my copy.

I read Catcher in the Rye as an adult and still don't get what the fuss is about. I think it must have appealed tremendously to louche NYC publishing types back in the day.

I would like to re-read 1984 to see if I appreciate it more or less. I enjoyed the plus good language and the constant revision of "truths". The plot failed to horrify me properly.

I would also like to re-read The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frank weiner. I watched the old movie not long ago. The plot holds up although the main actress didn't quite succeed as the clever little girl I envisioned.

Never could get into The Outsiders which my children were forced to read in school. They also hated it and started making cracks about "greasers". I felt like I was in a Sha Na Na skit. How did it become a Broadway musical!

I loved David Eddings' books when I was in high school but I outgrew that phase. And he got cancelled.

The world goes on...

[Anonymous]

Anyone else read the Redwall series as a kid? I loved those as a kid and thought they held up well. My 5th grader likes them too. I also have been surprised by how many other childhood favorites didn’t stand the test of time so Redwood was a pleasant re-discovery.

[Anonymous]

My favorite childhood book that I read myself (i.e., not a book that was read to me) was The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. During the pandemic, I re-read the book and found that I still love it. I also re-read Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. I didn't like it in 5th grade and I still think it was meh. Both books have been made into movies -- Mixed-Up Files was meh, but I loved It's Me, Margaret.

[Anonymous]

Mixed-up Files is a terrific book. It totally held up for me and both my kids loved it.

Other favorites from my childhood that I love to reread (and that my kids also loved):

Charlotte' Web
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Little House books
The Melendy books (The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, Spider Web for Two)
The Wizard of Oz
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
How to Eat Fried Worms
The Secret Garden
My Side of the Mountain
Harriet the Spy
The Great Brain books
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Tisha
Cheaper by the Dozen
The Grounding of Group Six
The Ghost of Dibble Hollow
Caddie Woodlawn
Just about anything by Beverly Cleary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anne of Green Gables stood the test of time--was actually surprised at how well-written and funny it was reading as an adult. (Montgomery's other books, not so much...)

Agree that Wrinkle in Time was a bit dull (and my kids were also not at all into it). Similarly, when listening to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the family on audiobook, I was surprised at how loooong it took for Charlie to actually get to the factory--that was basically the only part I remember from my childhood read lol. I had to basically push the kids to make it to that point (and then DS at least really enjoyed it).

I personally enjoyed reading some of the original Winnie the Pooh books to my kids (again they were not particularly into it), but was struck by how much the writing did not really seem directed to kids--more to adults remembering childhood.

Interesting you say that about Montgomery. Just read Emily of New Moon to my boys and we all loved it. First time I read any of her books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mixed-up Files is a terrific book. It totally held up for me and both my kids loved it.

Other favorites from my childhood that I love to reread (and that my kids also loved):

Charlotte' Web
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Little House books
The Melendy books (The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, Spider Web for Two)
The Wizard of Oz
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
How to Eat Fried Worms
The Secret Garden
My Side of the Mountain
Harriet the Spy
The Great Brain books
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Tisha
Cheaper by the Dozen
The Grounding of Group Six
The Ghost of Dibble Hollow
Caddie Woodlawn
Just about anything by Beverly Cleary

I'm the Mixed-Up Files fan from above. Totally agree with you about Charlotte and Beverly Cleary books. For Cleary fans, her memoir, A Girl from Yam Hill, is illuminating and beautifully written.

Just wondering . . for those who read Mixed-Up Files and Are You There , God?, did the NYC suburban setting influence your feelings about the books? I grew up in NJ suburbs (kinda -- Princeton), and the Mixed-Up Files felt a lot like my childhood. Less so, Are You There, God?; though the movie brought back a rush of memories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re-reading Westing Game with my kid right now and IMO it still slaps! I’m curious about Phantom Tollbooth.

I read Phantom Tollbooth aloud to my wife (when were first married, so I was an adult, but a young one). It was the first time I read it, and I loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved Island of the Blue Dolphins when I read it again a couple of years ago. Also Hatchet.

We read the full Narnia series to our kids. I only remember reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a kid, so most of the series was new to me. Liked some better than others, but overall the series was worth reading.

I was obsessed with these "kid alone in the wilderness" books as a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved Island of the Blue Dolphins when I read it again a couple of years ago. Also Hatchet.

We read the full Narnia series to our kids. I only remember reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a kid, so most of the series was new to me. Liked some better than others, but overall the series was worth reading.

I was obsessed with these "kid alone in the wilderness" books as a kid.

Others in this genre:
Julie of the Wolves
Call It Courage

For an adult version:
Last of the Breed by Louis L’Amour

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved Island of the Blue Dolphins when I read it again a couple of years ago. Also Hatchet.

We read the full Narnia series to our kids. I only remember reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a kid, so most of the series was new to me. Liked some better than others, but overall the series was worth reading.

I was obsessed with these "kid alone in the wilderness" books as a kid.

Others in this genre:
Julie of the Wolves
Call It Courage

For an adult version:
Last of the Breed by Louis L’Amour

i love my side of the mountain as a kid and wonder how it holds up as an adult. my favorite part of the boxcar children was them living in the train in the woods too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne of Green Gables stood the test of time--was actually surprised at how well-written and funny it was reading as an adult. (Montgomery's other books, not so much...)

Agree that Wrinkle in Time was a bit dull (and my kids were also not at all into it). Similarly, when listening to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the family on audiobook, I was surprised at how loooong it took for Charlie to actually get to the factory--that was basically the only part I remember from my childhood read lol. I had to basically push the kids to make it to that point (and then DS at least really enjoyed it).

I personally enjoyed reading some of the original Winnie the Pooh books to my kids (again they were not particularly into it), but was struck by how much the writing did not really seem directed to kids--more to adults remembering childhood.

Interesting you say that about Montgomery. Just read Emily of New Moon to my boys and we all loved it. First time I read any of her books.

I went back and read many books in the "Anne" series, some to my kids, and found that there was a bit of a drop off in quality after Anne of Avonlea (even, sadly, Anne of the Island, which was my absolute fav as a girl). I liked the Emily books too when I read them as a preteen, but I was afraid they would be too earnest and precious upon re-reading now. But maybe I should? One of the nice things about Anne of Green Gables is its sort of "double perspective"--it both takes Anne's travails seriously enough to be meaningful to a kid but clearly depicts the humor in many of them (to appeal to an adult).