20 Of The Best Children Books To Re-Read As An Adult

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Image: Shutterstock / By Kostikova Natalia

Why re-read the best children books to be written you ask? Children books most often are designed to entertain, are short, illustrated to hold the attention of a young person- and often are the literature that’s had the greatest influence on our lives. Many think just because we’re all grown now that it means we’ve outgrown our favorite kids’ book. That’s so not true! When it comes to children literature, we all have our favorites that have left lasting impressions to our hearts, minds, and souls with characters that kept us smiling and entertained our imaginations. Those books are passed on to the next generation in hopes that our children are equally inspired and thrilled.

However, there’s nothing that’s written that says we still can’t enjoy those book ourselves! There’s a lot of value in rereading your favorite books. You can revisit your cherished characters, escape to the comfort of familiar worlds, and discover new details that you missed the first time around. So pour yourself a generous glass of fine wine (which also gets better with age!), and kick back with one of these 20 books with their silly storylines, moving messages, and unforgettable moments that are worth revisiting in adulthood. You’ll find as you re-read these children books that have way more to offer now as they did way back when.

Charlotte’s Web

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Who doesn’t remember the story of Charlotte, Wilbur, the tiny piglet, and the wise old spider? The true meaning of friendship and the circle of life is what this children’s witty classic is all about, and these lessons of love and lose are imperative for children. They also resonate, even more, know that we toughened adults who have experiences sacrifice, grief, and selfless love. We all struggle with these intense themes that lie within the book, and the author displays them in such an unfearing and lovely way. It’s hard to believe that these sophisticated ideas were meant for children when we as adults still have problems coping with them.

The Giving Tree

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The “Giving Tree” may be over 50-year-old, but the books’ lesson about love and selflessness is still as moving as ever. As a kid, we can love and appreciate the relationship between the boy and a tree. As an adult and re-reading the story of this tree who loves a little boy so much you realize that the fact that three is willing to give him everything is not only heartbreaking, but it provides a controversial look at the cost of unconditional love.

After re-reading this book again you will be left with so many questions about the nature of giving and gifts, happiness, and the nature of love, but when you discuss and answer them either with yourself or with others, I promise you’ll be much better for it.

Harriet The Spy

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This is a great New York City story about a curious 11-year-old who sometimes writes down observations about family and friends in her journal. Unfortunately, the journal ends up falling into the wrong hands, and then suddenly all of her interpretations are laid bare. As an adult, there’s a thing or two we can learn from Harriet. One of them is that we must always remain true to ourselves, and there may be an instance in our lives when we may have to lie to spare someones’ feelings, and that’s okay. Also, as you re-read this book, there will be a lot of stuff that you didn’t pick up on when you a kid; one probably being the marijuana references. Crazy right?!

Anne of Green Gables

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This bestseller captured our attention when we were young with the independent, fiery red-headed orphan that attains the adventurous spirit of childhood. When you read this book as a kid, you saw the magic of the world around you in friends, and nature through Anne’s eyes. As an adult, you are reminded to not lose our excitement about life, to love all its little pleasures, and to stay optimistic. Anne is the kind of gal that’s relatable to us all. She screws up quite a bit, has a handful of frenemies, talks back, and sometimes wishes she had a different life, a different name, and heck definitely different hair. She’s such the heroine because when it comes down to it, she’s pretty simple and so damn resilient.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

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What stands out for most kids when they read this story is Gilly’s rough demeanor, and it’s easy to idolize her a bit. This book teaches its readers that there are more to family than blood relatives, but is something we don’t learn until we are adults. Unfortunately, many of us know that our blood relatives don’t always come through for us when we need them the most.

As we get older, we are more likely to meet people that are not “family,” but are there for us when we are going through tough times, and we have that special connection with them.  That may be true if you live far away from your biological families, and as we go through life we expand what our definitions of family is to us to include those who’ve made us feel like part of their world.

The Little Engine That Could

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This story has been around for over a century! This timeless narrative is a favorite amongst most with its amazing illustrations and the positive, beautiful message that it contains. This tale reminds all of us never to give up. Even adults as we face seemingly impossible tasks on a day to day basis, we need a dose of this train’s optimism.  We all have the strength to push through when facing obstacles as we try to achieve our goals. Repeat after me, ”I think I can, I think I can!”. This mantra will take you further in life than you even know.

Winnie The Pooh

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This is a personal favorite. There’s a well-known proverb that states, ”people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” “Winnie the Pooh”  reminds us all that we should cherish the simple pleasures in our lives. Such as afternoon walks with a friend, beautiful flowers in the garden, and of course a smackerel of honey. Now, who doesn’t love honey?!

These are just all simple pleasures that so many times we take for granted and no matter how much money we have or degrees we attain the little things often are more valuable than all of that put together. This narrative does a great job of showing us how important it is to be mindful of all the beauty around us.

Where The Red Fern Grows

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As a kid reading about a boy who works to earn the money two buy his coondogs and all the cool adventures he has with his best friends are entertaining and thrilling. This 1961 novel resonates with every kid that can remember the first time lost a pet or had to encounter death. A an adult you will be able to appreciate the joy of sacrifice in the present for benefits in the future as well as the hardship of the times than you could have as a kid. Don’t you think Little Ann and Old Dan were the best dogs ever!

Madeline

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As the smallest student in a Parisian convent school, she might appear timid, but once you start reading this book, you realize that Madeline is far from that. This heroine of Ludwig Bemelmans’ rhymes is not scared of anything, from getting in trouble from mice and tigers to sickness. The illustrations tell so much of this story and are used to captivate the reader, and it still does as an adult. This little girl is resilient, strong, and fearless. Madeline is a very daring, and loveable girl that everyone can relate to and can appreciate her confident approach on life. We should all be so brave!

Oh The Places You’ll Go

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Hands down all of Dr. Seus’s book are great, but this book is the best to re-reading because it can help you feel a little less worried about all the “adulting we have to do all while effortlessly rhyming.  “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is so much more inspiring as an adult than when we were younger. Through humorous verses like, “From soaring to high heights and seeing great signed to be left in a Lurch on a pricke-ly perch,” and illustrations Dr. Seuss addresses life’s up and down, all while encouraging you as the reader to find the success that lies inside ourselves.

Stuart Little

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For years “Stuart Little” has grabbed the attention and imaginations of kids’ with E. B. White’s quick description and witty wording. The book shows courage, determination, and teaches kids those characteristics are what make a true hero, not the size of an actual person. When rereading the story as an adult, you realize that the amusing and whimsical’s story’s true power is that it portrays a family who doesn’t just wholeheartedly welcome a child into their home but also affectionately a child’s differences.

Corduroy

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As adults, we all remember that one toy we wanted during our childhood from the department store (well at least before the days of Amazon). The majority of the story traces the unlucky bear’s attempts to fit his missing button, and along the way, several crucial early life lessons are touched upon such as looking beyond first impressions, kindness, friendship, feeling as a sense of belonging, and love. When you re-read this tale as an adult, you will ultimately see that our true friends love us in spite and sometimes because of our flaws, and if you think of your dearest friends, you will agree that that’s the case.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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This is a book that everyone can relate to as an adult. We all have bad and sometimes even terrible days where we wish we could hide under the covers just like the main character. We are often flooded with messages to “be happy,” or to “just let it go,” and sometimes it’s okay to just let yourself like crap sometimes, as long as you’re thoughtful of your feelings and not dragging others down with you. What this story does is remind us all that there will be bad days, but they will come to an end, and things will get better. It’s also a good reminder that the people in your lives sometimes just need someone to be there for them and empathize.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

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This classic fantasy series about children who find gateways into the magical land of Narnia, where the animals can talk, and Santa is real is is an adventure that lights up kids imaginations with talking lions, amazing creatures, and sword fights.  When you re-read this book as an adult, you will still be able to enjoy it on a purely superficial level, but will also be ready to dive into Lewis’ philosophical views, and can enjoy the narrative on an, even more, deeper level as a reflection of goodness, creativity, and existence. You’ll be surprised with what you come away!

The Velveteen Rabbit

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Although we may not love ourselves this way, parents learn to embrace their kids just as wholeheartedly as the boy does his rabbit; even treasuring imperfections. This 1922 tale by Margery William Bianco’s tale is a mini master class in acceptance. The book is filled with precious thoughtful quotes, wisdom, and depth as it chronicles the story of the rabbit’s desire to actually become real through the love of the young boy. The story of longing to be something and the tough rood it takes to get there speaks volumes of our own stories. We should all take a page out of this book and love a little louder so that we can truly become our authentic selves.

The Babysitters Club

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All 35 books written by author Ann M. Martin are great. Next time you need a boost, I highly suggest picking one of them up. For every tween who’s read the series, it was basically the precursor to Sex and the City in my opinion. Are you a Claudia or a Kristy? A Stacy or a Mary Anne? It’s packed with so many life lessons from dating to diabetes, divorce, death in the family, and entrepreneurship which takes the friendship of all the girls to the next level.

What you’ll realize now re-reading the adventures of the baby sitters club is that the most significant legacy these books leave behind is that they’re showing that a group of girls can come together, all with different personalities, different skills, and make something that’s great, meaningful and smart.

Tales Of a 4th Grade Nothing

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There’ so many awesome books by Judy Blume, but this tale of hers about what it’s like to a be a sibling still resonates whether you’re eight years old or 80 years old. This book is funny, and re-reading it as an adult, it’s downright hilarious and so touching to see the love that both brothers have another (even if it doesn’t always feel that way).

So many of us have there when we’ve had the younger sibling that we loved, but go on our nerves and just about made our life miserable. Even though Peter’s younger brother Fudge who’s in his terrible 2’s was a pain in his butt, but at the end of the day, he learns to accept both his brother as well as parents for who they are, in the very same way that his family receives him. As adults, we can learn a thing or two from the way Peter ends up forgiving them all instead of holding a stupid grudge forever. I mean, isn’t that what families are really about?

Harry Potter

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It’s not like you haven’t read the entire Harry Potter series six times anyway. J.K. Rowling’s world-renown ”Harry Potter” series rekindled the genre we all know as fantasy, and the story of an 11-year-old boy that appeared to be ordinary turned into an amazing tale of secret magic and incredible beasts. The first book might have seemed quite more straightforward than the sequels, but that’s because Rowling wrote the books in a way that was to grow more sophisticated along with their faithful young readers. Search for early foreshadowing as you enjoy the whimsy. Now raise your hand if you still want to go to Hogwarts?

The Bridge To Terabithia

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This novel a Newberry Medal winner which is given out to authors for being ”the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” told the story of two misfit fifth graders that became bonded by their imaginary world is a moving story about friendship and ultimately death. It teaches kids that those rare- childhood friendships that form can both save and transform us.  Re-reading this as an adult shows and teaches us that kids are strong and capable of overcoming tremendous obstacles in their lives even at a young age and can find that courage within to get through it all.

Alice In Wonderland

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This novel is known for its carefree spirit, and of course the main character-Alice, who’s coping with the challenges that come with growing up by escaping off to Wonderland. There’s so many interpretations of the book from Alice’s mental abilities to adjust to the new environment to early ideologies about feminism. Many even think it was an indirect critique of the political system of the time. That same theory may apply in the world today!

Regardless it’s a great read and in my opinion better than the Disney version that kids are spoon-fed. Don’t get me wrong the Disney version is quite trippy, but the original is way more messed up and even cooler when you reread it now.

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