(Not Just) Children's Books

I was at Walmart the other night and came across a recent reissue of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. I had already boxed up my old copy, and this was only $5, so I bought one to read it again. (When I've finished, I'll give it to some lucky reader.) I first came across what was then the "Time Trilogy" when I was in fourth grade. I read and loved all these stories about the Murry children and their adventures across the universe. (The others are A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.) I read them again when I was around twenty and remained impressed. (By that time, there was a fourth book in the series, which I read but found less interesting. I didn't know it then, but there was also a fifth, which is part of the reissue group I saw the other night. I suspect I'll read it soon.)

At thirty-two, I'm enjoying this third reading of Wrinkle, and I thought I'd share a few of my all time favorite so-called children's books--a few works I loved as a child and still find a strong read as an adult, as well as some new favorites I've read in recent years.

(One of the nice things about being in my thirties is that people don't look at me askance when I buy a children's book. They just assume it's for my kids. In some ways, they're right, of course. If I ever have kids, I'll be sharing these books with them and hoping they'll enjoy them as much as I do.)

The Chronicles of Narnia--I read this C. S. Lewis series for the fourth time last year, and it hadn't lost its charm. These stories are not strictly allegorical, but each teaches a strong lesson without being preachy or pedantic. They're also good fun and will occasionally make you laugh out loud. One of my all time favorite opening lines comes from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

Frindle--A friend who was teaching young kids at the time introduced me to this Andrew Clements book about three years ago. The story centers on Nick, a boy who one day decides to call his pen a "frindle." Chaos ensues. The book is light, fun, and teaches kids (and adults) an awful lot about etymology (one of my favorite subjects) in the process. If you have kids, they probably have heard of this book and others from Clements. I've now read most of his novels, and they are all worth the time if only for the way he manages to capture the thought processes of children.

Harry Potter and...--Sure it's so popular it's cliche, but these are great books. All of them. The first two are truly children's books, and if your reading habits are even remotely like mine you'll blow through them in a couple of hours. After that, this series takes a darker, more layered direction. If you've seen the movies and think you get, you don't. (The first two films are okay, the third excellent, and the fourth complete crap.) Start now, and you'll have all six read by the time the finale comes out this July.