Top 5 Wednesday: Children's Books We Should Read as Adults

Top 5 Wednesday is a group on Goodreads hosted by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes on Youtube.

So this week's subject is Children's books we should read as adults. I took Children's books to be anything from Middle Grade and younger.  It really took me quite a while to put this list together, simply because I read a lot of Children's books and Middle Grade books, a big chunk of them I have read as an adult so I am not entirely certain if they would have been different as a child.  Even though I am a big fan of Fantasy and Romance books, I have to say Middle Grade is my favorite age category and the books in this category, whether they are historical, fantasy or contemporary have such a huge impact. They take on some of the hardest subject matters and help form the lives and opinions of young readers.  Think back to the books that impacted you most as a reader and a person, chances are they were ones you read in middle school or even younger (for many this is probably Harry Potter, for me it was Lord of the Flies).

So anyway, here is a list of books I would like adults and young readers alike to read.

I read this book a few years ago to Munchkin, and while it didn't really capture Munchkin, boy did it have an impact on me.  It has simple sentences like Does a story remember it was once a single word? or Does the family remember it was once just two? 

I am sure that at one point as a kid someone tried to explain the full impact of this book to me, but I probably never fully grasped the concept of it until I read it as an adult. I think about how much my parents have gave me over my life so far and how little I have fully appreciated that they have given and given and loved.

No matter the sport, it is important to remember that it is a game and it is supposed to be fun for the players! Now that Munchkin is in sports, I kind of want to hand this book out to the parents, even at 4 and 5 years old the parents are a little crazy.

I just read this book in January and I am already certain that it will rank among my top books of this year.  It was fantastic! Told from the perspective of a tree, so it takes on an unbiased and observant tone for a story about love and hate.

  

 

Everyone, adults, teens, pre-teens, should read this series.  The first book may have come out 17 years ago but the issues within this series are still relatable and these books do such a great job of addressing them.  The main subject that the series tackles is bullying, be it because of looks, gender, sexual orientation, beliefs, it all comes back around to bullying.  I have only read the first 3 books but I have no doubt the 4th book will be just as fantastic!

Okay, it was very hard to limit my list but I think I did a fairly good job and I wanted to pick books that may not show up on other lists or be as popular too.  Have you read any of these books? Did you read them as a child or an adult or both? What are some of your recommendations?