Children's/YA books that hold up?

[brdgt]

I'm big on books on tape and I really like Young Adult and children's books on tape. This year I've reread a couple of "classics" - Bridge to Terebithia and A Wrinkle in Time.

It's funny, Bridge to Terebithia really held up, it was still believable, sort of timeless, and darn it if I didn't cry at the end. I just finished A Wrinkle In Time and had the exact opposite experience, I didn't think it held up at all and the main character really bothered me, especially as a role model for little girls. All she does is whine and demand people help her.

Last year I read To Kill A Mockingbird again and was blown away. It was so good I almost felt it had been wasted on me as a child and reading it as an adult added so much more meaning.

So what children's books hold up for you? What ones don't?

[Craft Forums]

[stella]

i don't think of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ as youth literature, myself. it's one of my favorite books, and i did love it as a kid, but there's a whole layer of meaning i didn't "get" when i was young.

i still love the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories.

i was really into YA and adult fantasy when i was in the 8-12 range, and that stuff definitely does not hold up.

[sugar cookie]

I have read and really like The Giver by Lois Lowry and all the georgia Nicholson series. I hear those will be movies sometime soon. I hope they hold up!

[athena]

Last year I read To Kill A Mockingbird again and was blown away. It was so good I almost felt it had been wasted on me as a child and reading it as an adult added so much more meaning.

i don't think of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ as youth literature, myself. it's one of my favorite books, and i did love it as a kid, but there's a whole layer of meaning i didn't "get" when i was young.

I just read this for the first time ever, and I was blown away, too. I think if I had read it when I was younger, I would have missed all of the important themes.

A series I love that I think may be wasted on kids is the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. There are so many "adult" themes (and I don't mean sex, I mean big picture issues--religion, coming of age, autonomy, etc.) I just wouldn't have understood (much less noticed).

[smachel]

to me, the berenstain bears series is still good. what great children's books.

as far as YA, i'm not really sure...

i agree about to kill a mockingbird -- i don't consider that YA.

[dalva]

Anything by Francesca Lia Block. I read nearly all of her books a few years ago, and would have loved them as YAF.

When I was a kid, I read whatever I could get my hands on, which meant reading my mom's book collection. Sacajewa, Clan of the Cave Bear, etc. Books which could have been considered "too advanced" for a 5th grade reader. Relating to the point that Athena made, I think that things that aren't relevent to our life experience at certain ages is just fine. I think that His Dark Materials would have been just as entertaining, it just wouldn't have the depth of seriousness to a young mind as an adult mind. Does that make sense?

[athena]

Relating to the point that Athena made, I think that things that aren't relevent to our life experience at certain ages is just fine. I think that His Dark Materials would have been just as entertaining, it just wouldn't have the depth of seriousness to a young mind as an adult mind. Does that make sense?

Absolutely! I would have definitely enjoyed the adventure of the story if I had read it at a young age.

(I was 26 when it was first published, so it's kind of a moot point for me. Ha! Even at 26, I think I maybe would have missed a lot. I didn't read it until I was 33, and everything I had read and experienced between those times really gave me the knowledge and background to really "get it.")

ETA: And I love the way he uses the English language.

[brdgt]

i agree about to kill a mockingbird -- i don't consider that YA.

Weird, am I the only one who had to read it in junior high???

[moon_lemming]

Weird, am I the only one who had to read it in junior high???

I read it in junior high, but by choice, not because it was school-commanded. but for some reason I've always thought of it as YA too. my mom recommended it to me -- maybe she considered it YA and so I just assumed it was?

[dalva]

Relating to the point that Athena made, I think that things that aren't relevent to our life experience at certain ages is just fine. I think that His Dark Materials would have been just as entertaining, it just wouldn't have the depth of seriousness to a young mind as an adult mind. Does that make sense?

Absolutely! I would have definitely enjoyed the adventure of the story if I had read it at a young age.

(I was 26 when it was first published, so it's kind of a moot point for me. Ha! Even at 26, I think I maybe would have missed a lot. I didn't read it until I was 33, and everything I had read and experienced between those times really gave me the knowledge and background to really "get it.")

ETA: And I love the way he uses the English language.

I agree!!
I really enjoyed the idea that he put across as a sort of universal -conciousness