Children's Books Then and Now

No matter how old or young you are you can look back and remember the special books you read as a young person. Whether you became an adult yesterday, a long time ago or absolutely refuse to make that transition in your life you can look back and think about the books that you loved in the past. They were special to you for many reasons maybe they helped you through a tough time or broaden your imagination or even gave you the courage to believe in your dreams, I would encourage you to revisit these old friends and remember what made so special to you then and maybe you can even uncover something new about them as well. By doing this you not only reconnect with these special books you enjoyed as a young reader but this will help you to be able to excite your young reader about the book as well.

If you skipped making friends with some wonderful book as a young reader yourself or if you haven’t read any children’s literature recently I would encourage you to get involved with some of the newish books that have come out in recent years. Children do sometimes follow the example they see so if we read the books we want them to read it could help encourage them to read… if it doesn’t help it won’t hurt and you might even enjoy it.

Some of my favorite “then” books are:

• The Box Car Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
• Peter Rabbit by Beatrice Potter
• Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
• The Hobbit by J. R. R Tolkien
• The Narnia series by C. S. Lewis

Yes my tastes were and still are all over the place. I love reading a good story and the best stories have been written in my opinion by those who wrote and write children’s literature. I have continued to read these good stories written by the incredibly talented children’s writers of today and below are some really good ones in my “now” or newish books favorites:

• Harry Potter series by J. K Rowling
• Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
• The Magyk series by Angie Sage
• The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
• The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver
• Little Critter series by Mercer Mayer
• The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
• Ink Heart series by Cornelia Funke

I have began reading several other books that I am excited about and will continue to search out wonderful new stories to enjoy for myself and to recommend to young readers and all those who enjoy a really good story. I will also continue to write my own books and hope they will become special friends that others can read and remember with affection as I do with my old friends, the books I read as a young reader.

Children's Books Then and Now