We read for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes we want to do a deep dive into a niche subject, like how to make our own cheese or brew our own beer. Other times, we feel called to expand our thinking on an issue. Or we might kick up our feet on a warm summer evening with a memoir by someone we’ve never heard of in hand.
Yet, there are plenty of moments in our lives when we don’t want to discover something new, but rather return to something old. Maybe it’s simple nostalgia, or it’s the fireflies blinking in the air, or the campfire’s glow on our kids’ faces as they roast marshmallows. We want to get in touch with that part of ourselves that’s still ten years old and discovering a passion for the first time.
Gathered here for you today is a selection of adult books that feel like some of your favorite children’s classics.
Many of us have read C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Four siblings pass through a wardrobe and find themselves the unlikely heroes of another world. It’s a formula that’s worked time and time again in storytelling. If you’re a reader like myself who’s always wondered how the children would cope with returning to their normal lives after saving the world in another reality, you might be interested in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. Here, the spent up magical children—and the adults tasked with caring for them—must reckon with a return to mundanity.
Harry Potter needs no introduction at this point. It set the magical school trope on fire. Combine a magical school with a heaping teaspoon of dark academia, a dash of demons, and a legacy to protect, and you’ll have The Incandescent by Emily Tesh brewing in your cauldron.
America’s history is paved with iconic moments. Many of these moments have then been further gussied up and shared through books, television, and film over and over again. These moments in time become legendary and star-studded in our hearts. The period of westward expansion and life on the prairie is one such period. If you haven’t read Little House on the Prairie, perhaps you’ve watched the television series. You can channel a bit of that frontier feeling with Mary Connealy’s Western Light series, following a family as they seek a better life out west and find love and faith along the way.
Need more book recommendations?
You can always get a booklist tailored to your interests from one of your local librarians. Click the link, tell us what you like, and get a custom booklist delivered to your inbox within 5 days.
