Some books are written for children and keep growing with you. You may remember them as simple stories, but when you open them again you find how much was hidden in them. Here are six worth another visit.
Six to read again
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1952). A pig, a spider and a barn. It is about friendship, and it is more honest about time and loss than you remember.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961). A bored boy drives through a magic tollbooth into a land of puns and wordplay. It is funny, and it tells you gently why learning is worth the effort.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865). A girl falls down a rabbit hole into a world where logic does not work. It reads even better when you know how many grown-up jokes it holds.
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (1958). A boy sent to stay with relatives finds a garden that exists only after the clock strikes thirteen. A quiet book about time and memory.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943). A pilot meets a small prince from another planet. Short and simple, and one of the most quoted books about what matters.
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1922). A toy rabbit wants to become real. You can read it in ten minutes, and you may need a tissue.
Why they change when you reread
- You now understand the parts about growing up, losing things and letting go.
- You notice the jokes that were written for the adults reading aloud.
- The short length makes them easy to fit into one evening.
Try reading one aloud to someone. It changes how the sentences sound.
