I didn’t read much as a child but now read a lot so there are loads of books I missed out on.
I started with my partner’s recommendation and read all the Christopher Chant books by Diana Wynn Jones and loved them!
Eragon and the Percy Jackson + Peculiar children series were books I think I’d have adored as a preteen but can see a lot of faults in them as an adult.
I feel like there are more but can’t recall right now. How about you guys?
by ElfLadyLeia
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Right now I’m actually reading the Animorphs series, one per week, as part of an informal book club with my partner (who knows the books well) and some friends. We convene on Saturdays and I’ve been really enjoying it so far. People definitely weren’t kidding about how dark and how violent these books are willing to get (and we’re only just starting!), but K.A. Applegate is a really good writer. She’s crafted a convincing enough POV for a bunch of teenagers that the kid-friendly prose feels immersive and not off-putting to a thirtysomething who’s particular about craftsmanship. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes!
A wrinkle in time somehow I never read as a kid, I finally read it, I liked it, but wish I had read it as a 12-13 year old
Tons of them. I mostly liked animal books as a kid (BIG RED, Marguerite Henry, CLARENCE THE TV DOG, the Silver Chief books, BLACK BEAUTY, etc.) and I didn’t read a lot of the classics until I was an adult. I wasn’t that fond of the Moffats, but I loved the Melendy stories, especially the first couple (THE SATURDAYS, THE FOUR-STORY MISTAKE), also ROLLER SKATES and the sequel THE YEAR OF JUBILO, all the Anne Shirley books (didn’t read them until after the miniseries in 1985, when I was 30), the Little House books which I didn’t read until I was in my 20s, Madeleine L’Engle’s other family story set, the Austins–most of L’Engle I read in college and afterward–I remember when *House Like a Lotus* came out, I was 29 and so excited.
I was in my early 20s when the first Harry Potter book came out, so I read them all as an adult!
English is not my first language, so any American or British children book that wouldn’t have been easily accessible in my language (for reasons of translation or availability) would have been missed by me as well. I can’t think of any example right now, but my husband and many of my friends are native English speakers and they often talk about books from their childhood that everyone seem to know, but I have never read them.
Edit: Someone in the comments mentioned A Wrinkle in Time. It’s an excellent example of a book I heard of as an adult from my English speaking friends and thus read in my late 30s for the first time.
“Skellig” by David Almond. A truly wonderful book for both kids and adults. I still love to read it.
I’m suffering my way through the Percy Jackson series (for the sake of my nephew haha). I was in middle school when they first came out and had long since moved on to adult literature, but several of my friends read and enjoyed them.
I actually just finished *Matilda* earlier this week. I feel like I missed out on some of the appeal from not reading it as a kid, but it’s still kind of a cute story.
Narnia
I enjoyed them. It was interesting noting the cultural and zeitgeist changes (like the children drinking wine *gasp*)
The Chronicles of Prydain
I read 1 as a kid. Didn’t get it, really. I that I had read one of the middle books. Again, interesting but obviously for kids. I don’t know much about Welsh culture.
Last year for autumn I reread toad and frog for fun. It’s a kids book I did read as a kid but I loved re-experiencing it as an adult and I’m talking year reader kids book lol like K-3 probably. Its honestly such a sweet wholesome kid’s book. The art is so warm and cozy and stunning. it’s a lovely little venettes about the simplicities of beauty in daily life with good friends.
A Wrinkle in Time. I skipped it as a kid because it’s never been translated into my native language.
I… can’t say I liked it very much. The beginning was very strong and got me hooked. But after that it just feels like the author made things up as she went with no clear plan in mind. There’s a lot of interesting characters and concepts thrown in but none of them really get explored. And then towards the end the story basically falls apart. Things get resolved with deus ex machina in the form of “power of love” and that’s it, everyone lives happily ever after.
I read the Percy Jackson books in my mid/late 20s. I’ve always been fond of Greek mythology, and at the time I didn’t do a lot of reading for fun because of work, and these were nice quick reads to get me into reading again (at least, something other than scientific articles and dense books ;))
I read The Giver in my 20s and didn’t like it