Why You Should Read Children's Books

A few weeks ago, an unexpected Amazon box arrived addressed to my husband (not an unusual occurrence). Typically a gadget, smart bulbs or some fancy knife (read: gadget) is held inside. But this package was different. Tucked inside a box much too big for its contents was a small, quarter-the-normal-size book: “Why You Should Read Children’s Books Even Though You Are Old and Wise” by Katherine Rundell (a celebrated writer of children’s novels).

I chuckled that night as he propped himself up next to me, I with my large Julie Andrews memoir, he with his tiny orange book. “What made you buy that?” I inquired. Neil Gaiman had something to do with his answer. 

Twenty minutes later and he’d read it cover to cover. I flagged this in my memory because it takes me quite a while to make it through any book, but a small, 62-page one might just be worth the effort.

Fast-forward to this weekend, and I’m scrambling for inspiration. It’s early morning, and I have coffee in hand. I stare at the pile of books on my nightstand. Six strong, all half read. Except this one. 

And now I’m inspired. Katherine Rundell presents a thesis for why adults shouldn’t abandon children’s novels. I won’t do her thesis justice, and you really ought to just take 20 minutes and $10 to read for yourself, but here are my favorite takeaways.

Any good children’s novel wasn’t written with just a young audience in mind. The author aims to please both generations (and many to come). What’s more, children’s novels allow adults to be imaginative again, a skill we surely lost between final exams, our first job and that pesky car payment. And lastly, children’s novels speak of hope. Of change. Of what could be. And we urgently need messages of hope.

Either on holiday break or as a new year resolution: put down that crime thriller, pick up a book from your past and rebel against what’s expected of you and your reading choices. 

If it helps to jumpstart things, the Black Sheep team has compiled a short list of our favorites from our youth.

• "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
• "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak
• "Danny, the Champion of the World" by Roald Dahl
• "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L’Engle
• "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak
• "Strega Nona" by Tomie dePaola
• Anything "Junie B. Jones" by Barbara Park
• "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg