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I am 68 and I love literature. Up until a couple of years ago I had no particular interest in children's literature, but then I started reading aloud to a fifth grade class as a volunteer once a week and became interested in searching out interesting things to read to them. The books cannot to too difficult but had to be something really good; I didn't want to read what I considered to be "dumb children's stories". I started with Call of the Wild by Jack London, which is not a children's book, but which is both accessible and very good. It was well received by the fifth graders. To make a long story short, I have found two books which were written for children and/or young adults but which are so good that I derived tremendous enjoyment when I read them for myself as part of my search. The two are:
1. Trash by Andy Mulligan (2010). Set in the Phillipines, this is the story of some trash boys who make a living digging through the huge mountains of trash in the city dump for recyclables and other things of value. They find a wallet with some cryptic items and it turns out the police are also looking for that wallet. The boys follow the clues and stay one step ahead of the police. It is a truly intriguing mystery and detective story which includes much that is gritty and realistic about poor children in a third world county as well as some uplifting moments about the triumph of the human spirit. I am aware that my summary sounds somewhat lame, but I don't know how else to say it and still be brief. I have read this to two different classes of fifth graders; both the students and their teachers just ate it up.
2. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977). Newbery Prize. This is the story of an unlikely friendship between a fifth grade boy and girl of totally opposite family backgrounds. The author has a sure and deft feel for the reality of life at school and at home. The book does not have a happy ending but manages to end on a note of hope nonetheless. I have not yet read this to a class, but I am looking forward to doing so pending the approval of the teachers in another month or so.
So I was surprised at just how good these two children's/young adult books were and my response to my thread title question is in the affirmative.
Yes. I re-read the Little House series recently and got much more out of the books than I did as a kid. I would rather read a well-written series like that than a lot of the so-called adult fiction that kills brain cells with its stupidity (the 50 Shades trilogy, "chick lit," horribly written vampire & mystery series, etc.)
I love the Harry Potter series. Not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for, though.
I remember reading the book The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in elementary school. I don't remember if we read the entire grouping of those books, but I remember thinking it was a well-written and interesting book way back then.
a lot of these modern YA books are Twilight garbage about teen/creature love stories or they are "serious" books about 9th grade "Molly" who's a cutter. No thanks. I almost always will avoid them with some exceptions that have been mentioned, classics.
(I did pick up the hunger games today from the library, tired of hearing about it and will give it a spin).
I'm not one of the uber fans, but I enjoyed the HARRY POTTER series.
THE HUNGER GAMES was a great story, although I found the first person present tense of the narrative extremely off-putting at times. I haven't yet made it to the sequels. I'd call it a great story hampered by less than great prose.
Jane Yolen is always a pleasure to read, no matter how old you are.
The NARNIA books I loved as a kid. As an adult, I still find them sort of quaintly charming, but they don't hold the power of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.
I loathed Dr. Seuss as a kid. I loathe the books even more as an adult.
Sure, especially older books. It seems to me that nowadays YA fiction is overly simple, like Hunger Games.
The Hobbit is a great example. As a matter of fact, I think perhaps British books are better with this kind of thing. And have you ever read The Mouse and His Child?
That's curious to me that they have you reading aloud to older kids like that.
Sure, especially older books. It seems to me that nowadays YA fiction is overly simple, like Hunger Games. The Hobbit is a great example. As a matter of fact, I think perhaps British books are better with this kind of thing. And have you ever read The Mouse and His Child?
That's curious to me that they have you reading aloud to older kids like that.
Interestingly, Andy Mulligan, the author of Trash, is British. No, I have never read The Mouse and His Child. But thanks for that recommendation, as I am always looking for material to expand my personal repertoire. (I have made a rule for myself that I will not read to the students any work for which I don't have a personal enthusiasm. That may eliminate some worthwhile books, but I am more likely to be successful at this if I myself am excited about a book.)
As for your comment about the "older kids": First, from my perspective, fifth graders are very young kids, but I understand what you mean because most reading aloud volunteers seem to be in Kindergarten and first grade. When the school district recruited me for their "Rolling Readers" program, I told them that I would feel totally out of my element and comfort zone dealing with Kindergarteners and first graders. Fifth grade is the highest elementary school grade in this particular school district, and I told them I would give it a whirl in the fifth grade, not even the fourth grade. Well, it has worked well; the two teachers have been delighted, and I have enjoyed it immensely and I can read in the students' faces and reactions that they, too, have enjoyed it. At the beginning I had my doubts, but I am so glad I agreed to try it.
There are some books that I still remember my teacher reading to us when I was in elementary school (and hating it every time she took a break!). Charlotte's Web was wonderful although sad of course, and I very fondly recall From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
I was a voracious reader as a child and still am. When I was a kid in the late '60s and '70s I LOVED Nancy Drew. (When I was bored in my classes I would hold the book under my desk and read it that way, lol!) Yeah, I know, it's not great lit, but I found Nancy to be a strong female character who was always having adventures and as a young girl, that sounded wonderful to me. I never read (as an adult) the Nancy Drew version of the '80s and '90s (and today?) but I suspect I wouldn't care for them.
These days I try to mix classics (free on my Kindle) with "fun" stuff like mysteries (think John Sandford's Prey series or Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books) although when I am sleepy it's sometimes hard to get through the classics but the Sandford-type books will keep me up all night (not always a good thing). I tried to read The Hunger Games and was bored out of my mind (I know I am in the minority there as everyone I know loved it, or said they did).
Of the hundreds (probably thousands) of books I read for fun as a teenager, I still remember one called Lisa, Bright and Dark, about mental illness. Out of curiosity I recently looked it up on amazon. I imagine if I tried to read it now I would find it very dated, but still, for a book about this topic in the '70s, it was pretty amazing.
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is listed as Young Adult. I think I was about 41 when I read it and, no kidding, it was one of the best books that I ever read.
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Twilight garbage about teen/creature love stories or they are "serious" books about 9th grade "Molly" who's a cutter. No thanks. I almost always will avoid them with some exceptions that have been mentioned, classics. 
