I have been reading Brian Jacques’ Redwall series with my son. We are on “The Legend of Luke”. I loved these books as a kid and still find them as exciting and compelling as I did as a kid.
What other books are ageless, in that kids and adults will find them just as enjoyable at any age?
by LordGourdOnBoard
18 Comments
Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising is amazing.
The Hobbit for sure.
Children’s literature is a passion of mine. Here’s a mixture of classics and more recent ones that I’d highly recommend:
Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Marguerite Henry horse novels like Misty of Chincoteague
Roald Dahl novels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
The Murderer’s Ape by Jakob Wegelius (despite the violent-sounding name it’s a fun swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne)
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
My Side of the Mountain by Jean George
Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Vining
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Wiggin
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Heidi by Joanna Spyri
Swiss Family Robinson by Jonathan Wass
Anything by Kate DiCamillo (especially Tale of Desperaux)
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones (Dogsbody, Charmed Life, and Howl’s Moving Castle are great for kids)
Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett (content heads-up: has horror/gore elements)
I read the first Earthsea book pretty young and still think the whole series is an incredible read
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Underland Chronicles. It’s undeniably middle grade, but it’s well-written and handles topics maturely.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, staring with Northern Lights if in the UK or Golden Compass in the US.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien.
I re-read Inkheart recently and still enjoyed it as an adult.
I am reading my boys the Wings of Fire series and I’m enjoying it so far
I will always plug for Louise Fitzhugh’s masterpiece, *Harriet the Spy*. There are entire dimensions in it accessible to adults that I never noticed as a kid.
I enjoyed Jonathan Strouds Lockwood & Co and Bartaemaus series — read them with my kids
A Single Shard by Linda Sur Park is absolutely wonderful. I love it.
I’d suggest [Frances Hardinge](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/119830.Frances_Hardinge) and [Diana Wynne Jones](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4260.Diana_Wynne_Jones).
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend
Simon sort of Says by Erin Bow
The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo
The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane
The *Animorphs* series by K. A. Applegate