Have you ever re-read a favourite book from your childhood and been astounded by a layer you didn’t see as a kid, or by something that you now see in a new way?

I'm definitely a re-reader, and will often choose books from my childhood to enjoy again. I love going back to a world that's had an impact on me (part nostalgia, part just what my particular reader-imagination craves!)

In re-reading a few Judy Blume books – namely Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great – I find myself literally astounded at how deftly Blume portrays adult characters, despite them being secondary characters who remain mostly "in the wings" of the main story. As a kid, I accepted what the adults did and said as a matter of course – and I think that's what her young central characters do, too.

But now as an adult, I can see and feel the adults' midlife crises, career angst, complicated financial decisions, dynamics with extended family and other parents… These are not know-it-all grown ups, nor are they bumbling, clueless types where the kids know best. They are living, breathing, flawed (sometimes humorously), loving "whole" people. And again, what impresses me most – especially when reading now – is how Blume does not write pages and pages about any of the above and none of it with a heavy hand; these details are simply what come through in little snippets of action and effortless dialogue as the young characters go about their kid-centric lives.

So I'd love to know: what childhood books look different to you – and how so – when you read them in adulthood?