Revisit Your Favorite Children's Books

Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author of The Happiness Project ($27, amazon.com), is such a fan of revisiting childhood favorites that she started two book clubs devoted to young-adult fare. Why bother? “Each time you reread a book is a totally different experience, because you’re totally different,” she says. Here’s what makes her must-return-to list―and why.

Beauty

by Robin McKinley ($17, barnesandnoble.com)

“This is a marvelous retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. There’s so much pleasure in seeing a familiar story in a new, fresh way. In fact, you appreciate the twists and turns even more because you know the story so well.”

by Philip Pullman ($8, barnesandnoble.com)

“So rich that a child can read it at a child’s level and an adult can read it at adult level, and there’s tremendous pleasure for both. It’s a fantastic world of extremely high stakes and marvelous characters.”

by Laura Ingalls Wilder ($7, barnesandnoble.com)

“Reading the Little House series as a grown-up, you really see the genius of Laura Ingalls Wilder―how the books grow and change as Laura does. The final page of this one, when Laura’s thinking she’s so happy that now is now, because it could never be long ago―it’s really brilliant.”

by Frances Hodgson Burnett ($7, barnesandnoble.com)

“There’s a wonderful arc to this story. The main character starts out with everything perfect, loses it all, and then makes a triumphant return while remaining true to herself. As an adult, you can really find pleasure in that ‘justice rewarded’ theme.”

by Elizabeth Enright ($7, barnesandnoble.com)

“This charming, happy book―about cousins who discover a swamp surrounded by summer homes that have been deserted for 50 years, and two wonderful old people living there―is so peaceful and cheerful. Everybody’s nice and it all works out well. It’s a refuge if you’re feeling like things are tough.”

by C.S. Lewis ($9, barnesandnoble.com)

“A magical world reached through a wardrobe. What could be more enticing? It’s a very short book, but the whole world Lewis created explodes with such rich detail. You don’t outgrow loving to read about magic―that’s why Harry Potter is so much fun.”

by Louisa May Alcott ($7, barnesandnoble.com)

“The towering classic! I just reread this for the 25th time, and it’s a delight every single time. I know it so well that I get excited when my favorite parts are coming up. The death of Beth is one of the saddest parts of any book ever.”

by Robert C. O’Brien ($7, barnesandnoble.com)

“I love this story about a girl who finds a silver crown on her pillow when she wakes up on her birthday. It’s an unexplained fantasy world that’s perfectly drawn in very few pages. Time is at a premium for everyone, and it doesn’t take you very long to read this and be transported.”

by E. L. Konigsburg ($7, barnesandnoble.com)

“The concept of whether you could actually live in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum is just as fun to think about now as when you were a child, and you still completely identify with the children. The narrative framework of this book―who’s telling the story and what her role is―is actually very complex and confusing. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I understood exactly what was going on.”

by Suzanne Collins ($13, amazon.com)

“It’s so good! Give this to people and don’t even tell them it’s young-adult. It’s about an extremely brave and cunning and interesting heroine in a postapocalyptic world. It’s full of cultural commentary. As a child, you wouldn’t necessarily read it and think, ‘Oh, this is like American Idol or the Roman gladiators,’ but it’s all in there.”