Books

8 Reasons You Should Reread Your Childhood Favorite Book

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The sad fact for most bookworms is that our best reading years are behind us. Reading as an adult opens us up to far more choices, and we’ll likely read the most literary, challenging, and thought-provoking works in those years—but that pales in comparison to devouring a stack of Goosebumps by flashlight in our formative reading years. Kids love books like no one else. I still remember the stories that made me think, “Books can do this??” Those books I read as a kid have made an indelible impression on my mind.

We may not be able to fully go back to reading as a kid, but there are so many reasons it’s worth returning to those books you loved as a child. There can be some hesitation about losing some of the magic of that reading experience, but I have eight good reasons to overcome that and revisit a childhood favorite. Oh, and here’s another: task #2 of the 2025 Read Harder Challenge is “Reread a childhood favorite book”!

#1: To reconsider a controversial classic.

The Giving Tree cover

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Sometimes, reading a childhood favorite as an adult means seeing it in a whole new way. While you may have adored The Rainbow Fish or The Giving Tree wholeheartedly as a kid, those stories may feel different now. There’s a reason they’re some of the most polarizing children’s books ever written. Is the Giving Tree generous or is the child just selfish? Does The Rainbow Fish encourage people to erase anything about themselves that makes them different, or is it just a lesson in sharing? Luckily, as adult readers, we can hold both the childhood love of a story and a more critical view of it at the same time—or you might just find you disagree with the critiques!

#2: To introduce a new generation to it.

the cover of Once Upon a World's version of The Little Mermaidthe cover of Once Upon a World's version of The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (Once Upon a World) by Hannah Eliot, illustrated by Nívea Ortiz

Readers spend years anticipating the time when they can share their favorite stories with the kids in their lives, whether it’s reading them a chapter a night or gifting them your favorite picture books. This can help you see a familiar story through their eyes, and it’s also a way to keep your love of that story alive through generations. If possible, I recommend picking up a version of that story with new illustrations or an updated cover that appeals to today’s young readers, like the Once Upon a World versions of classic fairy tales. And that brings us to my next reason to reread a childhood favorite…

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