Has anyone ever scoffed at you — reacted a bit too incredulously, given you an “okaaaay” — about reading (or even admitting that you might read) children’s books as an adult?

The proper response to that is to give them a skeptical side-eye right back. You know what’s what.

If you used to love children’s books, there’s no reason to turn your back on them now.

Indulging in — and savoring — these sorts of stories is one of the simplest and best forms of self-care for your nervous system and your brain.

Just as it did when you were a book-crazy kid, your brain still wants — still needs — the familiar comfort and imaginative play offered by wonder-filled stories and the adorable characters that populate them.

And make no mistake: many of these books & stories are as profoundly meaningful — just as “important” — as anything written for adults.

“At the risk of sounding like a mad optimist: children’s fiction can reteach you how to read with an open heart. When you read children’s books, you are given the space to read again as a child: to find your way back, back to the time when new discoveries came daily and when the world was colossal, before your imagination was trimmed and neatened, as if it were an optional extra. But imagination is not and never has been optional: it is at the heart of everything.”
— Katherine Rundell,
Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise