Book Blogger Hop: Enjoying Children’s Books

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I am not really a book blogger, but I do follow Billy of Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Billy hosts the Book Blogger Hop, which I find fascinating, as I do like to read (and write about) books occasionally. This is my first time actually participating in the hop.

This week, the question truly spoke to me: do you still read and enjoy children’s books? My answer, as those who’ve read my #IMWAYR posts on here will know, is a resounding “Yes”.

In fact, I probably don’t read that much adult fiction at all. The book I’m currently reading happens to be a new adult romance and is explicitly advertised as being for over-18s due to triggering content, but its main characters are high school students nonetheless.

I do try to read more adult-oriented books, as I’m nearly 37 and honestly can’t quite relate to today’s teenagers. Not that I can relate to today’s adults, but oh well.

As for actual children’s books… You know, middle grade, chapter books, picture books even… well, uhm, yes. Though I don’t download picture books off Bookshare (the accessible reading service for the blind or otherwise print disabled) because they count towards my maximum number of books I can download each month, picture book reading channels on YouTube are my guilty pleasure. So are chapter books, particularly those on mythical creatures such as unicorns. I really love the Unicorn University series by Daisy Sunshine.

Middle grade fiction and YA, I do like occasionally, but it depends on the topic. In general, as with adult fiction, the middle grade and YA lit I enjoy is usually pretty realistic.

Honestly, I feel quite ashamed for my not so age-appropriate reading preference, thinking it sets me apart from other book lovers. Then again, I’ll never be a proper book blogger anyway. I’m just not a fast enough reader for that.

15 thoughts on “Book Blogger Hop: Enjoying Children’s Books”

        1. Potter is a great example of children’s books I learnt to enjoy as an adult.

          Especially when it came to the Prisoner of Azkaban – and even more so when it came to Deathly Hallows and Half-Blood Prince.

          Books like the Goblet of Fire I can still enjoy in a childlike way – especially the Tri-Wizard tournament.

          THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX I engaged with it as a scholar; a child and an adult.

          And so many other adults love and enjoy Potter [and Weasley and Granger] even if they have not read children’s books or read children’s books recently or currently.

          And yet I might have stopped after the end of Philosopher’s stone or in the middle.

          [probably in the Troll in the Toilet scene before the school holidays – if I had any principles that is – though three months later – this was in January 2000 – I did buy CHAMBER OF SECRETS and AZKABAN – and by principles I really mean “scruples”]…

          That first paragraph, though of STONE.

          “Vernon Dursley was normal, thank you very much…”

          And when he worked in Drillings [the hardware store].

          A wonderfully non-magical perception of the world to those who do not deal in everyday magic.

          [then I think of C S Lewis and Magic and DEEP magic in his cosmology – and again the distinctions a great many people seem to make between low fantasy and high fantasy].

          It’s the humour and the school/learning element.

          I have also read BEETLE THE BARD, and experienced FANTASTIC BEASTS – most recently SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE.

          Again Potter did open me up to what the fantasy genre was considered in the 1990s and 2000s and the early 2010s. Whether it was a door or a window or a mirror…

          I wonder, Sadje, what do you see in the Mirror of Erised?

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  2. So do I.

    Picture books specifically – there’s a website called PICTURE BOOK DEN which I visit when they have new posts.

    It’s very much on the author/publisher side of things though there would be feedback from child readers of the day.

    Also – AWFULLY BIG BLOG ADVENTURE keeps me up with the UK book market.

    Glad they talk about triggering content [or let any reader know about it].

    So glad the picture book reading channels grew during COVID

    and various neighbourhoods went on Bear Hunts – I put out a tiny white bear in a honey bear jar shaped like a bear.

    Always good to find a new hop without pressure.

    Maybe there’s a place for slow reading.

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    1. Thank you so much for your comment. Yes, I’m glad the author/publisher of this book did warn about triggering content. I’d never heard of that picture book website you mention – it sounds good. I never knew that picture book channels on YT are a thing only since the pandemic, but then again I didn’t start watching YouTube till I needed it for polymer clay tutorials in 2021.

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      1. I began watching YouTube in 2006

        [it was shortly after a cousin turned me on – I “lost” that account or access to that account later in 2006 or early 2007 and then made another one in 2011].

        and my first priority was probably not picture book channels.

        Audio readings, more generally, yes.

        And it was also in the time of podcasts beginning to be mainstream.

        But I did not watch YouTube again until it merged with Google in 2011/2012 and I had a Google Plus account.

        So many people do watch tutorials in their field of interest or their recreations.

        [the only tutorials I engaged with were with the Sims and occasionally drawing].

        There may have been picture book readings specifically done by teachers and educational professionals – as well as authors like Michael Rosen who I love for his humorous prose and poetry.

        And parents and homeschoolers then got into the act – and travellers.

        [for instance I brought A MONSTER CALLS with me on a 2017 trip as well as some poetry – there was a Toastmasters group which encouraged this type of reading aloud in the place where I was visiting which I had researched beforehand].

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    2. Hello, Jamie:

      I have just finished THE HIGH DRUID’S BLADE by Terry Brooks as of last Friday [or else last Wednesday – this week past anyway].

      The last eight pages were really thrilling and they had a twist.

      Now I understand why Christopher Paolini said – “If you haven’t read Terry Brooks you haven’t read fantasy” [and there may be inspirations within the ERAGON trilogy].

      And I might explore the DEFENDERS OF SHANNARA series.

      Writers like Brooks and Pratchett are very crossover – people to whom the genre appeals – or the storytelling and world-building appeals.

      [and I will be open in saying that I got into Brooks because of Pratchett – the Pratchett book I enjoyed last year was A HAT FULL OF SKY which is about Tiffany Aching learning to be a witch through her Second Thoughts and Third Thoughts].

      Other fantastic authors I have enjoyed would be Samantha Shannon and Naomi Novak who wrote THE ORANGE TREE PRIORY and UPROOTED respectively.

      This week there has been a lot of ComicCon and cosplaying [costume roleplaying for those who might not know it.

      And there are lots of independents and self-published types.

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  4. I read quite a lot of adult fiction as a rule but I have been studying children’s literature in the first unit of my Master’s degree. I have read so many children’s books and YA books recently and have thoroughly enjoyed analysing them for workshops.
    Lovely to have you back at #MMBC. Thank you for joining in. 😊

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    1. Thanks so very much for sharing your thoughts. I don’t really analyze children’s books, honestly. I am glad you have been enjoying this though.

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