The Not Just For Children Bookshelf

Delightful, innocent, nostalgic, whatever your minds jumps to when you think back to your favourite childhood books I love the fact that just thinking of those simple words on a page can bring back fond memories. Whether you are reading these titles to a little person or just enjoying them for yourself here are my favourite children's books that in my opinion are just as enjoyable for adults, no matter your age.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The fact that this book is such a mind-trip lends itself well to being read by adults. Getting lost inside Carroll's bizarre world with Alice can take on an entirely new perspective when read as an adult.

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling. I love that kids are still discovering the magic of the Harry Potter series just as strongly as when it was first released. I was the same age as Harry throughout all the books and it really felt like growing up with a character. Easily the most read series of books in my collection and one that I have read more times as an adult than as a teenager.

Winnie The Pooh by A.A Milne. Before Pooh bear was Disney-fied he was a lovingly hand-drawn teddy bear who spent his days getting up to mischief in the hundred acre wood waiting for Christopher Robin to come home from boarding school. The illustrations alone are reason enough to pick up this book and get all nostalgic over these much loved characters. The drawings of piglet and pooh are some of my favourite.

The Collective Works of Roald Dahl. The Twits, The Witches (most terrifying movie of my childhood), George's Marvellous Medicine, Dahl's mix of humour and ick factor are what make them so adored by children and a total crack up for adults to read.

The Collective Works of Dr Seuss. You may be fooled into thinking that Dr Seuss' catchy rhymes are all fun and word games but there's some pretty powerful and positive messages going on here too. Like 'Oh The Places You'll Go' is a great reminder that you can do anything and go anywhere that you put your mind to or the environmental warning in The Lorax about not cutting down all the trees and totally effing up our environment for a profit. Yep, powerful stuff.