Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise [Rundell, Katherine]

Author: Katherine Rundell


A celebration, in a pocket-sized format, of the joys and vital importance of children's literature for adult readers, from the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Impossible Creatures.

Katherine Rundell, one of the most accomplished modern children's writers, offers an extended essay about the pleasures and benefits of reading children's literature as an adult.

Rundell explores how children's books ignite--and can re-ignite--the imagination; how children's fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world.

Infinitely wise and thought provoking, Rundell's short book is a perfect one-sitting read, and a terrific gift for the book-lover in your life.

Publisher: Penguin Random House
Published: 09/01/2026
Pages: 80
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.02oz
ISBN: 9798217230747

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/08/2026
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2026
Library Journal 08/01/2026 pg. 80
Booklist 08/01/2026

About the Author
Katherine Rundell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Impossible Creatures series. Her other books for children include Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, and The Good Thieves. For adult readers, Rundell has written Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures and Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. She was the recipient of the British Book Award for Book of the Year and Author of the Year. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford.