Children’s books that are also a good read for adults (Updated, May 2024)
Choose a Story Grown-Ups Will Enjoy Reading Too
Keep the humor and heart, but put someone you love inside the story. Explore a personalized tale made for reading together or gifting to a grown-up.
A lot of children’s books have adults yawning way before their kids are. Most children’s books can be predictable, bland, and highly repetitive - which may be good for the kids, but to the adults , it feels like it’s the same story being told over and over again. Children’s books also have some kind of moral at the end, or woven throughout the story, and they’re almost exclusively geared towards children. The parents and caregivers almost always get the short end of the stick when it comes to reading them! So we’ve rounded up a list of seven children’s books that are also great to read as an adult: ones that either make us laugh, serve as an inspiration to awaken the magic in us, or at least remind us of an important lesson we might have forgotten.
1. Waiting Is Not Easy by Mo Willems
‘Waiting Is Not Easy’ is a simple and cute story by Mo Willems that follows two best friends, Piggie and Elephant. Piggie has a surprise for Elephant, but he must wait for it. As time progresses, Elephant becomes increasingly impatient and periodically wants to give up waiting for the surprise. Piggie, meanwhile, tells Elephant that the surprise is worth the wait. Without giving away the ending, when the surprise eventually arrives, Elephant agrees that it was worth the wait.
How often do adults get impatient waiting for things to arrive, or waiting to get to a certain place in life. We forget so often that delayed gratification is a core basic skill, builds character, and makes the thing we’re waiting for even sweeter. As the saying goes, ‘Good things come to those who wait’. ‘Waiting Is Not Easy’ is a good reminder that, well, waiting is not easy, but it is worth it! In general, a lot of Mo Willems books (like all the best children’s books) are like that: simple to read, with profound messages coated in humor.
Who Will You Make a Book For Today?
General Questions
Manimal Tales is a publisher of beautifully illustrated personalized books. We have personalized books for children and adults. From birthday books to new baby tales, and from bedtime stories to ABC books, we have custom books for all occasions!
We even offer PhotoStories, our personalized picture books with photos.
At Manimal Tales, we fervently believe every child should be the hero of their own story!
Personalized books (or custom books as they are sometimes referred to) allow the reader to become the hero of the story - literally.
The main character in the story is the reader / receiver of the book, and is represented by an avatar that looks like them. There are usually lots of additional personalized details printed in the stories, including the receiver's name, age, family members and more.
Our PhotoStories offer a whole new level of personalization by allowing you to add your own photos into the story and have them printed out with the book.
Browse through our collection of custom books to see which ones work for your loved ones!
It's super easy to personalize your own book!
Browse through our collection of personalized stories and select the titles you want. On the product page, add the details required to personalize the book (name, age, family members, photos etc.). You can then preview the entire book before you buy, so you know exactly what you're going to get!
Once you're satisfied, add the book to your cart, enter your payment details and your unique, one-of-a-kind personalized book will arrive on your doorstep in 6 to 9 days!
The short answer is that it depends on the personalized book title in question!
All books will have your loved one as the main protagonist and their name will be printed on the book cover as well as in the story.
In some of our books like Dreamland and What Will I Be? the (the An ABC Story) your loved one's name is printed on every page.
In our Manimal Tales series, in addition to your child's name, you can select an avatar that looks like your child.
In our custom baby tales, Your Baby's Story and Your Baby's Story (Sibling version), you have to enter names and select avatars for the parents and the siblings as well.
And for our PhotoStories, you can further customize the books by uploading and adding your own photos directly into the book. The stories have been written to incorporate the photos as part of the story itself.
Whichever personalized book you do choose, we guarantee your loved one's will love our custom tales just as much as we do!
We have books for all ages and occasions! On the menu bar at the top of the page you can filter through our collections of personalized books by a variety of different criteria.
We have personalized books for:
We also offer custom books with engaging stories about:
- Standing up for your beliefs
We have personalized books across all ages:
Lastly we have our PhotoStories, which allow users to upload photos and have them become part of the story!
Nothing beats getting a book with your name on it!
Personalized books are treasured and loved by all, and make great keepsakes.
We offer custom books for all occasions, ensuring you will always find a book to meet your needs.
You can always reach us by filling out our Contact Form.