The great thing about bookstores? You know you can eventually find me in the children’s section. I (if you have not guessed) really like books for the under 18 crowd (after all over 10 years in that section as a bookseller stays with you). I am also a firm believer that adults can enjoy “children’s books” as well.
Take the Blast Back series. I will only talk about The American Revolution here, but some other titles are about space, the Statue of Liberty, the Salem Witch Trials, the Titanic, the Civil War and World War II (to name a few).
While the adult might know some of the information presented, there might be a few nuggets you did not. And while you might want to read more about a subject (and you can by finding more mature literature) you can be satisfied knowing you have a few cocktail party tidbits. Or you can just say, “Well that was a fun read” and leave it at that.
Ohlin takes a few pages to explain key points of the Revolution. She has a timeline of before, during and after. While the illustrations of Larkum scattered throughout the text bring it to life in sketches. Unlike some books were there is always some contemporary humor (such as a side story of kids of “now” (or “during that time) doing something like time traveling along the “edges” of the pages, breaking the fourth wall and making comments) this is a straight forward story. It is non-fiction but reads as a novel.
This series would be good for reading a few chapters to a younger child, but the (high) first to (lower) third grader would be the perfect audience.