Rereading From Your Childhood

For the past couple of months, my mom's been doing some major cleaning and going through some really old stuff - like some of it's from before we moved seventeen years ago. Because of this, I've been coming across some old books of mine - books I either had or bought since the move, but because my bedroom was about a third of the size it used to be, I didn't have room for them so they went into storage.

Most of these books fall into a couple of categories, I either forgot all about them and I really don't want them now, I want to keep them and read them for nostalgias sake - or I've actually been wondering where they are. Books like my Wishbone books, Scooby-Doo mysteries, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. (As of writing this, I've not found them yet but I also have some Baby Sitters Club and Trixie Belden books somewhere.) And I've been rereading some of them.

Now, these books really don't have the crossover appeal that a lot of YA books nowadays have - and even some of the MG books. In fact, if I hadn't read them when I was a better age for them, I'm not sure I'd like them now. But I'm having a lot of fun rereading some of them. ('Cept I can't stand Ned Nickerson. He's like wallpaper paste.)

I know that a lot of people in the book blogging community - especially the part that I'm most active in - read young adult books. But these are mostly new books, which leaves me wondering; do any of you go back and read books from your childhood or youth? I'm not talking about the books that were actually for adults (that would be like me rereading Agatha Christie books) but the books that were for younger readers.

Honestly, what I find very fascinating is how most people read these books when they're young, but then they hit a certain age and think they're 'too childish'. Then, quite a few of these people find their way back to younger books over the course of their lives.

Do you ever come across some of those old books you read before you became a teen? Do you still like them? (Would you like them if you read them for the first time now?) Do the books just not hold up well? I'd love to know what you think.