5 Great Children’s Books Written for Adults

Go the F**k to Sleep, by Adam Mansbach and Richardo Cortés
This now-standard baby shower gift from or to parents with a sense of humor de-romanticizes the ritual of putting the kids to bed. For while parents and kids retain fond memories of Mom or Dad telling them a sweet bedtime story, tucking them in, and setting them off on their journey to Dreamland, the reality is a different matter: Kids. Just. Won’t Go. To. Sleep. Ever. Just like in this book, they wake up, they want water, they are definitely conspiring against you. This book is a highly relatable parenting salve in the guise of a bedtime book for kids…or perhaps “young child” is merely the same level of intelligence as “exasperated parent.”

K is for Knifeball, by Jory John and Avery Monsen
You’re reading this, and you’ve got at least a passing interest in books, so I can be reasonably sure that you’ve got a handle on your ABCs. Or maybe you don’t, or kindergarten was a long time ago and you need a refresher. Knife is for Knifeball provides everything you need to know about the alphabet, but with a gleefully dark/fake children’s book sensibility which is hilarious. K is for Knifeball is in the same vein as other laugh-out-loud humor titles from Jory John and Avery Monsen, the team responsible for All My Friends are Dead. This one is more specific, connoting each letter with things you already love so as to remember them better, like how “D” is for the “drifter who’s out on your lawn.”

Pat the Zombie, by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi
First of all, bunnies aren’t cute. All they want to do is breed indiscriminately, eat parsley, and stare at you with their dead, soulless eyes that are often red. It makes no sense that one of the first books to promote tactile stimuli in a child’s life is Pat the Bunny. Yeah, yeah, it teaches kids about different textures, but it also teaches them that patting a bunny is a fun and good thing to do. This parody of Pat the Bunny takes it up a notch by replacing the bunny with objectively terrifying creatures. With Pat the Zombie, kids and adults alike can learn about what different things feel like without being given false information about rabbits.

What Are We Even Doing With Our Lives?, by Chelsea Marshall and Mary Dauterman
Richard Scarry books are like Where’s Waldo? without the pretense of finding some guy. With Scarry’s intricate and fascinating depictions of everybody going about their daily business in Busytown, we learn about different kinds of jobs, and how everybody contributes to a bustling city in their own unique and important way. But what about the people who can’t get jobs, or are underemployed, or don’t know what they want to do with their lives quite yet? Then there’s this book, a Busytown for both the directionless and uncertain and those wiling away their days doing nothing. (In other words, there’s a brunch scene.)

Baby, Do My Banking, by Lisa Brown
Part toy, part book-like object, simple, thick-paged “board books” are the first introduction to literature for millions of lucky babies and toddlers. But how useful are they, really? I mean, once you know your ABCs and what sounds barnyard animals make, these things are just taking up space on the shelf. But the good people at humor publisher McSweeney’s made a line of board books that are useful—and make babies feel useful. Foremost of these is Baby, Do My Banking. It’s a great introduction to the mundane errands of life, as well as a financial education for both baby and parent!