The Witches of Karres came out in 1966, and I read it within a year or two of its initial publication. A rollicking read, one that is as much fun to read now as it was then.
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It seems arbitrary what gets catalogued as YA vs Adult. I read UK Leguinās Earthsea trilogy after completing high school. It was in the adult section of the library along with other series of the time, e.g. Ann McCaffereyās Dragonquest novels, and Zelaznyās Amber series. It never occurred to me that it was intended for a younger audience. Richard Bachās Jonathan Livingston Seagull was heralded as an adult bestseller, but contains far simpler (albeit beautifully written) prose.
This is great, Iām always looking for stuff to read to my daughters.
Iāve gone through classics - such as Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn (by far the best read)
Robinson Crusoe, Gulliverās Travels, Anne of Green Gables
and part of the Swallows and Amazons series which they really enjoyed.
Reading White Fang now.
and for the more recent writhers they love Roald Dahl)
and the TinTin and Asterix series are great for their own reading.
But I will look through peopleās suggestions hereā¦
some here have mentioned Czech authors, I loved Eduard Storch, and Jaroslav Foglarās comic series Rychle Sipyā¦
Iāve heard somewhere (maybe it was attributed to Roald Dahl) that the best childrenās fiction involves getting the parents out of the picture and the adventures followā¦it is good to have a good villain as well.
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Not sure about the translation quality but you could take a look at the Zamonia novels - imo fun for kids and outside-olds-but-inside-kids like us on BBS.
(not before 1966, file under off-topic)
Tintin and Asterix. Thatās my childhood in a nutshell. Fortunately I lived in a place where those were relatively cheap and plentiful during the early 70s.
I remember my mother being alarmed at the pun āGetafix.ā She didnāt think Asterix was as tasteful and wholesome as Tintin. Even as a kid, I knew this was bullshit. I cracked open a Tintin and said, āLook mom, machine guns.ā Then I cracked open an Asterix: āPuns.ā
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They are incredibly well done (Iād be interested to read the thesis if itās online anywhere!)
You donāt actually realise how good the translations are (as in, they could be natively written in English) until you read a bad translation of them. Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge translated Goscinnyās Iznogoud series which were even more pun-heavy than Asterix. They were out of print for many years until around 2009 or so, when they were reprinted. For some reason they used new translations of them, possibly using Google Translate 
suddenly, no puns or jokes, just literal meanings and wasted dollars.
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That was a good year for SF alright.
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I mentioned this elsewhere, but I gave my son Lemās Cyberiad for Xmas, and he liked it so much I ordered another copy for my good friendsā math nerd daughter, who also loved it. It stands the test of time!
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What I wanna know is: Why has Conan Oābrien not starred as Tintin??? There is NO justice.
Edit: am guessing you Tintin fans are gonna be hatinā me.
The Dark Is Rising was awesome, both book and sequence. I started with the eponymous second book, ordered through our schoolās book club: the cover sent chills down my spine, and I knew I had to read it.
It didnāt disappoint. I was particularly impressed/shocked at how ruthless the Light, the putative good guys, were prepared to be in pursuit of the greater good, to the point of deliberately taking innocent life.
Shame the film sucked so hard.
*Shakes fist at Christopher Eccleston*
I loved Harriet the Spy over all other books of my childhood. Iād never seen a character so fiery and so rounded at the same time. On rereading the book as an adult, I found Harriet holds up as well as any character Iāve read outside of Joyce or Tolstoy.
Sport didnāt live up to its predecessor, but was better than nothing. The Long Secret I found boring as a kid, and I didnāt finish it. I did recently as an adult, and found it had improved with (my) age.
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Thatās a good example of a particular cultural change Iāve noticed since I was a kid. Iād read all of the Tintin and Asterix books before I turned eight, and I donāt think it did me any harm.
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The world is becoming annoyingly foam-padded.
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