A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.

C. S. Lewis made this remark in the course of defending “children’s books” as serious literature. In mid‑20th‑century Britain, writing for children was often treated as a lesser, merely didactic genre. Lewis—already known both as a literary critic and as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia—argued that the best stories for the young are not written down to them, nor confined to a child-only audience. His broader point is that a genuine fairy tale or children’s story can speak to enduring human concerns and therefore remain readable and rewarding when revisited in adulthood.

Lewis is rejecting the idea that “for children” means simplistic, disposable, or interesting only at a particular developmental stage. A truly good children’s story, he suggests, has layers: it can delight a child on first encounter while also offering depth—beauty, moral imagination, emotional truth, or intellectual pattern—that an adult can recognize. The quote also implies a standard for artistic quality: if a story’s appeal depends solely on the reader’s immaturity, it is probably relying on novelty or condescension rather than genuine narrative power. In this view, the best children’s literature is simply good literature, accessible across ages.