I can see why so many love this book. I wouldn't call it a childhood read, per se. It's more of the mind-boggling wordplay that made Alice in Wonderland a choice book for analysts and the young at heart alike. To put an age on it is limiting the storyline. 
 It's a mixture of Alice, The Wizard of Oz, and various folklore about the fairy realm from around the world - even a pinch of some very familiar Greek myths...does a pomegranate mean anything to you? 
 At first, I found September Rather Heartless (which, the author reassures us quickly, is the state of most children), but eventually I couldn't help but feel for her and her mixed awe of Fairyland and bittersweet yearning for home and her absent parents. 
 Isn't that what we all feel when we realize that the grass isn't as green as we thought on the other side? 
 This is one you definitely don't want to miss. 
 [I would write a longer, more touching review, but I can't think of anything else that needs to be said. Perhaps I'll revise it later.]