http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20673153/using-jackson-to-deserialize-a-collection-of-children-with-the-same-type-as-the

fixture.xml

<root id="0">
    <test id="0.1">
        <test id="0.1.1" />
    </test>
    <test id="0.2" />
    <test id="0.3">
        <test id="0.3.1" />
    </test>
</root>

IllegalStateException

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Current state not XML_START_ELEMENT (1) but 6
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.deser.XmlTokenStream.repeatStartElement(XmlTokenStream.java:228)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.deser.FromXmlParser.addVirtualWrapping(FromXmlParser.java:280)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.deser.WrapperHandlingDeserializer._configureParser(WrapperHandlingDeserializer.java:140)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.deser.WrapperHandlingDeserializer.deserialize(WrapperHandlingDeserializer.java:108)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.CollectionDeserializer.deserialize(CollectionDeserializer.java:230)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.CollectionDeserializer.deserialize(CollectionDeserializer.java:207)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.CollectionDeserializer.deserialize(CollectionDeserializer.java:23)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.SettableBeanProperty.deserialize(SettableBeanProperty.java:464)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer._deserializeUsingPropertyBased(BeanDeserializer.java:376)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializerBase.deserializeFromObjectUsingNonDefault(BeanDeserializerBase.java:977)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserializeFromObject(BeanDeserializer.java:276)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserialize(BeanDeserializer.java:121)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.deser.WrapperHandlingDeserializer.deserialize(WrapperHandlingDeserializer.java:109)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper._readMapAndClose(ObjectMapper.java:2888)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper.readValue(ObjectMapper.java:2034)
    at a.test.utilities.XmlHelpers.fromXml(XmlHelpers.java:19)
    at a.UnitTest.test(UnitTest.java:22)

UnitTest.java

package a;

import static a.XmlHelpers.fromXml;
import static com.yammer.dropwizard.testing.FixtureHelpers.fixture;

import java.util.List;

import org.junit.Test;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.annotation.JacksonXmlElementWrapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.annotation.JacksonXmlProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.annotation.JacksonXmlRootElement;

public class UnitTest {

  @Test
  public void test() throws Exception {
    final XmlTest result =
        fromXml(fixture("fixtures/Test.xml"), XmlTest.class);
  }

  @JacksonXmlRootElement(localName = "test")
  public static class XmlTest {
    private final String id;
    private final List<XmlTest> children;

    @JsonCreator
    public XmlTest(@JsonProperty("id") final String id, @JsonProperty("tests") final List<XmlTest> children) {
      this.id = id;
      this.children = children;
    }

    @JsonProperty("id")
    @JacksonXmlProperty(localName = "id")
    public String id() {
      return id;
    }

    @JsonProperty("tests")
    @JacksonXmlElementWrapper(useWrapping = false)
    @JacksonXmlProperty(localName = "test")
    public List<XmlTest> children() {
      return children;
    }
  }

}