Childhood Favorites: The Books That Made Me a Reader
Do you remember the first time you were captured by a book? Was it in your childhood, or was it recent? As many of you know, as readers we tend to go through slumps where we don't read as much, and periods where we are voraciously consuming every book on our shelves. A great way to get out of a slump is to read one of the books that first got you into reading in the first place. In light of this, I have made a compilation of some of the books of my childhood and adolescence that either began or reignited my love for reading, or changed the way I saw the world and reshaped my worldview, even from at a young age. None of my book listings are in any particular order.
Books that made me a reader
Table of Contents
Tuck Everlasting: by Natalie Babbitt
Tuck Everlasting showed me that being a young girl with dyslexia—and struggling with reading—doesn't have to be embarrassing, but can rather be a gift for my imagination. In the resource room with my favorite teacher, Ms. Holtrop, I remember reading this book. It was magical; my imagination saw the hot fields and jade green leaves of the forests and the warm rough bark of the trees. It showed me the magic hidden within the ordinary, as the book itself suggests could be around every unexplored corner, and leaks with the beauty of what simple pleasures can bring. I loved it for how it saw the world and how I felt it saw me. I saw myself, my reflection in the book's pages, and the story wove itself into my imagination.
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson made me love Fall Out Boy; that’s the only way I can put it. It gave me a taste for freedom and adventure, for friendship, and wanting to belong to something. It was a simple pleasure for me; I didn't see any themes or messages yet, only the person who Percy was: a hero that I was on the edge of my seat rooting for. Even as an adult, a small part of me somewhere in the recesses of my heart, I am still waiting to be attacked by a gorgon or for my satyr to show up and take me to Camp Half-Blood. It made me feel like I had my people when I didn't have them yet, and deep friendships, it gave me hope. I felt so connected with the characters as I read the series over and over again.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Divergent was my introduction to dystopian literature and the popular YA genre of the time. I remember watching the movie first, buying it on my iPad on the Apple Store, and falling in love with the world. When I received the books from my wonderful Mother, I tore through them, experiencing all the emotions I never expected to: grief, elation, anger, shock, and a camaraderie later on, in my fourth or fifth time reading the series, where I could relate to Tris’s imperfect decisions and messiness.
Divergent showed me it’s okay to be different and illustrated what various types of bravery can look like—as well as giving me a feeling of camaraderie with Tris in her redemption arc—for the way I felt so connected to the characters, I've read the series over and over again.
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
The Swiss Family Robinson was a staple for me. It was an adventure in the wilderness during the painfully mundane recesses I found myself in. I finished this book in parts, awkwardly; it was one of the first big, long books I finished on my own. The copy I owned was one of the first books that felt fully mine, and maybe that's why it was so important to me. I bought it at the elementary school’s thrift sale, the reason being it was one of the only books there. It had black and white drawings in it that fascinated me. At recess, sitting on the wooden planks of a portable, loose pieces of the school yard's gravel pressing into my crossed legs, I read about a family of castaways under the hot late spring sun. I finished it while waiting to be picked up after school; between recess and those waits, it was a physical comfort in a world that seemed boring, and dull at times to me.
Remnants: Season of Wonder by Lisa T. Bergen
Remnants: Season of Wonder is the book that taught me how to identify what the
Holy Spirit feels like. Arguably,
it was one of the most important books of my
childhood—one that led me closer to
Christ, beginning to realize and understand
His heart for me when I was in a place of brokenness with myself and others. It showed me a deeper connection that I could have with
God; rather than just having an identity, I could have a relationship. It was a significant step in bringing me closer to
God.
Remnants: Season of Wonder by Lisa
T. Bergen, a
Christian dystopian trilogy, has romance and
friendship; it prepared my heart to encounter God in a new way, to be vulnerable with Him relating with Him in different emotions that I didn't necessarily associate with him before. The book eventually
showed me that I can belong, or at least find a place,
even if I
failed to belong
elsewhere.
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
Jesus Calling marked a significant time in my young life. At 14, I was hurting in so many ways, but one of those ways was feeling like no community would enfold me and let me be in it again after a number of painful experiences, particularly due to my behavior. This book was the prize for the morning exercises “club" for the three-day overnight youth camp I went to for the first time. I would read the book every day without fail for a number of years after that; it held a special place on my bedside dresser—a solid brick, a reminder of my new identity and motivation for my relationship with God. It was warm and made me feel safe when reading it. Even if I could only fully commit myself to the youth group that gave it to me a year later, it was a physical token, a flashlight pointing me in the right direction, hope where I thought I had burned down my life and all its bridges.
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