Haunting isn’t necessarily a bad thing! But I do find myself thinking about these books I’ve read over 15 years ago and wonder how they’ve shaped me
Sections
4
Elementary Grades 1-5
Middle grades 6-8
High School 9-12
University
Elementary Grades 1-5
There are some surprisingly heart-wrenching stories here
This book literally still makes me cry. It’s about a father and son who live in an airport because they are homeless
Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting & Ronald Himler
I remember reading this in fourth grade and I don’t know if I was able to fully wrap my head around it. This is about US mandated Japanese Internment Camps.
Baseball Saved Us: 25th Anniversary Edition: Ken Mochizuki, Dom Lee
This, I think, was the first book I took home so I could read ahead. I read this when I was 10 and I still think about it 22 years later so maybe I should give this a reread
Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree - Bill Brittain
I think this book helped spark my interest in folk lore
The Rough-Face Girl: 0000698116267: Martin, Rafe, Shannon, David: Books
I thought this book was a fever dream for a while. I have vivid memories of this being read to the class in 1st grade and then promptly checking it out from the library after to look at the pictures
Bamboozled by David Legge
I think this might’ve been the first time I really considered that a story could be multiple genres
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some ...
Why did my elementary school set out to depress us?
The Hundred Dresses - Books
I remember laughing so hard during a read-a-loud because my teacher read the word “pee” that I had to be excused from class to splash cold water on my face and calm down
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing: Blume, Judy
Middle grades 6-8
Maybe there was a reason for my intense teenage angst?
If you know you know and if you don’t you shouldn’t even think about it
Where the Red Fern Grows: 9780440412670: Wilson Rawls
I have been thinking about this book a lot, especially during this past year
The Cage: A Holocaust Memoir - Sender, Ruth Minsky
This genuinely haunted me and pushed the boundaries of what I thought could happen in a book
The Most Dangerous Game. by Richard Connell (1893-1949) "OFF THERE to ...
“I got you to look after me and me to look after you” 😭😭😭😭
Of Mice and Men: Steinbeck, John: 9780140177398
I always think about this book when I realize a common phrase is an exaggeration. Early on, there’s a part when someone says “I’m starving” and is immediately corrected to saying “I’m hungry”
A Newbery Award Winner (Giver Quartet, 1): 9780544336261: Lowry, Lois: Books
What a powerful book to start to implant the seeds of what innocent forms propaganda can take
The Wave - Strasser, Todd: Books
While this is a good book, I think this haunts me more because it’s based on the town my boyfriend grew up in
Freak the Mighty (Scholastic Gold): Philbrick, Rodman: 9780439286060
High School 9-12
I’ve been told that many of these are not common requirements
I think this book is the reason no one ever asked Mr. Lance about the war
The Things They Carried: O'Brien, Tim: 9780618706419
I remember taking this book home and reading ahead but I also remember being floored by the discussion questions and afterward. I hope they still include that because it was integral to my understanding of the patriarchy
Speak - Anderson, Laurie Halse: Books
We read this in the context of Romeo and Juliet and it was the first time I realized that contemporary fiction had literary merit outside of my entertainment
Breathing Underwater #1 - Alex Flinn
One of my favorites
The Crucible Arthur Miller
An absolutely devastating novel
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Chbosky, Stephen
This poem made me realize that there are more uses for words than I thought. Definitely top 10 poem for me, if anyone were to keep track of those things
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock | The Poetry Foundation
University
Ground breaking to my entire concept of self
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN SEXUALITY
One of my favorite books I read, it’s fast paced and makes you take a good look at your own mortality in a scientific way
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
The first of very few textbooks I read cover to cover
Amazon.com: An Introduction to Language
This was a very interesting look at consumerism
Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge
This is just a super interesting read about industry
