As soon as I learned how to read, I made the executive decision to finish every book in my elementary school’s cozy little library. It didn’t take particularly long before I had to move to my town’s public one. There are so many amazing stories that I can remember reading, many of them influencing me as both a person and a writer. With a bit of a struggle, I picked the top five books that made the biggest impact on my life.
1. "Matilda"
"These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."
Roald Dahl was the first author that I truly became a fan of. I read every children’s book he ever wrote (I hunted down the ones my school didn’t have with a fervor) and when I was done with those, I started reading any of his (sometimes not so age-appropriate) fiction and nonfiction that I could find. Out of all of Dahl’s books, "Matilda" was the one that I reread to the point of memorization.
Matilda was me. At least, that’s what I thought back then. We were both quiet and mousy, misunderstood (or so I thought) and most importantly we both loved to read. When she realizes her telekinetic powers, she gains power in her previously powerless existence. Watching her get back at all of the adults who wronged her gave me secondhand satisfaction like you would not believe. I felt like I both wanted to be her and already was her. Matilda helped me believe that even though I was just some young, quiet, socially anxious kid, I could be important.
2. "The Phantom Tollbooth"
“So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.”
Milo is a boy that is bored with life and the world, until he enters a magical world through his tollbooth. I remember first reading this book during an elementary school summer (when I had no responsibilities, and consequently was often stuck in a bored, sweltering haze) and it resonated with me. It was a book of pure escapism, taking me on a fantastical journey that never got too heavy.
"The Phantom Tollbooth" holds a special place in my heart because to the current me it represents the boundlessness of my childhood imagination. I don't know if I fully even understood all the punny references at that age, but I could appreciate how clever it was being. Sitting in the heat of my bedroom, I was transported into this world of tasty words and never-ending staircases. And in the end, "The Phantom Tollbooth" taught me that the world is as interesting as you make it in your head.
3. "Harriet the Spy"
“Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth.”
This book made me want to break into peoples' houses and eavesdrop on phone conversations in the name of spy-dom. Fortunately I was way too scared to even try it in real life, but that's the influence that Harriet the Spy had on me.
Harriet isn't a likable character, but in a lot of ways, she's a relatable one. I didn't know it at the time, but this book deals a lot with identity. I was a tomboy growing up, like Harriet, and wore boyish clothes if I could manage it. Harriet told me that it was OK to be different, but not to treat that like it's something better than other people. This was the first time a protagonist has ever had such obvious faults, and I liked that she wasn't perfect. Nobody in real life is, anyway.
4. The Westing Game
“Life, too, is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want and which way the wind blows.”
This was one of the first true 'crime mystery' novels that I read, and it was just a domino effect from there. I learned that nothing enthralls me like a good mystery, and I can blame "The Westing Game" for reading nothing, but Agatha Christie for the next few months.
The premise of "The Westing Game" is that 16 people are invited to Sunset Towers to take part in a game-show-like puzzle, in order to win the entire inheritance of Samuel W. Westing. As they play, the participants start revealing their secrets. This book not only influenced my reading preferences, but also my writing ones. I learned that character interaction is what I find most interesting about any story, and helped me work to achieve that in my own writing.
5. "The Thief Lord"
“Children are caterpillars and adults are butterflies. No butterfly ever remembers what it felt like being a caterpillar.”
I honestly don't know how many times I read this book. I can probably attribute half of the checkout dates on my library's copy of it to me, as well as those for the audiobook version. I listened to it while I did homework, I read it when I got home from school. I just could not get enough of "The Thief Lord."
This is the 'oldest' of the books on this list, being a more middle-grade oriented story. It entranced me in so many ways and introduced me to my now loved genre of magic realism. It dealt with a lot of themes of friendship, family and growing up, all wrapped in the beautiful setting of a semi-magical Venice. There's too much I can say about "The Thief Lord," but the most important thing is that it made me love to read again.
