These five books changed the way I write for life.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

I was 12 years old the first time I read Lee's Pulitzer prize winning novel. Main character Scout was the first time I'd read of a female character who was intelligent, adventurous, and unlike any other female character of her time period.

2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain

Similar to Harper Lee's Scout character, Tom Sawyer was written to be an adventurous and inquisitive mind who went against the grain of his time. Twain also opened my mind to adventure novels.

3. Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger

Salinger's 1950's novel originally targeted adolescents, however, his story of main character Holden Caulfield's journey of self discovery is truly beneficial to any age group. Salinger's novel has stayed relevant for decades; a goal every author works for.

"I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

4. This Blinding Absence of Light, Tahar Ben Jelloun

Jelloun's fictional, but reality based novel, tells the story of a fictional prisoner incarcerated in Tazmamart follwing the second failed coup d'etat in 1972,Morocco. Prisoners were forced to live without light during captivity. Despite the absence of sight, Jelloun's drafted journey into the dark is incredibly illuminating, and inspiring.

"Most of those who died did not die of hunger but of hatred. Feeling hatred diminishes you. It eats at your from within and attacks the immune system. When you have hatred inside you, it always crushes you in the end."

5. Looking for Alaska, John Green

John Green's, Looking for Alaska is not centered around one of the strong female characters I am typically drawn to. However, his fictional, young adult novel follows an awkward and quirky teen boy on a journey through boarding school. Not only this novel but all of Green's works are especially descriptive, passionate and have the essence of real teenaged characters.

"We are all going, I thought, and it applies to turtles and turtlenecks, Alaska the girl and Alaska the place, because nothing can last, not even the earth itself. The Buddha said that suffering was caused by desire, we'd learned, and that the cessation of desire meant the cessation of suffering. When you stopped wishing things wouldn't fall apart, you'd stop suffering when they did."

These books shaped the way I creatively write and think today. Unlike movies or television, literature gives us the opportunity to interpret words in whatever way we choose. Open up your mind to new books and stories and give an author a chance to change the way you see the world.

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Stay Golden, Kayla