My favorite childhood reads

Something about school starting gets me in a nostalgic mood. How about you? There are many books that shaped my reading and shaped me as a reader. Even now, I remember the mood or feeling or even the change that happened to me as I read certain books.

I was a voracious reader in elementary school. Our classes had colored books with about ten or more books in each color. The books got harder and harder to read. I zipped through the books pretty quickly. When I got bored with those, I turned to the school library.

The biographies drew me in and I read and read and read them. Almost all of them were about amazing females. Abigail Adams, Betsy Ross, Dolly Madison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman...historical figures who made me want to do amazing things.

When I thought I'd exhausted the shelves of biographies, she gave me more. I read about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Frederick Douglas,
and Booker T. Washington.

If I remember correctly, the same librarian introduced me Nancy Drew.
I read quite a few before turning my reading attention to other books.

I remember this story stunned and enthralled me. I felt bad for the girl being left behind and amazed at her skills and how she survived. I wanted more books about amazing girls.

This is a book so many girls loved.
I didn't.
It made me uncomfortable. I didn't care about bras or getting my period.
But that is the point, isn't it? To think, wonder, change? Books should make us be better, even if it's through being uncomfortable.

Talk about uncomfortable stories.
I hated and loved Anne Frank's story. She was in a situation she couldn't control, but she could control how she reacted or acted with her circumstance.
I have a hard time reading about WWII even now, especially anything to do with the Holocaust. This part of history hearts my soul.

How have books changed the way you see life? 

What books changed you?

Is there ONE book you loved as a kid?