Memory Lane: My Most Influential Childhood Books

As with many, reading was very important to me as a child. Books were my escape from the world, and they helped me make sense of it once I returned. I know this is true, but I realized I’d never thought about what marks those books left on me.

Thinking about this, I sat down and listed the books that had the biggest impacts on me while I was growing up. I dredged my memory and trawled my Goodreads lists, writing down any book that gave me a strong emotional reaction, as long as I’d read it before starting college.

At the end, I had a list of thirty-one books and series and an overpowering sense of nostalgia. Cobwebs of memory and feeling clung to me. I set the list aside and went to read something new, to cleanse my palate.

The list, in the order they occurred to me:

1. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
2. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
3. Hold the Rein Free by Judy Van Der Veer
4. Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
5. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
6. A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
7. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
8. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
9. The Giver by Lois Lowry
10. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
11. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
12. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
13. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
14. Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
15. The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey
16. 1984 by George Orwell
17. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
18. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
19. Fear the Year 2099 by John Peel
20. A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi
21. The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi
22. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
23. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
24. Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
25. The Trumpeter of Krakow Eric P. Kelly
26. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
27. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
28. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
29. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares
30. ttyl by Lauren Myracle
31. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

At first glance, I can find some points of interest – Journey to the Center of the Earth kicked off my love of science fiction, and Ella Enchanted was the source of my obsession with fairy tale retellings.

Once I’d gotten some distance, I combed through the titles and tried to find patterns. I looked at demographics for both authors and characters, and tried to look at the lessons I drew from each book. I’ll detail both the numbers and the lessons in future posts.