We all have that one book at some point in our lives which makes us realize that we love to read. I remember being around 8 years old when I began buying children's books. These stories weren't even 20 pages long but I read them and enjoyed collecting them. Their covers and illustrations appealed to me, as did their stories, which consisted mostly of fairytales.
But it wasn't until I was in middle school that I finally read a book that I found myself reading ahead of the rest of my class. The title of this book is The Giver, by Lois Lowry, an extremely popular YA science fiction and dystopian fiction novel that I read in school as a 7th grader for Communication Arts class. I found myself reading ahead of my class. Whenever my teacher assigned 10 pages, I read 20. When she assigned 20 I read 40. Eventually, I finished the book on my own and couldn't get it out of my head for days.
The fictional utopian/dystopian world created by Lowry completely mesmerized me. The ending was shocking and heartbreaking, and I still have vivid memories of the day our teacher read it to us with tears in her eyes. That's when I realized the power of a book. It was able to reduce my teacher to tears in front of a classroom full of 30 students.
After reading The Giver, I remember frequenting the local public library more and more often, especially on weekends, and finishing every book I borrowed as soon as possible just so I could return them and borrow more. It ignited my imagination and love of literature and I am so grateful for that. What's a book that made an impression that strongly on your own young mind? Do you remember your first favorite book?
