Books that Made me Love reading (Challenge)

May 7 was the first day of Children's Book Week. What a great thing to celebrate!

When people say the don't like to read, I usually suggest that maybe they haven't found the right book. My heart breaks a little to imagine a childhood without reading Goosebumps books after bedtime with a flashlight, or dreams of tasting Turkish Delight in Narnia while hunting for Asland.  How sad it is that some kids never curled up with Harry Potter on long bus rides or choked back sobs while reading the last few pages of Where the Red Fern Grows?

Books broadened my knowledge and fueled my imagination. I discovered the evolution of our country by meeting all of characters in the American Girl books, solved mysteries with Encyclopedia Brown, and absorbed an astounding amount of facts from Ms. Frizzle in the Magic School Bus.

My mind was expanded while picturing the castle made of chocolate in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and fathoming how life would be different if I was one of the orphans that walked in 'two straight line's in the Madeline books. I cried for Heaven, and all of the other characters created by V.C. Andrews, laughed with Ramona during her daily adventures in elementary school, and had my breath taken away by Remember Me.   (poster by David Wiesner for Children's Book Week, May 7-13, 2012)

A friend of mine, Emlyn Chand, is hosting a monthly challenge on her blog called 'Books that made me Love Reading'. She asks her readers to start with an introductory post explaining why they love to read and to share a few of the books they enjoyed as children, then to write a monthly review of childhood favorite (think old-school book report). I love the idea of re-visiting the books that shaped my childhood and pushed my imagination to grow!





Here are a few of my very favorite childhood/adolescent books:
Goosebumps (especially choose your own adventures), R. L. Stein
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis
Ramona, Beverly Cleary
Remember Me, Christopher Pike
Encyclopedia Brown, Donald J. Sobol
Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
The Prodigal Cat, Janette Oke
There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, Louis Sachar
How to Eat Fried Worms, Thomas Rockwell
Somewhere Between Life and Death, Lurlene McDaniel