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Arthur's Valentine
"Arthur's Valentine" is about Arthur finding out who his secret admirer is; hoping that it is his crush, Ellen Sue. This book is a significant literacy moment in my life because it inspired me to explore more literature at a young age of four. Initially, I was enticed by the cute, little Valentine's Day hearts in the book. However, I discovered that I enjoyed the content of the book a lot more. Hence, this led me to embark a new journey of discovering the world of literature. -
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is a book where every alphabet letter is anthropomorphized. Hence, the book teaches children the alphabetical order in a fascinating way. This book is significant because it was the only book that taught me the "ABC's". Before this book, I could not put or say the letters in the alphabetical order. It was not until one day, I decided to pick the book up and started reciting the alphabet repeatedly until I memorized it completely. -
Green Eggs and Ham
The whole point to "Green Eggs and Ham" is that Sam-I-Am tries to convince the narrator to eat green eggs and ham. This book is significant because it taught me that my imagination and ideas did not have to limit to just real-life things. Although "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is a fictional piece, I have to credit this book for being the first book to introduce me to imaginative thinking and concepts related to fictionality. I ended up attempting to write some of my own silly stories as well. -
Amelia Bedelia
"Amelia Bedelia" is about a maid who takes instructions too literally. This book is significant to my literacy development because it introduced me to things like "idioms" at an early stage of my life. I have fond memories of laughing at Amelia Bedelia when she actually "dressed" the chicken with clothing or when she "tossed" the salad. At the time, I found idioms to be very nuanced and wanted to learn more about how people communicated through metaphors and idioms. -
A Little House of Their Own
"A Little House of Their Own" is a story about the courtship of Caroline and her neighbor, Charles. This book is significant because it was the first book that I fell in love with. Being the young, hopeless romantic at the time, I was experiencing a desire to sensationalize romance. This book inspired me to write my own thoughts and feelings about the romantic encounters I had with certain boys. As much as I laugh and cringe now, it was a wholesome and positive experience. -
The Outsiders
"The Outsiders" is about a boy that struggles with understanding morality in a world where he feels like he does not fit in. This book is significant because it taught me to be more critical when analyzing the content of a book. Everyone in my middle school class really enjoyed the book. However, I found the book to be just "okay", and I did not care about any of the characters. I was left underwhelmed after I finished the book. This book helped me improved my speaking skills from debating. -
Peach Girl
"Peach Girl" is about a Japanese school girl who faces a lot of prejudice because of the way she looks. The main story of the manga is about a love triangle that she is in. This manga is significant because it was the first manga I ever read. Although the content of the manga was okay–at best–it was still life-changing in the sense that it introduced me to a whole, new style of literature. Because of this manga, I learned to write and speak in entry-level Japanese. -
The Bible: King James Version
This book is significant to me because it introduced me to archaism. Although challenging, I was impressed by the language used in the Bible. I felt like it broadened my understanding of literature, increased my vocabulary, and made me appreciate different forms of writing style. This book inspired me to become a more expressive writer. My goals entailed of broadening my writing skills, speak more eloquently, and so on. -
Milk and Honey
"Milk and Honey" is a collection of poems about silence, womanhood, and love. This book is significant because I despise this poem collection. The poems were pretentious, mundane, and dense. From a grammatical standpoint, the structure of the poems is nonsensical. The content of most of the poem screams, "Look at me. I am trying to sound very profound that I am starting to sound silly and pretentious." This negative experience made me become conscious of writing techniques and grammar. -
Ernest Hemingway on Writing
"Ernest Hemingway on Writing" is a collection of commentary notes that Hemingway wrote about other books or plays. This book is significant because it inspired me to be more genuine when I wrote about something. Being the brazen writer that Hemingway was, he was not fazed at all by the criticisms he received. His writing style and philosophies were unique at the time because he did not try to compromise his thoughts and ideas to please readers and critics.