-
Go Dog Go - Philip Dey Eastman
Read extensively as a child; loved it -
The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks
School assigned in the third grade; I do not recall much, but I remember liking the concept -
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! - Mo Willems
Read this to a first grader, as a fourth grader, multiple times as part of a 'Reading Buddies' program at the school, he loved the book so much and now it is embedded into my memory. -
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell
Read the book as fourth grade curriculum; Didn't like it as much as I could because I wasn't the biggest fan of the teacher -
The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
Read this in the fifth grade as an assignment; Loved it and the plot of going after a fortune through solving puzzles really piqued my interest. -
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Also read in the fifth grade as an assignment; Enjoyed it because I liked the fantasy aspects of the story. -
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Series) - Jeff Kinney
One of the first and only book series that I have bothered to read outside of class, my parents would buy the newest one whenever it came out and I would try my best to read it in a hurry due to my love for it; I have yet to read the latest four or five installments due to just being busy, but I would love to read them one weekend. -
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Assigned reading in the eighth grade; Enjoyed it more than I expected to, it was one of the first more serious books that I actually liked. -
Odyssey - Homer
Assigned reading for ninth grade; Really loved this story because I have always enjoyed topics include mythological aspects and fantasy of the sort. -
The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
Read this as part of the tenth grade curriculum; I enjoyed this novel and it was one of the first books I remember reading that actually had an emotional effect on me, that I can recall. -
Night - Elie Wiesel
Read this my sophomore year; I enjoyed it a lot and this was another book that had an emotional effect on me that I believe enhanced my enjoyment. -
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Read this the second semester of tenth grade; I enjoyed but I do remember not actually finishing the book because it did not personally grasp me as much as I wish it did. -
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
I read this in the tenth grade; I really liked this book because it was my teacher's absolute favorite and she was extremely skilled at helping build the class's love for the book. -
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
Read this in the tenth grade as an assignment; I liked it because of the play style and reading it through acting it out in the class really helped further my enjoyment of it. -
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
I read this in the eleventh grade and chose this novel out of a selection of books for an assignment; I really liked this novel because the premise was interesting to me, being in a dystopian society where books are outlawed, through the perspective of one of the 'firemen'. -
The Great Gatsby - Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
I read this in the eleventh grade as well; I also used the audio book as I read alongside it for this book and it helped my enjoyment of reading. I think this is because my mind starts to wander if I am just reading silently, so I needed something to guide myself. -
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
I read this in the eleventh grade for school; I did not enjoy this book, I found the topic and setting interesting, but the way the novel portrayed this information just did not catch my interest. I think if I went back and read this again I might change my mind, but I do not currently have any plans to do so. -
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Read it as an eleventh grader; I struggled with actually sitting down and reading this one so I had listened to an audio book version and read alongside the audio book and found out that I really enjoy consuming literature this way, because it really helped my comprehension of the content. -
A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
I read this my senior year as well; I really enjoyed this as it was also a play. We followed the same structure and acted this out in class which further increased my interest, and after finishing the whole play, the class went to Butler University to watch the play be acted out by members of the arts department there. -
Dracula - Bram Stoker
I read this in my senior year; I enjoyed the book overall but there were times when the plot became monotonous. This was another book where I needed an audio book to aid my comprehension.