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Junie B. Jones
One of the first series I remember looking for at the Scholastic book fair -
Nancy Drew
I always looked for the block of yellow covers when browsing at the library -
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Even though I never actually finished reading this series, I remember how enraptured I was by the writing style. The repeated "ever"s, the blacked out page, it all felt like seeing a whole new world where the way the words were used mattered just as much as what they said. -
Mandie
I don't know where I got the first one, but these were always hard to find at the local library, so my dad ordered an entire set of 20+ of them on eBay. They were children's Christian mystery books and it took me forever to remember the name of them as I was working on this project, but I remember reading and re-reading them as a kid. -
Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban
I started reading the Harry Potter series with my mom in the summer before 3rd grade. We were on Prisoner of Azkaban by the time I went back to school, and it's the first book a teacher ever confiscated because I was reading too much (even though I had finished my math worksheet already) -
Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows
The Harry Potter phase was in full swing, and midnight releases were big. I thought I was so cool because my mom pre-ordered the book and it got to our house the same day it released; I still had to wait a few days to read it though, mom had first dibs. -
That Girl Lucy Moon
This is another one that I have no clue where I picked it up, just that it was some time in middle school, but it became a comfort book for me. In high school I would go back to it and read the whole thing in a day, and it's still sentimental to me. This one and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli hold a similar place in my heart, but I know I've read Lucy Moon more -
Beka Cooper: Terrier
The first Tamora Pierce book I brought to school, and still one of my favorites to re-read. Other kids thought I was weird for reading such a big book (it's YA, but for reference, the audio book is 15 hours long) -
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Hot Toddy's
An old cafe & used bookstore downtown in Waycross, Georgia, where I grew up. Once I started getting into the world of Tamora Pierce, the bookstore owner printed out a list of all of her books; I hung it on my bedroom wall and used it to keep track of which books I had read or bought. Anytime the store got in one of her books that I didn't have yet, the owner would hold it for me to come get. This is the place that really spurred on my love for Tamora Pierce and the world of Tortall -
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Tamora Pierce Takeover
Once I started getting into Tamora Pierce's world of Tortall, they were practically the only books I had eyes for. It was the height of the e-book era, so while I have all of her books on my Kindle, I'm still building my physical collection. I prefer to find them second hand, it's like a scavenger hunt at every used bookstore I visit. I say it ended for practical purposes since I wrote my MA thesis about her novels in 2021, but truly, I reread at least a series or two every year. -
Looking for Alaska
The first book that made me fully cry in public. -
Every Day
I vividly remember the first time I read this book. I checked it out from the library among a few others also by David Levithan, but this is the one that caught me up. I felt like I couldn't put it down, it was such a new and interesting premise that I'd never seen before. I generally love rereading, but Every Day is one of the few books that I wish I could have the experience of reading for the first time again. -
Medea
I come from a theatre background, so I've read this play in a few different contexts and seen it in performance once. It's one of my favorites to teach in World Lit I; it's a great example of a tragedy, and students usually get pretty involved in the discussion. I've also been entertaining the idea of writing a paper titled "The Power of Perceived Laughter in the Narrative of the 'Unhinged Woman'," incorporating Medea & Wide Sargasso Sea, but the title is the only part I've actually written -
Gracefully Grayson
This book was an assigned reading in Dr. Town's Literature for Adolescents course in the summer of 2020. It's the first book I'd ever read to feature a transgender protagonist, and it's the one from that course that left the biggest impression on me. Everyone deserves to be able to see themselves in literature, and I can only imagine the good this book would do for a young reader struggling with the same feelings that Grayson has to grapple with. -
The Masque of the Red Death
I remember reading this short story in a Poe collection in high school, but it wasn't till I taught it in 2021 that it really stuck with me. I specifically chose this short story to read with my dual enrollment students because it was very apt for the time, and we got some very good discussions out of it. We analyzed the parallels between fiction and our real world circumstances, and I saw some students really connecting to gothic literature for the first time, which was a special experience -
Discworld
I've been hearing about Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels for a long time, but I only picked them up late last year. So far I've read Mort & the Tiffany Aching trilogy, and I actually have Going Postal checked out right now. I haven't gotten far, but I know I'm going to love this universe -
Trickster Duology
The Trickster Duology is another set of books by Tamora Pierce in her Tortall universe. I've read them a number of times and they feature in my MA thesis, but I'm adding them here because they've been part of my journey to reconnect to the enjoyment of reading. I've struggled to read for personal enjoyment for years, but last year I read these books out loud to my husband (he's reading me the Ranger's Apprentice series) and it really helped me to reconnect to why I love reading so much -
Ranger's Apprentice
This selection goes hand-in-hand with the Trickster Duology. While I've never actually "read" these books, they were my husband's favorite childhood series, and he's been spending some time reading them out loud to me; it's an effort to help us both reconnect with reading for personal enjoyment. We haven't been able to keep up with it over this summer just due to life being busy, but I'm looking forward to settling back in to our routine of reading/listening together