I Love Book Lists!

I love lists.  I love making my own lists.  I love crossing items off my list (in fact, I will add an item to my list that I have already done, just to cross it off).  I love "Top 10" lists.  And I really, really LOVE book lists.  Imagine my excitement when I came a link on MSN to a list titled "40 Classic Teen Books Every Adult Should Reread".  Here is the link.   Immediately I clicked and was transported back to my youth (far, far back at some points...like, to 1989).  Be forewarned:  there is a very good chance that most of my students probably will not have heard of 80 % of these books.  In fact, the introduction to the slide show reads, "Warning: This ain't your Hunger Games or Harry Potter slideshow. This is a tribute to the forgotten books from your childhood and teen years. The ones that may not have been made into movies, but were just as influential in their own special way."  I personally had read 16 out of 40, which isn't a great percentage, but of those 16, some of them honestly helped shaped my childhood as a reader.



This one actually doesn't need much of an explanation.  This is the second time I can remember crying in school about something I was reading (the first time was during Where the Red Fern Grows, which is also on the list).  This is the gold standard to which I hold all tear-jerkers to this day.



This is the first time I can remember reading about people who were immortal.  Honestly, I don't remember much about the characters, but I have memories of staying up at night, contemplating the ideas of death and immortality.  A little heavy for a sixth-grader, huh?!



I don't think I can put into words how much this book affected me.  Every kid (as far as I know) has either been told by a sibling they are adopted or has pondered the possibility of being adopted, even if it's a completely, 100 % irrational possibility (it usually is).  In this book, Janie is 15 years old and is starting to think about getting her driver's license.  The problem?  She has no birth certificate.  And thus the story begins.  Why doesn't she have one?  Is she really who she always thought she was?

Seeing these books on the list made me want to pick them up and read it them all over again.  Since the title of the list was "40 Classic Teen Books Every Adult Should Reread," I guess the purpose was achieved!  I think it would be really interesting to look at them from my perspective now.

What is a book from your childhood that you would like to go back and reread?  What books do you read now that you think your parents should read?

Happy reading!  :)