Freebie! Top Ten Books That Influenced Me While Growing Up

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays the ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish gave this week's Top Ten Tuesday a freebie! The topic I chose was Top Ten Books That Influenced Me While Growing Up. Holidays are a time of nostalgia so I thought I would look back pay homage to the books that made me the crazy, voracious reader I am today <3

Childhood Influences

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry
I've gushed about this book countless time during my TTT. This book made me a reader, courted me into falling in love with dystopian stories, and was the initial white rabbit that pulled me down the rabbit hole. 

2. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Clearly Lois Lowry had a big impact on my growing up. While The Giver game me my love for dystopia, Number the Stars gave me my mission to read all I could about WWII and the Holocaust. I could not get enough of Annemarie's courage as somebody so young. She gave me courage through reading about her. 

3. Dr. Seuss
My earliest reading memory is from when I was about 4 and my parents signed up for this book in the mail program. So every few weeks a new set of Dr. Seuss books would arrive and I remember running to the mailbox every.single.day. wishing and hoping I would see my mother pull out a small, brown rectangular box that I knew would contain hours of joy. *sigh*

4. Matilda by Roald Dahl
To discover as a child a book about a child who loves to read...what?! I'm not alone?! I think I destroyed my copy of Matilda growing up. Reading about her taking her wagon the library and coming back with a stack of books made me so happy...plus I always wanted magic powers...and she had both...baller.

Middle School Influences

5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

Need I say more?...Ok, I will. Ultimate story of good versus evil. It's about sacrifice and courage and strength in conviction, but most of all it's about love. I grew up with Harry, Ron and Hermione. When they started coming out I was the same age as they were in the book in the successive years they came out. It was fate <3

6. I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
I have not read this since I was in middle school, maybe high school, but I know how much this book meant to me. This was Number the Stars 2.0 because as a middle schooler, I could now read about the actual horrors that Number the Stars only alluded to. This book broke my heart but left me wanting to know so much more about the Holocaust and its survivors.

7. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Narnia, like Harry Potter, is just the symbol of goodness and doing the right thing. I love the Christian values that are laced throughout the entire series. The last book in particular is so beautiful I remember reading the last chapter over and over again. Couldn't get enough.

8. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
I, like all other adolescent girls, had more questions than an annoying teacher when it came to getting your period and what the hell happened after that. This book was a beacon of light in a time of outlandish confusion and insecurity. Even though the book is dated now, and let's be real it was dated when I read it, it still was a perfect read in regards to what I was going through...I must, I must...well, you know the rest ;)

High School Influences

10. Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews
This book did not so much influence me as give me a healthy appetite for the creepy and totally messed genre of books. I read it because my mother had read it as a teenager and liked it and I think I read this book 5 or 6 times in high school. It is deranged and twisted and weird but oh so fantastic!

10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I feel like every adolescent and human being on this Earth should read this book. It talks about the injustice and horrible treatment that humans do to one another. It made me want to fix it. This book influenced me in so many ways, most obvious in the proper treatment of all people regardless of color. It is just a perfect piece of literature.

Can't wait to see what your freebie topics are! Peace and love!