my mom always encouraged me to read, and it started with her reading picture books to me. my favorite was the monster at the end of this book, starring lovable furry old grover! grover from sesame street is terrified to get to the end of the book because he's scared of the monster, but in the end it turns out it was just him all the time. my mom would always do a silly grover voice when she read it to me.
as i got older, my "reading level" as the school called it was always higher than other kids', which is good i guess, but it meant they limited what i could get from the school library to what they deemed appropriate for my level. i liked harry potter and lord of the rings, but i also wanted to read stuff like goosebumps and choose your own adventure books. luckily my teachers allowed me to read those things from their classroom libraries.
there was a book i read as a kid that i've honestly never met another person who's ever heard of it, but i loved it when i read it and i loved it again when i tracked it down and re-read it a few years ago. it's called how to disappear completely and never be found by sara nickerson. a 12 year old girl whose mother is severely depressed sets off to a mysterious house on a nearby island to try to figure out how her mom owns it, why she's selling it, and what it has to do with her deceased father. i realized when i re-read it as an adult that it formed a lot of my attitude toward stuff and why i like collecting things and have so much trouble throwing things away. a really good book that i think more people should know about!
3d ago
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so i canāt tell you exactly what kicked that off for me. i will say, what exacerbated it was seeing a girl in my second grade gifted and talented class reading harry potter and the goblet of fire and i was jealous bc the book was thick as hell and we were only 7!! so i started the series out of spite so i could get to the fifth book before she did.
becuase i read so many books as a child, i would say theyāre All formative to me in some way. but when i saw this ask, the first book i thought of was āthe miraculous journey of edward tulaneāā¦ this may sound sad but it was the first book i remember ever making me cry. i didnāt know you could be connected to a book like that until then, so i think of it warmly and fondly. itās like wow there really are new worlds and beating hearts between pagesā¦
(i also remember reading another book that made me cry when i was slightly older. it was about a girl without a shadow who had some sort of cat familiar that followed her around. i remember fighting tears so hard but also canāt remember the title for the life of me.)
(a series of unfortunate events had me hooked too. i think i was into some pretty somber stuff loool).
1d ago
as i was reminiscing about book of my youth, i uncovered another buried memory.
due to growing up poor circumstances, i was constantly getting free books from different programs as a kid.
i remember when i was around 13? maybe 14? one of these books i received was āprimaveraā by francesca lia block. i think an older lady chose it for me based on the cover alone because i should NOT have been reading this at that age. it was a fantasy which excited me, but i soon realized it dealt with heavy themes and a lot of erotic elements that i didnāt truly understand. but the entire story remains vivid yet distant in my memory.
i think i'm gonna take the plunge and read it again 13 years later. i remember the settings and prose being sooo vibrant and beautiful and i wonder if i would have newfound appreciation for it as an adult.
i still love the cover and wish i still had my copy. but i think i quickly got rid of it after the big āwhat the fuck?ā i felt when i finished it. i def thought my mom would find it and lock me in a dungeon for being a freak bc i slightly enjoyed it even when i was confused.
1d ago
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my absolute favorite book as a kid was trial by journal by kate kline, and as a tween it was the year of secret assignments, both of which are a combo of letters/emails/diary entries etc
I also liked speculative fiction/more grounded sci fi and fantasy:
-heir apparent by vivian vande velde, a vr middle school novel
-12 impossible things before breakfast by jane yolen, a series of creepy/fantastical short stories
-the true meaning of smekday by adam rex, a fun romp of an alien invasion novel from the perspective of a teenage girl
My number one rec is the book when you reach me by rebecca stead!! just a beautiful coming of age novel about friendship and love and also (unexpectedly) time travel. i havenāt reread most of the others in ages but I revisit this one every few years.
(Also possibly a controversial opinion, but if you never read twilight it might be worth it for the cultural experience lol)
Feb 28, 2024
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i will never get over polyvore shutting down. i used it obsessively and had hundreds of outfits made on it and mine were ARTFUL not like the stuff people say they saw on wattpad with like skinny jeans and converse and shit like mine were gorgeous. and then they shut down and i wasn't able to back up any of my stuff so i lost it all. HEARTBREAKINGGGGG
Jun 8, 2025
4d ago
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the man the myth the legend. the literal only person i watch on youtube. his vibes are pure and good and his quest is noble.
Jun 2, 2025