Books had a huge impact on me during my childhood. I had an endless appetite for books. My mother would drive me to the bookstore once a week after school got out so I could pick up new books. I always looked forward to these afterschool trips. I would get to pick out one or two books. When we got home, I would sit on a chair in my bedroom and read until I finished the book. Dinner, bath time, and homework were all unwanted distractions. Once I start a book, all I want to do is finish it.
My best friend also loved to read. Sometimes she would come to my house and we would sit on the couch and spend the entire time reading next to each other. My favorite books during my childhood included the Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konisburg, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. In fifth grade, the students in my class got to take a qualification test to see if we could go complete in a reading contest.
Of course, I passed the test. Four other students in my class also passed. The five of us got to go on a field trip to another school to complete as a group. We were asked a series of questions on a list of books that we had read during the school year. My classmates and I came in second in the contest. It is one of my fondest memories of fifth grade. Without books, my childhood would have been very different.
