Today is my 24th birthday and I’m celebrating by sharing 24 books that have inspired, shaped, or impacted me in 24 years. This post is inspired by Jill at BookNerdReads, who did a great post for her 18th birthday here.

Some of these books are my favorites, while others are just ones that had an impact on me in some way during my journey as a reader.

BOOKS THAT FORMED ME INTO A YOUNG READER:

1. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
2. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
3. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia) by C.S. Lewis
5. So B. It by Sarah Weeks
6. Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi
7. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

BOOKS THAT SHAPED ME AS A TEEN:

8. Eva by Peter Dickinson
9. Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
10. Ophelia Speaks, edited by Sara Shandler
11. Can’t Get There From Here by Todd Strasser
12. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
13. The Complete Slayer: An Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Every Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Keith Topping
14. Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden

BOOKS THAT HAVE CHANGED ME AS AN ADULT:

15. The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson (NOTE: I do want to mention that although this book is special to me as one of the first books I read about mixed-race people like me, it has things I also find very harmful, specifically mental-health jokes such as “she’s so OCD” and slut-shaming comments.)
16. Hold Still by Nina LaCour
17. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
18. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
19. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis