Books That Made A Difference To Claudia Young 12/17/13

Introduction In Elementary school, I basically read every book my teachers gave me. They weren’t huge books; they were books like Juny B. Jones or The Magic Tree House. Once I grew up and I had left Elementary, I started to read more complex books that were more than 100 pages and had a better story. In Middle school, I read the typical teen books like Pretty Little Liars or The Twilight Saga. As I got older, my taste in books changed. Today, I read mostly adult books, especially ones on WWll and the Holocaust. Some of the books I’ve read over the years were more than just a read, some actually made a difference.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows By: J.K. Rowling The book is the conclusion of the Harry Potter series. I remember when I was 6-years-old the first movie came out and my uncle made me read the book before he took me to go see it. Of course, being 6 I couldn’t read that big of a book by myself, so we read it together and finished it within a week. I remember not liking the movie and swore up and down I wasn’t going to read the other books; but by 4th grade, everyone was reading the Harry Potter books, so I joined to bandwagon and started reading the books again. They took me a very long time to read (a book a year) and then by 7th grade, I had finished all the books and was waiting for the last one to come out. When The Deathly Hallows finally came out, I locked myself in my room the whole day and read it. It took me 12 hours to read this 700 page book and I never put it down. I did the same thing a year after, but it only took my 6 hours to read. This was the first book that I ever re-read which was a milestone for me. Since this book was the last in the series, it tied all the loose ends and Harry battles Lord Voldemort for the last time.

Bossypants By: Tina Fey This is the funniest book I have ever read. I picked up this book at Jax Airport on my way to England this past summer and read it on the plane and throughout my trip. The poor passengers on the plane had to witness my loud, annoying laughter for almost 8 hours. This book is a biography on the hilarious comedian Tina Fey. She talks about her rise to stardom and her life as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. I knew Tina Fey was funny, but not this funny.

The Book Thief By: Markus Zusak The is the number one book that changed my life. This book is about a young girl who has been recently taken away from her mother and put into a new home in WWll Germany. She learns to read from her new father and a Jewish refugee living in her basement hiding from the Nazi’s. The reason its called The Book Thief, is because the little girl steals books from the Mayors mansion which is just down the road from her house. The story is told in 3rd person, but there's a catch, Death is the 3rd person. He watches over the little girl and tells the story of her life. This book was very confusing at first, but it hold the number one spot on my best book list. My mom forced it upon me to read while we were on vacation in France and I finished it in two days. I still remember sitting on the couch in our hotel room reading it while my family was out enjoying themselves. It made a difference by it really got me into reading more historical books and other books with more meaning.