Magical Books that Shaped my Childhood

Reading was the most magical part of my childhood. I was raised between the pages of books — before bed each night, my dad would read my twin sister and me a Dr. Seuss book. I would always ask for Dr. Seuss’s “Sleep Book,” and my sister always liked “The Sneetches.” In kindergarten, my dad even came in as the Mystery Reader, and read the entirety of “I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew” (which is, like, the longest Dr. Seuss book ever). As we got older my mom started to read to us the “Junie B. Jones” books and “Magic Treehouse,” and soon we were all cramming onto one bed to read our own books. 

The first book I can remember reading independently was my mom’s old, dusty copy (the image is complete with the fact that it was missing its original dust jacket) of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Second grade me quickly became obsessed with the story of a young boy being whisked away to a magic school after discovering his own wizard heritage. At the time, I had been living in one of my old houses, which had an in-ground pool in the backyard. One day during the summer, my mom had invited our friends over to swim and have a playdate. I, however, was in no mood to splash around, for I was in the last few remaining chapters of my book. I would claim I was going inside to use the bathroom, and then quickly run upstairs and hide in my closet so I could read a few pages (just as many as I could in a time frame I could convince my mom I had actually been in the bathroom—so not very many). I finished the book that day, and Harry Potter has continued to be an obsession of mine even into adulthood (I re-read “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” probably once a year). 

After tackling the Harry Potter novels, I dove into an equally long, but lesser-known series called “The Unwanteds” by Lisa McMann. I still think about this series every day. Described as a cross between Harry Potter and “The Hunger Games”, “The Unwanteds” followed a pair of twins, Alex and Aaron, the former of which is deemed “Unwanted” for his displays of creativity and artistic talent and is sent to die. The other twin is chosen for a select group of “Wanteds,” who are trained to become the next military and government leaders of the island of Quill. I credit these novels for producing in me a passionate love for the arts, particularly music. These books are the reason I took up the oboe in fourth grade. I continued to play in my school’s bands and orchestras until I graduated high school, making my bestest friends and memories along the way. My high school band director is even one of the reasons I decided to go into teaching myself, so it would probably be appropriate for me to send a long letter of thanks to Lisa for her wonderful writing and for literally paving the way to my future career calling. 

My deeply-rooted love for fantasy and dystopian novels continued through middle and high school—I devoured Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” and the “Legend” series by Marie Lu. After these, I discovered the first novel of a trilogy called “Fate of Flames” by Sarah Raughley. Now these books… oh how these books stuck with me. Beyond the fantasy-dystopian plot, there were so many bizarre coincidences that had middle school Sofi reeling. The main character’s name was Maia (my twin sister’s name, spelled in a way I have never seen produced in popular literature or media anywhere), and she had a twin sister named June (I am her twin, and we were both born on June 30). The main character was from Buffalo, New York (I mean, come on. How many book characters do you know from Buffalo? Ridiculous.) And, of course, the author’s name is the same as my mom’s, both spelled Sarah with an ‘h.’ Absolutely wild. I was convinced someone in my family secretly wrote this novel or sold our life details to an author. Anyways, these books, following four young women who bestowed elemental powers to battle the shadow monsters that now roam planet Earth, literally altered my brain chemistry, and I am currently still waiting for my own magical lineage to kickstart in my body (please, please, please, give me magic powers, oh Great Universe). 

Now in college, I have traded out my Harry Potter novels and “The Unwanteds” for “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and the “Throne of Glass” series. Gone is “The Secret Garden,” and in comes “Jane Eyre” (which I just finished for my British Literature course, and I actually really enjoyed it). As I start Sarah J. Maas’s final installation of the “Throne of Glass” series, “Kingdom of Ash”, I reflect on all the novels that have led me to this moment in time, that have molded the person I am today. I think of how these novels cultivated a mind that so longs for the magical realms that only exist between the front and back covers of my books and in my head. I love to read, have always loved to read, and will always love to read, for the vein of magic that runs through our world is in the books lining our shelves. 

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