Reading was something I genuinely enjoyed, but it was not something a lot of people related to, especially when I was young. Reading was usually connected to school, and if you liked reading, then you were weird. Who reads of their own free will? Reading for school is terrible enough, you go and do it on your own? That was the usual thought process that went through an elementary schooler’s mind when someone admitted they enjoyed reading. I wasn’t bullied for it, but I couldn’t share my hobby with anyone else at this time because no one else was interested in it. I had other interests and hobbies, and so my friends and I would talk about anything but books and reading. I do feel slightly sad that I never found anyone who shared my view on books. I did feel as though there was a part of me I had to keep hidden with the friends I had in elementary school. No one really understood or felt the same way about books as I did, and there was no way for me to open their eyes and make them see what I did. All I could do was keep it to the side for my own enjoyment, not necessarily keeping it a secret but doing so with the understanding that even if I shared, no one would understand.

In elementary school, I made the giant leap from reading books as flat as pancakes to books that were hundreds of pages. I graduated from children’s books and moved on to chapter books.

The following are a list of some of my favorite books when I attended elementary school:

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