In response to the 'Road Trip Wednesday' topic of the week posted by ya highway, my answer is Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.
I've always been an avid reader as a child, but Flipped was the book that made me fall in love with reading and the young adult genre. It's a stand-alone teen romance in a he-said she-said style with two protagonists sharing their view points on shared events. What hooked me was the characterization and the themes of the book. I cried with Juli when she lost her tree, I rooted for Bryce when he tried to make amends, and when I finished the book, I started to see things as well as people differently.
To me, the change in one's self after reading a great book is magic that can only be found in words within pages. It sparked the writer in me, making me want to create that magic for a young child/adult like myself.
I can still remember myself at twelve years old, reading this book in my bed, with tears on my face (it's not a sad book in the slightest, but it struck something in twelve-year-old me), and everytime I reread it, I can feel myself being transported into my younger self.
If you haven't already, check it out. Then watch the movie, because it's just the cutest thing.

I've always been an avid reader as a child, but Flipped was the book that made me fall in love with reading and the young adult genre. It's a stand-alone teen romance in a he-said she-said style with two protagonists sharing their view points on shared events. What hooked me was the characterization and the themes of the book. I cried with Juli when she lost her tree, I rooted for Bryce when he tried to make amends, and when I finished the book, I started to see things as well as people differently.
To me, the change in one's self after reading a great book is magic that can only be found in words within pages. It sparked the writer in me, making me want to create that magic for a young child/adult like myself.
I can still remember myself at twelve years old, reading this book in my bed, with tears on my face (it's not a sad book in the slightest, but it struck something in twelve-year-old me), and everytime I reread it, I can feel myself being transported into my younger self.
If you haven't already, check it out. Then watch the movie, because it's just the cutest thing.