欧宝娱乐

For my 250th review, I was conflicted on the book I wanted to write about.

Should it be a classic? Austen, Alcott, Orwell? Or maybe the book that's been on my TBR the longest? Or read something from a genre I haven't read from before? (Horror, erotic, spirituality) Or maybe something completely different! I raked through my brain trying to decide. I knew it needed to be special more than anything because who knows how long it'll be before I reach 500 reviews?! It could be years or...never.

So I chose this book, and let me tell you why. I chose this book because when my 4th-grade teacher read it to my class for the first time, I was amazed. How could a story, a mere collection of words and sentences on a page do that to me? Make me smile, laugh, cry, utter wow, completely stunned?!听

I knew my life would never be the same.聽
After class, I ran to the school library and found the librarian. "I need you to help me find a book!" I said to her.

"Okay, do you know what it's called?"

"Um..." I paused. Did I not know the name of this masterpiece? Seriously? I thought to myself. "...something Tall Journey maybe?"

"Let's see here." She looked and nothing matched. I tried another combination of names. Nothing gave me the book that made me feel more than anything else.

"It's about a rabbit, and he goes places," I said. Yes, that was the best I could do. She couldn't help me, and before I knew it, it was time to go home. It didn't occur to me to ask my teacher for the name of the book, or to even borrow it so I can read it at home. She was reading it to her other classes, and I suppose a part of me felt like I would be overstepping. Oh, to be nine and naive and considerate.

I never found out the name of that book. Later that year, I flew overseas and completed fifth and part of the sixth grade there. Electricity, internet, and the basics were not a guarantee, so my desire for this book quickly faltered into a small, fleeting recognition of love every short once in a while. Then I came back to the states, and the small part of my brain occupied by this book shut its doors more and more each day. What was once a crazed obsession became a momentary indifference in my life.

Years later, when my youngest sister started the fourth grade, she brought home a book. She said the teacher was reading it to her class and that she was loving it. What's it called? I asked. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, she said. I'm loving it, she added, it's an amazing story.

Something about that title seemed so familiar to me. Was it perhaps that maybe I'd read it before? I downloaded the book on my phone and started reading. In an instant, I was transported. I was nine, enthralled by a story for the first time, fascinated by the power a few words hole, captivated by the feeling of change. The feeling a book can hold for you. The book that started it all.

This is that book. I found it then, and I still find it today. When I'm feeling burdened or upset, this is the story that fixes it all for me.

Kate DiCamillo, thank you. Thank you for changing my life.

What was the book that made you fall in love with reading?

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