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I do not have the opportunity to share as much about the books I am reading now since dystopias are not exactly appropriate for elementary students. However, in the past, I have dressed up as characters from books we were reading in class.  I also talk about reading frequently, share my favorite book quotes, volunteer to attend book festivals with the middle schools, have helped with Battle of the Books, and more.

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I have never felt that I fit into the world around me, even as a child.  Books are and always have been my refuge, my escape from the harsh realities of the real world.  I lose myself in them and, for a little while, all is well. I have loved reading from the moment I could and cannot imagine a world without books. I was born with a reading list that will never end.

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I am a firm believer that the book is always better than its movie counterpart. You truly get to know the characters when you read the book versus watching a shortened version of the story in a movie. Personally, I prefer to read books, but life is too busy for me to read as much as I want to. Thus, I will watch the movie versions of my favorite books when I want a dose of the story but don't have the time to read the book over again.

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My granny was an avid reader before she passed. I guess a love for literature runs in my genes. She was a huge fan of the Stephanie Plum series. She convinced me to read the first book even though it was not a genre I usually gravitated towards, but it was hilarious and I really enjoyed it. I have read several since then.

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I am the type of reader who becomes deeply attached to fictional characters. I had to read this book for a Sociology of Healthcare class in college. The young girl it centers around captures your heart almost instantaneously. I liked it up until the very end where the author tragically kills the young girl. I was so upset that I threw the book across the room and cried for hours. I am still not over this book and will never read the author's books again.

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Oh, boy! This book is a quick read, but the author packs in so much emotion. I remember the first time I read it and literally cried throughout the whole book. I think it was the first real glimpse into grief I had encountered in my life. It's such a powerful book that can help one process loss.

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After reading The Hunger Games trilogy, I developed an intense love of YA dystopian fiction. It is my genre of choice to this day, and I really do not prefer to read any other genre. I like that dystopias are often a reflection of bits and pieces of the real world and cause us to look deeper within ourselves and at life as we know it.

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When I first heard about The Hunger Games, I was shocked that anyone would read a story about kids killing each other, but I decided to give it a shot.  It was love at first read for me.  Katniss was captivating-- I found so much of myself in her--and the story had such a deeper meaning to it.  It is my favorite trilogy of all time.  It's so powerful!

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I have never liked vampires. When I was a child, they were one of my greatest fears. However, a friend of mine convinced me to go see the first movie with her, and I was hooked. I fell head first into the fandom and stayed up night after night to read the books. Staying up all night to read is a trend of mine throughout my life. If I find a story I like, I cannot put it down!

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I did not read the first Harry Potter book until I was 16 years old. Up until then, I was not allowed to read them. I could not get enough of the books and devoured them as soon as they were released from then on out. I remember attending a midnight book release at a local children's book shop for Goblet of Fire with a friend of mine. We stayed up all night reading after that.

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In 8th grade, I learned about Anne Frank and read her diary for the first time.  It had such a profound impact on me.  From then on, I read all the stories I could find about the Holocaust, a topic I am passionate about educating others on. I even took a course in college called Literature of the Holocaust.

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My 4th grade teacher is one of the most influential people in my life. She brought stories to life. We would read books together as a class and kept artifacts to help us remember the stories. I never liked ghost stories, but I loved this book because of her teaching methods. We got a marble as an artifact for this story, and I can still remember the details to this day. In fact, every time I see a marble, I think of this book.

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Throughout my life, I have always had a love for historical fiction and a fascination with the lives of royals that started with The Royal Diaries and My America series. To this day, historical fiction is one of my go-to genres.

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This is my favorite book of all time. I read it for the first time around 4th or 5th grade and felt like, for the first time, I was represented by a character in a book. I always felt different and didn't fit in growing up. I was GT, highly sensitive, and cared about things most kids my age did not. Stargirl was the same way. It's a powerful, wonderful book.

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I read this book more times than I can count on my fingers. It's the story of three best friends and their experiences during their first year of middle school. Looking back, it was a favorite of mine, because I identified so much with the every day struggles of the main character. It's such a relatable book for a girl in 4th-7th grade.

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My elementary school participated in Accelerated Reader, and I was always the top reader in my grade level. I pretty much always had a book in my hands. I remember that another girl who was in my 4th grade class were nearly tied for first at the end of the year. I read this book right before time was up to gain enough points to stay in my top spot.

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My 6th grade English teacher, Mrs. Hunt, had a fervent passion for reading and books. She would come dressed in full costume as the main character to kick off a new class book. If I close my eyes, I can still picture her classroom exactly as it was then. She knew how to ignite a passion for literature in her students. Her class is where I first read one of my favorite stories of all time.

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Every night before bed, my mom would read my siblings and I a story, sing us a song, then tuck us in to sleep. My earliest memory of being read to was this book. My mom made a song out of the words on each page, so even to this day, I know the entire book by heart and can sing it from memory.

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As a child, I eagerly awaited my mom's nightly story time. Of course, I loved all of the books, but this was one of my favorites she read to us. My mom was incredibly silly and dramatic when reading this book, acting out Grover's actions and pleas for us to not turn the page. Her passion for stories is what ignited my passion for them too.