When we think of back-to-school season, thousands of memories flood into our minds. We laugh at our absurd first day of school outfits, cringe at the hours we spent doting over our middle-school crushes, and smile when we remember the kindness of our favorite teachers.
However, nothing quite screams back-to-school more to us than the books. Oh, the books—the books that taught us how to read, the books we were required to read as Summer Reading, and the first chapter books we ever laid our hands on.
We decided to ask everyone in HQ to reflect on their favorite book that reminds them of going back to school!
CHELSEA // “Mine is Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Nothing says learning to get through assignments at school than the first Shakespeare I ever read in AP English. Turns out I ended up loving it and all the Shakespeare. Shoutout to Professor Dickey at UCLA who took us through 2 quarters of tragedies, comedies and everything in between.”
GRACE // “As an avid summer reader, I always completed the required summer reading quickly so I could move onto my fun books of re-reading Harry Potter for the 10th time or indulging my pre-pubescent romantic daydreams with Sarah Dessen. I think my favorite fun book was “My Sister’s Keeper,” which I read right before seventh grade started. It was adult and controversial, and it quickly became one of my all time favorites – I even got to meet author Jodi Picoult when I was a junior in high school and she signed my copy! Even though they totally butchered the movie, I still love re-reading “My Sister’s Keeper” and thinking back to my gangly and uniformed class self thinking she was all that and a bag of chips back in 2005.”
JENNI // "I think my back to school pick is East of Eden, one of my all time favorite books. After a summer full of guilty-pleasure beach reads, I love to start the fall with a classic like this one, where you want to really dissect the language and annotate every page. I might not be going back to school this fall, but it’s still fun to challenge myself and exercise those old English muscles!"
SABENA // "A book that will always remind me of going back to school is House of the Spirits. Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors ever, and I remember reading this book before I started my AP Literature class in senior year. I’ll always be reminded of never being able to put this book down—whether we were going to a family BBQ and I would bring it with me (just in case!) or I stayed up late to read just one more chapter—that feeling of being obsessed with the characters and the story will always conjure up that time for me! This is inspiring me to find a new September read… "
. . .
If you haven’t gotten enough of our literary favs, check out the FIVE books we are reading this fall here at BOXFOX!
- Americanah // Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
If you’ve ever heard Beyonce’s album Lemonade (we know you all have), you have heard some of Adichie’s poetry weaved into Beyonce’s lyrics! Read Adichie’s inspiring novel about love, identity, and race.
- Handmaid’s Tale / Margaret Atwood
Half of us have read this political fiction book, while the rest of us are still catching up! Or will they ever catch up if the world in which this book takes place prohibits all women from reading?
- When Breath Becomes Air // Paul Kalanithi
You’ll be fighting back tears (just as we were) as you read this heartbreaking tale about a neurosurgeon that gets diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and transitions from treating the ill to barely holding onto his own life.
- All The Light We Cannot See // Anthony Doerr
This is another incredibly addicting can’t-put-down-the-book story about the real, raw, and unpredictable human experience in Europe behind the horrors of Europe World War II.
- A Little Life // Hanya Yanagihara
In this light-hearted coming of age novel, you will follow four college classmates and friends who go to New York in search of a more ambitious, fame-filled future for themselves.
Happy reading, foxes!
