Ramona Quimby, Age 8

One of the most memorable books I loved as a child is Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. She's such an incredible author who writes like children think.

I received this book from my mom when I was eight years old, same as Ramona. My mom used to climb up into my bunk bed at night and read it to me. That special one-on-one quality time with her was more precious to me than I even knew at the time.

I remember thinking, "I do that too!" when we read about Ramona. I understood her, like how she flipped her pillow to soak up the coolness of the other side or how she reacted to her older sister.

She's a quirky girl with a funny way of thinking. There's a whole series about Ramona that follows her from preschool throughout elementary school.

I know it's not a book that I would recommend to adults, but I recommend every parent to encourage their kids to read it. There's a lot of great juvenile fiction out there, of course, and I think Ramona has no trouble competing with whatever the kids are reading these days.