if you'd asked me when i was 13, i would've said harry potter, but not anymore lmao. aside from the fact that those books have antisemitic undertones and the author's idiocy, i've tried rereading them in recent years as an "adult" and just couldn't get through more than a few chapters -- the writing just feels too stunted and restrictive to me. sadly, i don't really remember most of the books i read growing up. i mostly stuck to series (harry potter, the hunger games, warrior cats) and the horrible history/science/geography books, which honestly still hold up for a bit of fun.
if anything, i would say the books that generally still stick with me are the ones by jacqueline wilson, although they're generally written for children and young teens. despite this, they can be very dark, and they tackle a lot of themes that some narrow-minded conservative people would argue aren't for kids. adoption, death, divorce, homelessness, mental illness, abortion, poverty, and she recently wrote a wlw teen romance !! (makes sense since she came out just last year as wlw herself which made my own lesbian heart flutter!) some of my favorite books by her are: the diamond girls, my sister jodie, best friends, candyfloss, cookie, dustbin baby, lily alone, little darlings, the longest whale song, secrets, sleepovers, vicky angel, and the cat mummy. the bolded ones are definitely books i'd recommend. the first and last ones especially. the 'girls' set of books are also pretty good and arguably aimed more at younger teens. i remember one of them tackles the culture/idea of eating disorders and body confidence (or lack thereof). really stuck with me growing up. i still have a big collection of her books, and she was my favorite author growing up.
