Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Known as the marsh girl, Kya has been on her own since about the age of 10. First her mother walked away. Then each of her siblings left one by one until Kya was all alone with her drunk and abusive father. Shunned by the town for her peculiar ways, Kya survives alone in the marsh until Tate and Chase seek her out. When Chase ends up dead, Kya is the lead suspect. Told in flashbacks, Where the Crawdads Sing is a everything a book should be...It's a love story, a mystery, and tale of self discovery.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

In this memoir, Jeannette Walls recounts the years growing up with her dysfunctional parents and her three siblings. She, along with her older sister, younger brother, and baby sister have to grow up rather quickly as they survive the lifestyle of their chaotic, free-spirited, irresponsible parents. Walls calls these memories "adventures" as they bounced around from location to location, lacking a stable education, money, a functional home, and all the necessities of what is considered a healthy upbringing. I was bothered many times while reading this book because as a parent I always want to protect my children, but in this memoir, Rex and Rose Mary Walls do very little to serve as proper parental role models. However, the ending shows there was love in the family and her parents did care about their children, but just had a different way of showing it. 

#6 Mrs. Staples