There is an endless list of components that make up the framework of our individual identities. In growing up and coming of age, one of life's toughest questions is challenged: "Who am I?"
With this in mind, one of the most significant benefits of reading books in childhood is that it encourages you to consider this in the first place. Reading offers countless advantages from helping children to learn language and broaden their vocabulary to encouraging them to develop hobbies and understand different cultures and points of view. Studies have even shown that reading for pleasure when young can have a greater influence on the child's success in school than their economic or social background.
Classics Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and JM Barrie's Peter Pan both highlight the theme of identity: Alice, for example, is led by her curiosity on a quest through a unfamiliar and nonsensical world and as she questions and pokes at the world around her, she eventually understands her place in it:
I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!
Likewise, the story of Peter Pan encourages us to think about growing up, family and adventure; all components which make up our identities. Like Alice, Wendy Darling enables us to explore elements of sexual and gender identity as she begins the process of becoming a woman. She reveals her maternal instincts towards the Lost Boys and her romantic fantasies towards Peter. Torn between playing games and domesticating the wild children, Wendy's journey to Neverland is like her final childhood adventure: "henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up."
More recent teen and children's books also tackle identity through more challenging themes. John Green's The Fault in our Stars, which is narrated by cancer-sufferer Hazel. encourages you to think about family, love and mortality. Despite the tragedy of her being denied a normal childhood and her identity burdened by illness, Hazel's friend and eventual boyfriend Augustus helps protect her from being "one of those people who becomes their disease".
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling has often been praised by readers for her ability to write honest perspectives within children's fantasy novels. By encouraging you to think about the difficult parts of life, love and death, Rowling's books can help you along your own journey of growing up and defining your own identity.
For me, one of the best parts of reading the novels – and watching the films – was the feeling that I was growing up with the characters. Harry matures throughout the series, enabling the reader to develop with him. From the day Harry's parents sacrificed themselves to save him in the Philosopher's Stone through to the night he visits their graves at Godric's Hollow, Harry admires his parents for their friendship, skill, courage and bravery, eventually finding these traits inside himself.
He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!
Far from leaving you stranded with questions, children's books can give you a sense of direction and inspire you to form your own opinions and ideas – even well into adulthood.