We're all subconsciously shaped to some extent by the books we read as a child but it's very rare to be able to pinpoint a book that had a dramatic impact on the way you see the world. I must have read this book for the first time when I was about eleven or twelve but it left me with two insights which at the time seemed revelatory - gay people are just the same as everyone else and the best thing you can do for people going through difficult circumstance is to be with them. Both of these serve me to this day.