[edanm]

Depends on the age, but for age 9-14ish, one series is hands down the most influential thing I've ever read:

The Animorphs series.

It's both incredibly good entertainment, but also really digs into morality in a way that has shaped how I think of things even so many years later.

Second to that is the "My Teacher is an Alien" series. They're fun books, pretty light, but the last book of the series, likewise, instilled a lot of morality-sense in me, since it's basically a tour of the bad (and good) of humanity.

For a bit of an older age (~15?), nothing quite impacted me like Ender's Game did. Again, a lot of ideas of what is moral and what isn't. (And yes, as others in this thread have pointed out, the author has a problematic legacy, make of that what you will.)

[tetris11]

K.A Applegate's letter to distressed fans after the series ended is worth a read

> Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

> If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

https://www.hiracdelest.com/database/articles/kaa_response-f...

[Izkata]

Semi-relevant: For anyone wondering about that domain name, "hirac delest" roughly translates as "final words". In-universe it's when a dying Andalite records their last thoughts and sends it back to their homeworld.

[edanm]

Yes, a beautiful letter. I believe I've read it before but always good to revisit. Especially given the current times, unfortunately.