What’s a book you read in your childhood which had a surprisingly long-term influence on your thinking and perhaps your life?

This morning I thought of Cheaper By The Dozen, which I read in 6th grade. The part that struck me as important in the book was efficiency and effectiveness, finding ways to do things that made everything –even though complicated and on the surface seemingly chaotic– work. And that the parents were partners, the wife just as strong, intelligent, well-educated and involved in the business as her husband. And, I didn’t know until 5 minutes ago that she, like me, was an English major, who also studied psychology, and who ended up as an industrial engineer!!!! Yes, I was, for a while, a Senior Industrial Engineer (my favorite job title on my CV). 😃
What about you?