窓ぎわのトットちゃん

An iconic piece of Japanese literature that's surprisingly fun and easy to read

I read this as part of a History of Japan class, but enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. It's usually summarized as the true story of 黒柳徹子 (Kuroyanagi Tetsuko)'s unusual primary school education in early-WW2 Japan, but that description doesn't sell it very well in my opinion. It's a collection of short stories from her life as a child— the friends she made, trouble she got into, and how her unconventional school worked to accommodate each student's individual needs.

I've heard this book is often read by students in Japanese schools, and I can see why. There are a few chapters I love so much I open it up just to reread them periodically. I think this book probably played a role in creating the "transfer to a strange school" trope in a lot of modern anime/manga (this is my personal unfounded conjecture though).

Edit to add: There's an audiobook narrated by the author herself on audiobook.jp (and maybe elsewhere), which is another great way to experience this book if that's more your speed. Even just listening to the sample might give you a good idea of the sentence flow that she's going for here.