Hmm...interesting. The parallels are spooky!
It was ALSO 1997 and I was also in fifth grade ten or eleven years old (I forget if this happened before or after my birthday). My teacher had a big bookshelf in the back of the room and I was looking for something good to read. I noticed #5 The Predator, but then realized it was the fifth in the series. When I asked my teacher she said she had the first one but another student, Nick, was reading it. I went and asked him if I could read it and he refused, saying I could have it when he finished. I was very angry (because obviously my reading the book is more important than him finishing the book) and stomped off to read #5. I was utterly confused, but I loved the idea of turning into animals (animal lover). I finished MUCH faster than Nick, who was not much of a reader, and bugged him constantly until he gave me #1 to read and never spoke to me again.
Totally worth it.