Coming of Age Fiction

By Maureen Johnson

When seventeen–year–old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss–cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.

By Sherman Alexie
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all–white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

By Sarah Dessen

When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents' divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating.

By Tanuja Desai Hidier

Seventeen–year–old Dimple, whose family is from India, discovers that she is not Indian enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans, as she sees her hypnotically beautiful, manipulative best friend taking possession of both her heritage and the boy she likes.

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Eighteen–year–old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death.

By J.D. Salinger
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian

In an effort to escape the hypocrisies of life at his boarding school, sixteen–year–old Holden Caulfield seeks refuge in New York City.

By Robert Cormier

A high–school freshman who refuses to participate in the annual fund–raising chocolate sale is forced to defend his convictions.

By Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Series Dairy Queen Trilogy

After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her.

By E. Lockhart

Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all–male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.

By Jane Yolen
Series Pit Dragon Chronicles

Jakkin, a bond boy who works as a Keeper in a dragon nursery on the planet Austar IV, secretly trains a fighting pit dragon of his own in hopes of winning his freedom.

By Carolyn Mackler

Feeling like she does not fit in with the other members of her family, who are all thin, brilliant, and good–looking, fifteen–year–old Virginia tries to deal with her self–image, her first physical relationship, and her disillusionment with some of the people closest to her.

By Julia Alvarez

The four Garcia girls escape the Dominican Republic and a life of privilege in the 1960s to come to the United States and difficult adjustment.

By Nicola Yoon
Recommended By Pam Strudler, Programming & Arts Librarian

Experiencing visions of heartbreak and trying to understand why this is happening, Evie signs up for lessons at a dance studio, where she falls for her dance partner, forcing her to question all she thought she knew about life and love

By Jennifer Donnelly

In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and finacee, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest.  Based on a true story.

By John Green
Recommended By Pam Strudler, Programming & Arts Librarian

One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

By Stephen Chbosky
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

A series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the coming–of–age trials of a high–schooler named Charlie.

Became the movie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

By Robin Talley

Duel narratives follow an eighteen–year–old closeted lesbian in 1955 keeping a secret romance and wanting to write her own stories and another young woman sixty–two years later studying 1950s lesbian pulp fiction for her senior project.

By Chris Crutcher

The daily class discussions about the nature of man, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help.

By Jessica Goodman
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

At an exclusive prep school on Long Island, Jill Newman looks forward to her senior year as a member of the school's most elite clique, the Players, until new evidence surfaces about the murder of her close friend Shaila.

By Mariah Fredericks

When Jess and Sari, best friends since seventh grade, begin their freshman year of high school and Sari becomes obsessed with a senior boy, Jess wonders if their friendship will survive.

By Steven Goldman

Mitch, a shy and awkward high school junior, negotiates the difficult social situations he encounters, both with girls and with his best friend David, after David reveals to him that he is gay.

By Gary D. Schmidt

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh–grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.