Coming of Age Books
Coming-of-age stories track a young protagonist through the messy transition from childhood to adulthood. These narratives deal in first heartbreaks, shifting family dynamics, identity crises, and the painful realization that the world is more complicated than it once seemed.
118 books
A Separate Peace
Literary Fiction
All the Colors of the Dark
Chris Whitaker
Romance
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy
Young Adult
Along for the Ride
Sarah Dessen
Memoir
Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt
Young Adult
Anna and the French Kiss
Stephanie Perkins
Beautyland
Marie-Helene Bertino
Young Adult
Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver
Young Adult
Better Than the Movies
Lynn Painter
Literary Fiction
Bones and All
Camille DeAngelis
Romance
Booth
Beth Reekles
Young Adult
Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
Contemporary Fiction
Caucasia
Danzy Senna
Romance
Christy
Catherine Marshall
Comedy
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jeff Kinney
Mystery
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
Deepa Anappara
Romance
Eleanor & Park
Romance
Every Summer After
Carley Fortune
Young Adult
Girl in Pieces
Kathleen Glasgow
Fantasy
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling
Young Adult
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
Young Adult
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
Young Adult
Holes
Louis Sachar
Mystery
I Am the Messenger
Markus Zusak
Comedy
I Capture the Castle
Dodie Smith
Comedy
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Ned Vizzini
Horror
Let the Right One In
John Ajvide Lindqvist
Literary Fiction
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Young Adult
Looking for Alaska
John Green
Literary Fiction
Lord of the Flies
William Golding
Young Adult
Maniac Magee
Jerry Spinelli
Comedy
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews
Comedy
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
James Patterson
Literary Fiction
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
Young Adult
My Life Next Door
Huntley Fitzpatrick
Literary Fiction
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
Romance
Offside
Avery Keelan
Young Adult
On the Come Up
Angie Thomas
Fantasy
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
Mystery
Pretty Little Liars
Sara Shepard
Contemporary Fiction
Purple Hibiscus
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Young Adult
Restart
Gordon Korman
Non-Fiction
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mildred D. Taylor
Young Adult
Rumble Fish
S. E. Hinton
Literary Fiction
Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward
Young Adult
Save Me a Seat
Sarah Weeks
Non-Fiction
Scythe
Neal Shusterman
Literary Fiction
Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
Comedy
Smile
Raina Telgemeier
Non-Fiction
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
Young Adult
Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
Horror
Stuart Little
E. B. White
Contemporary Fiction
Summer Sisters
Judy Blume
Horror
Summer of Night
Dan Simmons
Young Adult
That Was Then, This Is Now
S. E. Hinton
Literary Fiction
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath
Literary Fiction
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison
Historical Fiction
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Non-Fiction
The Book of Three
Lloyd Alexander
Fantasy
The Borrowers
Mary Norton
Young Adult
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John Boyne
Literary Fiction
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
Comedy
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates
Liz Pichon
Literary Fiction
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
Young Adult
The Cay
Theodore Taylor
Young Adult
The Chocolate War
Robert Cormier
Fantasy
The City & The City
Edith Nesbit
The City of the Plague God
Sarwat Chadda
Non-Fiction
The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson
Non-Fiction
The Farthest Shore
Ursula K. Le Guin
Contemporary Fiction
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
The Flamethrowers
Young Adult
The Fortress of Solitude
Comedy
The Fortunes
William Makepeace Thackeray
Non-Fiction
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Heidi W. Durrow
Thriller
The Girl with All the Gifts
M. R. Carey
Dystopian
The Giver
Lois Lowry
Literary Fiction
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
Young Adult
The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Contemporary Fiction
The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
Self-Help
The Heart's Invisible Furies
Literary Fiction
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
Fantasy
The House with a Clock in Its Walls
John Bellairs
Literary Fiction
The Idiot
Elif Batuman
Young Adult
The Impossible Fortress
Fantasy
The Indian in the Cupboard
Lynne Reid Banks
Literary Fiction
The Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Literary Fiction
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Non-Fiction
The Last of the Wine
Mary Renault
Memoir
The Liars' Club
Mary Karr
Non-Fiction
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Antonio Iturbe
Fantasy
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
Literary Fiction
The Lincoln Highway
Amor Towles
Non-Fiction
The Map of Salt and Stars
Young Adult
The Maze Runner
James Dashner
Non-Fiction
The Mothers
Bill Bryson
Literary Fiction
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Michael Chabon
Fantasy
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss
Science Fiction
The Namesake
Jhumpa Lahiri
Young Adult
The Naturals
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Horror
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman
The Others Gold
Elizabeth Ames
Literary Fiction
The Outsiders
S.E. Hinton
Contemporary Fiction
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
Young Adult
The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
The Rachel Incident
Non-Fiction
The Round House
Louise Erdrich
Contemporary Fiction
The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd
Young Adult
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Jennifer E. Smith
Non-Fiction
The Story of the New Name
A W. Reed
Young Adult
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han
Literary Fiction
The Virgin Suicides
Jeffrey Eugenides
Literary Fiction
This Tender Land
William Kent Krueger
Literary Fiction
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Young Adult
Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech
Fantasy
White Oleander
Fitch, Janet
Young Adult
Wonder
R.J. Palacio
Literary Fiction
Young Mungo
Douglas Stuart
