The Best Coming Of Age Books
Best Books, Education, Fiction & Literature, Kids, Literature

The Best Coming Of Age Books Of All-Time!

“What are the best Coming Of Age Books Of All-Time?” We looked at 436 of the top books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 31 titles, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Coming Of Age” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 400+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!



Top 31 Coming Of Age Books



31 .) Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 1
  • Early Bird Books 1

“Liza never knew that falling in love could be so wonderful . . . and so confusing.

“”‘Liza,’ Mom said, looking into my eyes, ‘I want you to tell me the truth, not because I want to pry, but because I have to know. This could get very unpleasant . . . Now–have you and Annie–done any more than the usual experimenting . . . ‘

‘No, Mom,’ I said, trying to look back at her calmly. I’m not proud of it, I make no excuses–I lied to her.”””

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30 .) Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Bustle 1
  • Goodreads 1

Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, eleven- going on twelve-year-old Margaret talks over her problems with her own private God.

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29 .) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Riot 2
  • Early Bird Books 1
  • Goodreads 1

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

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28 .) Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Flavorwire
  • Mashable

The electrifying first novel from James Baldwin, whose life and words are immortalized in the Oscar-nominated film I Am Not Your Negro ‘I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal with my father.’ Drawing on James Baldwin’s own boyhood in a religious community in 1930s Harlem, his first novel tells the story of young Johnny Grimes. Johnny is destined to become a preacher like his father, Gabriel, at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, where the church swells with song and it is as if ‘the Holy Ghost were riding on the air’. But he feels only scalding hatred for Gabriel, whose fear and fanaticism lead him to abuse his family. Johnny vows that, for him, things will be different. This blazing tale is full of passion and guilt, of secret sinners and prayers singing on the wind.

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27 .) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Short List

With a new introduction and notes, this edition of Great Expectations offers new insights into one of Dickens’s most fascinating and disturbing novels. Charting the progress of Pip from childhood to adulthood, Dickens shows the dangers of being driven by a desire for wealth and social status. As Pip moves from the Kent marshes to busy, commercial London, encountering many extraordinary characters–from Magwitch, the escaped convict, to Miss Havisham, a woman locked up with her past–he is confronted with the challenge of establishing a sense of his own identity and values contrary to the plans others have for him.

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26 .) Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable

“Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.

William Golding’s compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them—the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories—and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible.”

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25 .) Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Lists It Appears On:

  • Penguin
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

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24 .) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Lists It Appears On:

  • Flavorwire
  • Mashable
  • Popsugar

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther’s breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.

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23 .) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Riot 2
  • Mashable
  • Short List

“Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.”

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22 .) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Lists It Appears On:

  • Best Fantasy Books
  • Book Riot 2
  • Goodreads 1

“Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place—he’s the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians’ time as well as their ghostly teachings—such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him.

Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?”

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21 .) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Mashable

The Secret Garden, a classic loved for more than seventy-five years, is all that its title implies. It is, as one might imagine, a mystery. But it is also a love story and the love is as passionate and fervent as one could imagine. It is a story of the love of nature, of science and the scientific method, and of isolated and lonely human beings who learn to care not only for others, but equally important, for themselves. This deluxe Children’s Classic edition is produced with high-quality, leatherlike binding with gold stamping, full-color covers, colored endpapers with a book nameplate. Some of the other titles in this series include: Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, King Arthur and His Knights, Little Women, and Treasure Island.

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20 .) The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Short List
  • Uniplaces

The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters’ breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.

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19 .) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Bustle 1

One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.

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18 .) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 3
  • Mashable

For generations, readers have been charmed by the special world of Green Gables, an old-fashioned farm outside a town called Avonlea. Eleven-year-old Anne Shirley has arrived in this verdant corner of Prince Edward Island only to discover that the Cuthberts—elderly Matthew and his stern sister, Marilla—want to adopt a boy, not a feisty redheaded girl. But before they can send her back, Anne—who simply must have more scope for her imagination and a real home—wins them over completely.

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17 .) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Riot 2
  • Goodreads 3
  • Popsugar
  • Short List

The classic portrayal of a woman’s passionate search for a richer life than that traditionally allowed women in Victorian society continues to endure.

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16 .) Looking for Alaska by John Green

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable
  • Popsugar
  • Uniplaces

“Before. Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for Culver Creek boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called “The Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including clever, beguiling, and self-destructive Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

After. Nothing will ever be the same. “

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15 .) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Flavorwire
  • Mashable

Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fukú—the curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.

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14 .) The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Common Sense Media
  • Popsugar

“Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero.

Told in a series of vignettes – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous – it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.”

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13 .) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Goodreads 1
  • Short List
  • Woman & Home

“The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.”

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12 .) A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Five Books
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable

Set at a boys’ boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.

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11 .) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Book Riot 2
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable
  • Popsugar

From the moment she entered the world, Francie needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior—such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce—no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty. Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life-from “junk day” on Saturdays, when the children of Francie’s neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences—a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.

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10 .) I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Lists It Appears On:

  • Bustle 1
  • Early Bird Books 2
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 3
  • Woman & Home

The 1934 journal of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain reveals her perspective on six stormy months in the eccentric and poverty-stricken life of her family in a ruined Suffolk castle, ending with the revelation that Cassandra is deeply in love.

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9 .) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable
  • Short List
  • Woman & Home

As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

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8 .) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Goodreads 1
  • Short List
  • Uniplaces
  • Woman & Home

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy’s adventures in the Mississippi Valley—a sequel to Tom Sawyer—the book grew and matured under Twain’s hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck’s and Jim’s voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

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7 .) The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Lists It Appears On:

  • Best Fantasy Books
  • Early Bird Books 2
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable
  • Uniplaces

Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That’s because he’s being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he’s really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

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6 .) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable
  • Popsugar
  • Short List

“No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he’s got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends—true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect—until the night someone takes things too far.

The Outsiders is a dramatic and enduring work of fiction that laid the groundwork for the YA genre. S. E. Hinton’s classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was first published.”

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5 .) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Bustle 1
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 3
  • Mashable
  • Popsugar

From the time it was written back in 1868, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has enchanted young readers, who identify with the realistic and lively personalities of the four March sisters. Growing up as the Civil War rages, Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy face the challenges and difficulties of life—and, sometimes, each other.

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4 .) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Early Bird Books 1
  • Mashable
  • Penguin
  • Popsugar
  • Short List

Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a coming-out novel from Winterson, the acclaimed author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. The narrator, Jeanette, cuts her teeth on the knowledge that she is one of God’s elect, but as this budding evangelical comes of age, and comes to terms with her preference for her own sex, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household crumbles.

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3 .) The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Common Sense Media
  • Goodreads 1
  • Popsugar
  • Short List
  • Uniplaces

“Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.

There are many voices in this novel: children’s voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden’s voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.”

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2 .) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Lists It Appears On:

  • Common Sense Media
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 3
  • Mashable
  • Penguin
  • Popsugar
  • Short List
  • Uniplaces

This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie’s letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show,when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

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1 .) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Bub
  • Bustle 1
  • Common Sense Media
  • Goodreads 1
  • Mashable
  • Popsugar
  • Uniplaces
  • Woman & Home

One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

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The 400+ Additional Best Books About Coming Of Age



 

#BookAuthorLists
(Titles Appear On 2 Lists Each)
32A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManJames JoyceMashable
Popsugar
33A Wrinkle in TimeMadeleine L’Engle
Best Fantasy Books
Book Riot 2
34All the Pretty HorsesCormac McCarthyMashable
Five Books
35An Abundance of KatherinesJohn Green
Goodreads 1
Popsugar
36Bless Me, UltimaRudolfo AnayaBook Riot 2
Book Bub
37Catcher in the RyeJ.D. SalingerMashable
Woman & Home
38Eleanor & ParkRainbow Rowell
Goodreads 1
Mashable
39Ender’s GameOrson Scott CardMashable
Goodreads 1
40FucknessAndersen PruntyFlavorwire
Mashable
41Fun HomeAllison Bechdel
Early Bird Books 1
Bustle 2
42Goodbye, ColumbusPhilip RothShort List
Woman & Home
43HolesLouis SacharMashable
Woman & Home
44How the García Girls Lost Their AccentsJulia AlvarezBustle 1
NBC News
45I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsMaya AngelouMashable
Book Bub
46King DorkFrank Portman
Common Sense Media
Short List
47Long Way DownJason ReynoldsBook Riot 2
Common Sense Media
48LunaJulie Anne Peters
Early Bird Books 1
Penguin
49MauriceE.M. Forster
Early Bird Books 1
Penguin
50MiddlesexJeffrey EugenidesMashable
Goodreads 1
51MosquitolandDavid ArnoldBustle 1
Common Sense Media
52Rainbow BoysAlex Sanchez
Goodreads 2
Book Riot 1
53Rubyfruit JungleRita Mae BrownBustle 2
Penguin
54SpeakLaurie Halse AndersonMashable
Goodreads 1
55Tell the Wolves I’m HomeCarol Rifka Brunt
Goodreads 1
Book Riot 2
56The Blue SwordRobin McKinley
Best Fantasy Books
Goodreads 3
57The Book of Lost ThingsJohn Connolly
Best Fantasy Books
Book Riot 2
58The Book ThiefMarkus ZusakBook Riot 2
Goodreads 1
59The Dark is RisingSusan Cooper
Best Fantasy Books
Publishers Weekly
60The Diary of a Young GirlAnne FrankBook Bub
Goodreads 1
61The Fault in Our StarsJohn Green
Common Sense Media
Goodreads 1
62The GiverLois LowryMashable
Book Bub
63The Glass CastleJeanette WallsFlavorwire
Popsugar
64The Goblin EmperorKatherine Addison
Best Fantasy Books
Book Riot 2
65The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeC.S. Lewis
Best Fantasy Books
Mashable
66The Secret Life of BeesSue Monk Kidd
Goodreads 1
Popsugar
67The Sisterhood of the Traveling PantsAnn Brashares
Common Sense Media
Goodreads 1
68This Boy’s LifeTobias WolffMashable
Flavorwire
69Two Boys KissingDavid Levithan
Early Bird Books 1
Bustle 2
70Weetzie BatFrancesca Lia BlockBustle 1
Penguin
71Will Grayson, Will GraysonJohn Green and David LevithanBustle 2
Goodreads 1
72WonderR.J. Palacio
Common Sense Media
Goodreads 1
(Titles Appear On 1 Lists Each)
73A Boy’s Own StoryEdmund White
Early Bird Books 1
74A Clockwork OrangeAnthony BurgessShort List
75A Closed and Common OrbitBecky ChambersBook Riot 2
76A Density of SoulsChristopher Rice
Goodreads 2
77A Girl Like That
Common Sense Media
78A Home at the End of the WorldMichael Cunningham
Goodreads 2
79A Monster CallsPatrick NessBook Riot 2
80A Quiet Kind of ThunderSara BarnardBook Riot 2
81A Ring of Endless LightMadeleine L’Engle
Goodreads 3
82A Song of Fire and Ice
Best Fantasy Books
83A Wizard of Earthsea
Best Fantasy Books
84Aaron’s StoryMason Dodd
Goodreads 2
85Absolute BeginnersColin MacInnesShort List
86
Acacia: The War with the Mein
Best Fantasy Books
87Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other StoriesGarth Nix
Goodreads 3
88Adaptation & The HuntressMalinda LoBook Riot 1
89Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark TwainMashable
90Alex Verus
Best Fantasy Books
91All American BoysFrank MoscaBook Riot 1
92All Souls: A Family Story from SouthieMichael Patrick MacDonaldBook Riot 2
93All the Light We Cannot SeeAnthony DoerrMashable
94All the Right Stuff
Common Sense Media
95All We Can Do Is Wait
Common Sense Media
96All You Need Is LoveRussell J. Sanders
Goodreads 2
97Although teenagersculturally in any caseShort List
98American DervishAyad AkhtarMashable
99American Panda
Common Sense Media
100American StreetIbi ZoboiBook Riot 2
101Among OthersJo Walton
Goodreads 3
102And If I FallRobin Reardon
Goodreads 2
103Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food LifeBarbara Kingsolver
Goodreads 3
104Anne of AvonleaL.M. Montgomery
Goodreads 3
105Annie JohnJamaica KincaidBook Bub
106Another Day in ParadiseEddie LittleFlavorwire
107Ask the PassengersA.S. KingBook Riot 1
108At the LakeGeoff Laughton
Goodreads 2
109Aurora LeighElizabeth Barrett-Browning
Early Bird Books 2
110Bad FeministRoxane Gay
Early Bird Books 2
111Bartimaeus Sequence
Best Fantasy Books
112Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the BeastRobin McKinley
Goodreads 3
113Because of Winn-DixieKate DiCamilloBook Bub
114Ben Raphael’s All-Star VirginsK.Z. Snow
Goodreads 2
115BereftCraig Laurence GidneyBook Riot 1
116Better Nate Than Ever
Common Sense Media
117Beyond the GraveJude Watson
Goodreads 3
118BintiNnedi OkoraforBook Riot 2
119Black Swan GreenDavid MitchellShort List
120Blood Song
Best Fantasy Books
121Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant ChefGabrielle Hamilton
Early Bird Books 2
122Blue is the Warmest ColorJulie MarohMashable
123Born a CrimeTrevor NoahBook Riot 2
124Braden’s StoryMason Dodd
Goodreads 2
125Breaking DawnStephenie Meyer
Goodreads 3
126Bridge to TerabithiaKatherine PatersonBook Bub
127BrooklynColm TóibínBook Riot 2
128Brown Girl DreamingJacqueline Woodson
Goodreads 3
129Burn Baby Burn
Common Sense Media
130Call Me MariaJudith Ortiz CoferNBC News
131Catching FireSuzanne Collins
Goodreads 1
132ChemistrySignature
133Chronicles of Amber
Best Fantasy Books
134
Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne
Best Fantasy Books
135Cinnamon Toast and the End of the WorldJanet E. Cameron
Goodreads 2
136City of EmberJeanne DuPrauMashable
137Clara and Mr. TiffanySusan Vreeland
Goodreads 3
138Clementine
Common Sense Media
139Codex Alera
Best Fantasy Books
140Cup of Water Under My BedDaisy HernándezNBC News
141Dandelion WineRay BradburyMashable
142Daron’s Guitar Chronicles: Omnibus Edition Volume 1Cecilia Tan
Goodreads 2
143Daron’s Guitar Chronicles: Omnibus Edition Volume 2Cecilia Tan
Goodreads 2
144Daron’s Guitar Chronicles: Volume EightCecilia Tan
Goodreads 2
145Daron’s Guitar Chronicles: Volume OneCecilia Tan
Goodreads 2
146Daron’s Guitar Chronicles: Volume SevenCecilia Tan
Goodreads 2
147Daron’s Guitar Chronicles: Volume SixCecilia Tan
Goodreads 2
148Dear Hank Williams
Common Sense Media
149Dear MartinNic StoneBook Riot 2
150Diamond Boy
Common Sense Media
151DisgruntledAsali SolomonBook Riot 2
152DivergentVeronica Roth
Goodreads 1
153DryAugusten BurroughsBustle 2
154Dumb JockJeff Erno
Goodreads 2
155Dumplin’Julie MurphyBustle 1
156Dune
Best Fantasy Books
157Echo
Common Sense Media
158EclipseStephenie Meyer
Goodreads 3
159Eliza and Her Monsters
Common Sense Media
160Ella EnchantedGail Carson Levine
Goodreads 3
161Emily’s QuestL. M. Montgomery
Publishers Weekly
162Escape from Aleppo
Common Sense Media
163Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the WorldFrances Burney
Early Bird Books 2
164Every DayDavid LevithanBook Riot 1
165Every Exquisite ThingMatthew QuickBook Riot 2
166Every Other WeekendZulema Renee SummerfieldBook Riot 2
167Everything Leads to YouNina LaCourBook Riot 1
168Excuse Me While I Slip into Someone More ComfortableEric Poole
Goodreads 2
169FangirlRainbow Rowell
Goodreads 1
170Farseer Trilogy
Best Fantasy Books
171Finding NorthCarmen Jenner
Goodreads 2
172Finding Our WayJayson James
Goodreads 2
173Five Times My Best Friend Kissed MeAnna Martin
Goodreads 2
174Freshman FeintElaine Ashford
Goodreads 2
175Full of Beans
Common Sense Media
176Gem & Dixie
Common Sense Media
177Gentleman Bastard
Best Fantasy Books
178Gertie’s Leap to Greatness
Common Sense Media
179Ghost: Track, Book 1
Common Sense Media
180Girls in the MoonJanet McNallyBook Riot 2
181GreensleevesEloise Jarvis McGraw
Goodreads 3
182Half the World
Best Fantasy Books
183Ham on RyeCharles BukowskiFlavorwire
184Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane ExistenceMichael Marshall SmithBook Riot 2
185Hard Rain FallingDon CarpenterFlavorwire
186Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsJ.K. Rowling
Goodreads 1
187Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsJ.K. Rowling
Goodreads 1
188Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceJ.K. Rowling
Goodreads 1
189Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixJ.K. Rowling
Goodreads 1
190Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanJ.K. Rowling
Goodreads 1
191HatchetGary PaulsonMashable
192Have a Little FaithDiana McKinley
Goodreads 2
193Heart Berries: A MemoirTerese Marie MailhotBook Riot 2
194Hello, GroinBeth GoobieBook Riot 1
195Hello, Sunshine
Common Sense Media
196Henry IV Part IWilliam ShakespeareFive Books
197Hideous KinkyEsther Freud
Woman & Home
198His Dark Materials
Best Fantasy Books
199Hold me CloserDavid LevithanPenguin
200Hold Still
Common Sense Media
201Home: A Memoir of My Early YearsJulie Andrews Edwards
Goodreads 3
202How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical TheaterMarc Acito
Goodreads 2
203How to Behave in a CrowdSignature
204How To Build a GirlCaitlin MoranBustle 1
205Hush
Common Sense Media
206I Am JCris BeamBustle 2
207
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Common Sense Media
208I Have Lost My Way
Common Sense Media
209I Never Liked YouChester BrownFlavorwire
210I’ll Give You the SunJandy Nelson
Goodreads 1
211If I StayGayle Forman
Goodreads 3
212In Hawthorn ParkJason Timothy Stephens
Goodreads 2
213In Search of Us
Common Sense Media
214Infinite In Between
Common Sense Media
215Into the GreyCeline Kiernan
Publishers Weekly
216Island of the Blue DolphinsScott O’Dell
Goodreads 3
217It’s Kind of a Funny StoryNed VizziniMashable
218Jacob Have I LovedKatherine Paterson
Goodreads 3
219
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Common Sense Media
220Juliet Takes A BreathGabby RiveraBook Riot 2
221Junonia
Common Sense Media
222Just a Bit ConfusingAlessandra Hazard
Goodreads 2
223Keeping Safe the Stars
Common Sense Media
224Keeping You a SecretJulie Anne PetersBook Riot 1
225KissJacqueline WilsonPenguin
226Kissing in America
Common Sense Media
227Kushiel’s Dart
Best Fantasy Books
228LawnboyPaul Lisicky
Goodreads 2
229Less Than ZeroBret Easton EllisShort List
230Liar & Spy
Common Sense Media
231Light a Single CandleBeverly Butler
Goodreads 3
232Like Water for ChocolateLaura Esquival
Early Bird Books 2
233Long Price Quartet
Best Fantasy Books
234Losing ItSignature
235LotteryPatricia WoodBook Riot 2
236Lucky LinusGene Gant
Goodreads 2
237Lunch Money
Common Sense Media
238Magician
Best Fantasy Books
239Make Your Home Among StrangersJennine Capó CrucetNBC News
240Map of IrelandStephanie GrantBook Riot 1
241Mark Cooper versus AmericaLisa Henry
Goodreads 2
242Maud MarthaGwendolyn BrooksBook Riot 2
243Me and Earl and the Dying GirlJesse AndrewsPopsugar
244
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
Best Fantasy Books
245Miles Morales: Spider-Man
Common Sense Media
246Mistborn
Best Fantasy Books
247Mockingbird
Common Sense Media
248MockingjaySuzanne Collins
Goodreads 1
249MoonglassJessi Kirby
Goodreads 3
250More Than We Can Tell
Common Sense Media
251My Brilliant FriendElena Ferrante
Goodreads 3
252My Ladybird StoryMagus Tor
Goodreads 2
253My Life in FranceJulia Child
Early Bird Books 2
254NakedDavid SedarisBustle 2
255Nation
Best Fantasy Books
256New MoonStephenie Meyer
Goodreads 3
257Northanger AbbeyJane Austen
Early Bird Books 2
258Norwegian WoodHaruki MurakamiMashable
259Okay for Now
Common Sense Media
260OliviaDorothy StracheyPenguin
261Orphan TrainChristina Baker KlineMashable
262Other Voices, Other RoomsTruman CapotePenguin
263Paper TownsJohn Green
Goodreads 1
264Parable of the SowerOctavia E. ButlerMashable
265PathfinderOrson Scott Card
Goodreads 3
266Pawn of Prophecy
Best Fantasy Books
267Peg BoyR. G. Berube
Goodreads 2
268Perfect FreedomGordon Merrick
Goodreads 2
269Persepolis: A Story of ChildhoodMarjane SatrapiBustle 1
270Peter and WendyJ. M. BarrieMashable
271Piecing Me Together
Common Sense Media
272Please Don’t Come Back From the MoonDean BakopoulosMashable
273Practically SeventeenRosamond du Jardin
Goodreads 3
274PrepCurtis Sittenfeld
Goodreads 3
275Pride and PrejudiceJane AustenFive Books
276Prim ImproperDeirdre Sullivan
Publishers Weekly
277Raise It UpNick Wilgus
Goodreads 2
278Rani Patel in Full Effect
Common Sense Media
279Rats Saw GodRob ThomasShort List
280Raymie Nightingale
Common Sense Media
281Reasons to Love a Nerd Like MeBecky Jerams
Goodreads 2
282Rebound
Common Sense Media
283Red Rising
Best Fantasy Books
284
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party
Common Sense Media
285Riddle-Master Trilogy
Best Fantasy Books
286Riding Chance
Common Sense Media
287Roll of Thunder, Hear My CryMildred D. TaylorBook Bub
288Romeo and JulietWilliam ShakespeareMashable
289Rumour Has ItJoseph James Hunt
Goodreads 2
290Running with ScissorsAugusten BurroughsMashable
291Sabriel
Best Fantasy Books
292Saint AnythingSarah DessenBustle 1
293Salt & StormKendall Kulper
Publishers Weekly
294Sam Dorsey and His Sixteen CandlesPerie Wolford
Goodreads 2
295Saving FrancescaMelina Marchetta
Goodreads 3
296Scourge of the Betrayer
Best Fantasy Books
297See You in the Cosmos
Common Sense Media
298SERVICEDavid Monster
Goodreads 2
299Seventh Son
Best Fantasy Books
300Sevenwaters
Best Fantasy Books
301Silver SparrowTayari JonesBook Riot 2
302Sing, Unburied, SingJesmyn WardBook Riot 2
303Skippy DiesPaul MurrayShort List
304Sleeping AngelGreg HerrenBook Riot 1
305Small Damages
Common Sense Media
306So Hard to SayAlex Sanchez
Goodreads 2
307Solo
Common Sense Media
308Someday This Pain Will be Useful to YouPeter CameronShort List
309Son of a WitchGregory Maguire
Goodreads 3
310Song of the Lioness
Best Fantasy Books
311Sour HeartSignature
312Spindle’s EndRobin McKinley
Goodreads 3
313Stalking Darkness
Best Fantasy Books
314StardustNeil GaimanMashable
315StargirlJerry SpinelliMashable
316Sugar RushJulie BurchillPenguin
317Surprising MyselfChristopher Bram
Goodreads 2
318SweetbitterStephanie DanlerPopsugar
319Swimming in the Monsoon SeaShyam SelvaduraiBook Riot 1
320Tess of the d’UrbervillesThomas HardyFive Books
321That Alien FeelingAlessandra Hazard
Goodreads 2
322The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianSherman AlexieBook Bub
323The Accident SeasonMoïra Fowley-DoylePenguin
324The Adrian Mole novelsSue TownsendUniplaces
325The Age of MiraclesKaren Thompson Walker
Goodreads 1
326The Alex Crow
Common Sense Media
327The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and ClayMichael ChabonShort List
328The Amber SpyglassPhilip Pullman
Goodreads 3
329The Amish MidwifeMindy Starns Clark
Goodreads 3
330The Art of FieldingChad HarbachShort List
331The Bean TreesBarbara Kingsolver
Goodreads 3
332The Beekeeper’s ApprenticeLaurie R. KingBook Riot 2
333The Belles
Common Sense Media
334The Blood Mirror
Best Fantasy Books
335The Blue CastleL.M. Montgomery
Goodreads 3
336The BodyStephen KingUniplaces
337The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming ThemE. Lockhart
Goodreads 3
338The Bread Sister of Sinking CreekRobin Moore
Publishers Weekly
339The Broken Empire
Best Fantasy Books
340The ChaosNalo HopkinsonBook Riot 2
341The Chocolate WarRobert CormierBook Bub
342The Chronicles of Prydain
Best Fantasy Books
343The Clan of the Cave BearJean M. Auel
Goodreads 3
344The Closest I’ve Come
Common Sense Media
345The Cycle of Fire
Best Fantasy Books
346
The Dangerous Art of Blending In
Common Sense Media
347The DarkJohn McGahern
Publishers Weekly
348The Deed of Paksenarrion
Best Fantasy Books
349The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-BanksE. Lockhart
Goodreads 3
350The Distance Between UsReyna GrandeNBC News
351The Education of Margot SánchezLilliam RiveraNBC News
352
The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy
Best Fantasy Books
353The Girl Who Could FlyVictoria Forester
Goodreads 3
354The Girl Who Fell from the SkyHeidi W. DurrowBook Riot 2
355The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s NestStieg Larsson
Goodreads 3
356The GirlsEmma ClinePopsugar
357The Glass CasketMcCormick Templeman
Publishers Weekly
358The GoldfinchDonna Tartt
Goodreads 1
359The Growing Pains of Adrian MoleSue TownsendShort List
360The Half-Bad seriesSally GreenPenguin
361The Hate U GiveAngie ThomasBook Riot 2
362The Heart’s Invisible FuriesSignature
363The High School Chronicles of Ariel SchragAriel SchragBook Riot 1
364The Hobbit
Best Fantasy Books
365The House on Durrow StreetGalen Beckett
Goodreads 3
366The House You Pass On the WayJacqueline WoodsonBook Riot 1
367The Housekeeper and the ProfessorYōko Ogawa, translation Stephen SnyderBook Riot 2
368The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins
Goodreads 1
369The Joy Luck ClubAmy TanBook Bub
370The Kingkiller Chronicles
Best Fantasy Books
371The Last Days of CaliforniaMary MillerMashable
372The last IllusionPorochista KhakpourBook Riot 2
373The Liar’s ClubMary KarrFlavorwire
374
The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez
Common Sense Media
375The Little FriendDonna Tartt
Goodreads 3
376The Luster of Lost ThingsSignature
377The Magic ToyshopAngela Carter
Publishers Weekly
378The Magicians
Best Fantasy Books
379The Mighty Miss Malone
Common Sense Media
380The Miseducation of Cameron PostEmily M. DanforthBustle 2
381
The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
Signature
382The Mysteries of PittsburghMichael ChabonFlavorwire
383The NamesakeJhumpa LahiriBook Bub
384The Neverending StoryMichael EndeMashable
385The Poet XElizabeth AcevedoBook Riot 2
386The Rachel PapersMartin AmisShort List
387The Residue YearsMitchell S. JacksonBook Riot 2
388The Roanoke GirlsSignature
389The Rotter’s ClubJonathan CoeShort List
390The Rule of ThreeDiscontentedWinter
Goodreads 2
391The Secret HistoryDonna TarttShort List
392The Sky Is EverywhereJandy Nelson
Goodreads 3
393The Sunlight PilgrimsSignature
394The Troupe
Best Fantasy Books
395The Truth About ForeverSarah DessenMashable
396
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
Signature
397The V GirlMya Robarts
Goodreads 1
398The Warded Man
Best Fantasy Books
399The Water SeekerKimberly Willis Holt
Goodreads 3
400The Wheel of Time
Best Fantasy Books
401The White ForestAdam McOmber
Publishers Weekly
402The Witcher
Best Fantasy Books
403The Witching HourAnne Rice
Goodreads 3
404The Wolf InsideDiscontentedWinter
Goodreads 2
405The Woman WarriorMaxine Hong KingstonBook Riot 2
406The World According to GarpJohn IrvingUniplaces
407The World of Normal BoysK.M. Soehnlein
Goodreads 2
408The Wrong UnitRob DircksBook Riot 2
409The Year of IceBrian Malloy
Goodreads 2
410The YearlingMarjorie Kinnan RawlingsBook Bub
411Thinking StraightRobin Reardon
Goodreads 2
412Thirteen Reasons WhyJay Asher
Goodreads 1
413This Is Not for YouJane Rule
Early Bird Books 1
414Throwing StonesRobin Reardon
Goodreads 2
415Tietam BrownMick FoleyShort List
416Tipping the VelvetSarah WatersBustle 2
417ToughskinsWilliam Masswa
Goodreads 2
418Trust MeJeff Erno
Goodreads 2
419
Trying to Float: Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel
Common Sense Media
420TwelveNick McDonellShort List
421Twenty Boy SummerSarah Ockler
Goodreads 3
422Up a Road SlowlyIrene Hunt
Goodreads 3
423Up to This PointeJennifer LongoBustle 1
424Vernon God LittleDBC PierreShort List
425Wait Until Spring, BandiniJohn FanteShort List
426Walk Two MoonsSharon CreechBook Bub
427Watched
Common Sense Media
428We Are Okay
Common Sense Media
429We Were LiarsE. Lockhart
Goodreads 1
430What Happened to GoodbyeSarah Dessen
Goodreads 3
431What I Leave BehindAlison McGheeBook Riot 2
432What We LoseSignature
433When I Was Puerto RicanEsmeralda SantiagoNBC News
434WingerAndrew SmithPenguin
435Words in Deep BlueSignature
436Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a FistSunil YapaBook Riot 2


23 Best Coming Of Age Book Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Best Fantasy Books Top 50 Best Coming of Age Fantasy Books
Book Bub 34 Classic Coming-of-Age Books
Book Riot 1 Coming Out and Coming of Age: YA LGBTQ Books
Book Riot 2 50 Must-Read Coming-of-Age Books
Bustle 1 13 Coming-Of-Age Novels From The Female Perspective
Bustle 2 9 Of Literature’s Best LGBTQ Coming-Of-Age Sexuality Stories That Helped Us All Become More Comfortable With Who We Are
Common Sense Media Coming-of-Age Books
Early Bird Books 1 9 Must-Read Coming-of-Age LGBT Novels
Early Bird Books 2 9 Inspiring Female Coming of Age Stories
Five Books The best books on Coming of Age
Flavorwire 12 Coming-of-Age Novels That Are Better Than ‘Catcher in the Rye’
Goodreads 1 Popular Coming Of Age Books
Goodreads 2 Popular Gay Coming Of Age Books
Goodreads 3 Popular Girls Coming Of Age Books
Mashable 50 coming-of-age books for when growing up is too hard
NBC News 7 Excellent Coming of Age Books By and About Latinas
Penguin A history of LGBTQ coming-of-age fiction (in 15 books!)
Popsugar 18 of the Best Coming-of-Age Books to Read at Any Point in Your Life
Publishers Weekly 10 Best Coming-of-Age Books You’ve Never Read
Short List The 30 best coming-of-age novels
Signature Finding a Place in the World: 12 Coming-of-Age Novels to Read Now
Uniplaces 10 of the Best Coming-of-Age Novels for Students
Woman & Home Top 10 Coming-of-Age Novels