Coming-of-Age Journeys

Coming-of-age journeys, academically known as Bildungsromane, focus on the stories of young people embarking on the path to adulthood. These are stories of self-actualization, questions of identity, discoveries of shortcomings and strengths, and lessons learned. This collection of study guides covers classics to contemporary novels, from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger to As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds.

The Alchemyst

by Michael Scott

Publication year 2007

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil, Siblings, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Coming of Age, Appearance & Reality

Tags Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mythology, Action & Adventure, Fairy Tale & Folklore, Children`s Literature

Irish author Michael Scott’s The Alchemyst, published in 2007, is the first installment in his six-part series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. This guide refers to the 2007 Kindle edition. The following books are The Magician (2008), The Sorceress (2009), The Necromancer (2010), The Warlock (2011), and The Enchantress (2012). The Alchemyst was included in Time Magazine’s 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time in 2015 and earned multiple awards internationally, including... Read The Alchemyst Summary

The All of It

by Jeannette Haien

Publication year 1986

Genre Novella, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Hope, Loneliness, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Gender Identity, Language, Mental Health, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Aging, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Death, Future, The Past, Animals, Environment, Plants, Place, Daughters & Sons, Family, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Siblings, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Economics, Education, Good & Evil, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies

Tags Historical Fiction, Irish Literature, Literary Fiction

... Read The All of It Summary

The Antidote

by Karen Russell

Publication year 2025

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Memory, Perseverance, Grief, Regret, Gender Identity, Indigenous Identity, Race, Coming of Age, The Past, Climate, Environment, Self Discovery, Colonialism, Community, Politics & Government, Equality, Justice, Truth & Lies

Tags Historical Fiction, Magical Realism

Competitor... Read The Antidote Summary

The Apothecary

by Maile Meloy

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Future, The Past, Family, Friendship, Objects & Materials, Place

Tags Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure

Maile Meloy’s 2011 New York Times bestseller The Apothecary is the first in her young adult trilogy, which also includes The Apprentices (2014) and The After-Room (2017). This novel merges the genres of historical fiction and magical realism, and it was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of 2011. In 2012, The Apothecary also won the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award and the California Book Awards YA Gold Medal. Set in London after... Read The Apothecary Summary

The Armor of Light

by Ken Follett

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Power & Greed, Love, Justice, War, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Death, Future, The Past, Family, Self Discovery, Social Class, Economics, Nation, Politics & Government, Equality, Science & Technology

Tags Historical Fiction, British Literature, Industrial Revolution

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The Art of Fielding

by Chad Harbach

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hope, Love, Shame & Pride, Masculinity, Mental Health, Sexual Identity, Midlife, Death, Place, Family, Friendship, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Community, Education, Beauty, Fate, Good & Evil, Loyalty & Betrayal, Safety & Danger

Tags Sports, Relationships, Psychological Fiction

Published in 2011, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is a work of literary fiction depicting the interwoven journeys of characters at Westish, a fictional small liberal arts college in Wisconsin. Henry Skrimshander is a talented baseball shortstop whose future is jeopardized by an errant throw. His development intersects with that of his teammate Schwartz; his roommate, Owen; college president Guert; and Pella, Guert’s daughter and a newly enrolled student of Westish. The novel... Read The Art of Fielding Summary

The Basketball Diaries

by Jim Carroll

Publication year 1978

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Coming of Age, Memory, Love, Perseverance, Conflict, Safety & Danger

Tags Addiction & Substance Abuse, Relationships, Trauma & Abuse, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction, Biography

The Basketball Diaries: The Classic About Growing Up Hip On New York’s Mean Streets is an autobiography written by Jim Carroll and published in 1978. The book comprises a series of short diary entries which serve as anecdotes and insights into his daily life as a teenager on the streets of New York City in the 1960s. Jim Carroll became a celebrated writer and poet, overcoming his addiction to heroin in the mid-1970s and publishing... Read The Basketball Diaries Summary

The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant

by W.D. Wetherell

Publication year 1983

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Love, Memory, Beauty

Tags Classic Fiction, American Literature, Life-Inspired Fiction, Coming of Age, Humor, Love & Sexuality, Sports, Education, Education

W. D. Wetherell’s short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” first published in 1983 and later anthologized in 1985’s The Man Who Loved Levittown, has been popular ever since for its gently humorous depiction of youthful infatuations. Wetherell reaches into his own past to present a tale that’s both lyrically beautiful and achingly funny. In the story, a 14-year-old boy gets a crush on an older girl and must make a painful decision... Read The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant Summary

The Batboy

by Mike Lupica

Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Family, Fathers, Teamwork, Wins & Losses

Tags Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, Sports, Action & Adventure

... Read The Batboy Summary

The Bear

by William Faulkner

Publication year 1942

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Environment, Justice

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Animals, Science & Nature, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Southern Gothic, Reconstruction Era, US History, Southern Literature, American Literature, World History, Classic Fiction

“The Bear” is a work of short fiction by William Faulkner, first published in The Saturday Evening Post in May 1942. Faulkner subsequently expanded the story and included it in Go Down, Moses, a collection of related short stories sometimes considered a novel, published later that year. An abbreviated version also appears in his 1955 anthology, Big Woods. As historical fiction set in an imagined Mississippi county, “The Bear” traces a young man’s development in... Read The Bear Summary

The Bear and the Nightingale

by Katherine Arden

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Femininity, Coming of Age, The Past, Animals, Appearance & Reality, Family, Order & Chaos, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger

Tags Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fairy Tale & Folklore, Coming of Age

The Bear and the Nightingale (2017) is a historical fantasy novel by Katherine Arden. The story is set in medieval Russia and was heavily inspired by the country’s folklore and history. It follows Vasilisa “Vasya” Petrovna, a girl who lives in an isolated village at the edge of a forest and can communicate with household spirits and other supernatural beings that others cannot see. Her life is upended when her father marries a pious woman... Read The Bear and the Nightingale Summary

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

by Laurie R. King

Publication year 1994

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Guilt, Coming of Age, Family, Self Discovery, War

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Historical Fiction

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (1994) is a historical mystery novel by American author Laurie R. King and the first installment in the best-selling Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. King, who won an Edgar Award for her debut novel, A Grave Talent, creates a literary pastiche that re-engages with Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes canon. Set against the backdrop of World War I, the novel introduces Mary Russell, a brilliant and independent 15-year-old orphan who becomes... Read The Beekeeper's Apprentice Summary

The Bee Sting

by Paul Murray

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Guilt, Loneliness, Love, Shame & Pride, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Midlife, Environment, Daughters & Sons, Social Class, Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies

Tags Horror & Suspense, Dramatic Literature, Irish Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read The Bee Sting Summary

The Beginning of Everything

by Robyn Schneider

Publication year 2013

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Grief, Guilt, Love, Disability, Sexual Identity, Fear, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Truth & Lies

Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, Bullying, Disability, Education, Grief & Death, Love & Sexuality, Relationships, Trauma & Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance

The Beginning of Everything is a young adult coming-of-age novel by the accomplished American author Robyn Schneider. First published in 2013, it is Schneider’s debut novel and has been nominated for numerous YA book awards. It is published in multiple countries, in the UK under the title Severed Heads, Broken Hearts.Schneider, who lives in Los Angeles, is the author of several other bestselling YA books: Extraordinary Means; Invisible Ghosts; You Don’t Live Here. Her newest... Read The Beginning of Everything Summary

The Bell Jar

by Sylvia Plath

Publication year 1963

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Mental Health, Gender Identity

Tags Gender & Feminism, Depression & Suicide, Psychology, Psychology, Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Coming of Age

The Bell Jar is a semiautobiographical novel by author Sylvia Plath, originally published under her pen name Victoria Lucas. Plath was best known for her contribution to the confessional poetry genre with the collections Ariel and The Colossus and Other Poems. After her death by suicide in 1963, she received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for her Collected Poems. The Bell Jar is Plath’s only novel, inspired by her experience battling depression. It explores themes of... Read The Bell Jar Summary

The Best at It

by Maulik Pancholy

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Mental Health, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Shame & Pride, Masculinity, Race, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Family, Self Discovery, Community, Justice, Safety & Danger

Tags Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+

... Read The Best at It Summary