Top Ten Tuesday: Coming of Age

August 22: Genre Freebie (Pick a genre and build a list around it.)

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

I tried my best to stay off the beaten path of the usual coming-of-age stories: To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, etc.

1

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

• 367 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published June 19, 2012
• Genres: Fiction, Coming of Age, Historical, LGBTQA+

1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

Goodreads

Yes, this is about AIDS.

2

This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff

• 308 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published January 1, 1989
• Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Coming of Age, Autobiography

… introduces us to the young Toby Wolff, by turns tough and vulnerable, crafty and bumbling, and ultimately winning. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move, yet they develop an extraordinarily close, almost telepathic relationship. As Toby fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff does a masterful job of re-creating the frustrations and cruelties of adolescence. His various schemes – running away to Alaska, forging checks, and stealing cars – lead eventually to an act of outrageous self-invention that releases him into a new world of possibility.

goodreads

The first memoir I ever read, that I am aware of, where someone admitted their life was not what others assumed – not everything is as it appears.

3

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

• 163 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published October 21, 1977
• Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Classic

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie’s house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.

goodreads

No words.

4

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

• 385 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published June 21, 2012
• Genres: Fiction, Dystopian, SciFi, Coming of Age, California

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life—the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

goodreads

This might be happening in California tomorrow.

5

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz

• 417 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published August 13, 2019
• Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Coming of Age

When Alexandra Witt joins the faculty at Stonebridge Academy, she’s hoping to put a painful past behind her. Then one of her creative writing assignments generates some disturbing responses from students. Before long, Alex is immersed in an investigation of the students atop the school’s social hierarchy—and their connection to something called the Darkroom. She soon inspires the girls who’ve started to question the school’s “boys will be boys” attitude and incites a resistance. But just as the movement is gaining momentum, Alex attracts the attention of an unknown enemy who knows a little too much about her—and what brought her to Stonebridge in the first place.

goodreads

When I hear people wish they were young again, I just cringe. The Swallows is a great story to remind everyone that high school was a nightmare.

6

American Ghoul by Walt Morton

• 356 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published November 28, 2012
• Genres: Fiction, Horror, Coming of Age

Seventeen-year-old Howard Pickman has some unusual problems: He comes from a family of ghouls with a long history of digging up corpses, and he’s just moved to a new school filled with kids that are scarier than he is. American Ghoul is the story of an exceptionally odd teenager trying to survive the most terrible time anybody has to go through — senior year at high school.

goodreads

Okay, high school can be worse. 😂

7

The Pigman by Paul Zindel

• 166 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published October 21, 1968
• Genres: Fiction, Coming of Age, Classic

John Conlan is nicknamed “The Bathroom Bomber” after setting off firecrackers in the boys’ bathroom 23 times without ever getting caught. John and his best friend, Lorraine, can never please their parents, and school is a chore. To pass the time, they play pranks on unsuspecting people and it’s during one of these pranks that they meet the “Pigman.” In spite of themselves, John and Lorraine soon get caught up in Mr. Pignati’s zest for life. In fact, they become so involved that they begin to destroy the only corner of the world that has ever mattered to them. 

goodreads

I still have my old paperback copy. It was one of the first stories that kept me thinking about the characters long after reading it: I was fascinated by the teenagers that could talk freely about themselves, even if it was only to each other.

8

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

• 32 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published April 1, 2022
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Witches, Coming of Age

Life is hard enough for a teenage girl in 1950s suburbia without having a mother who may—or may not—be a witch. A single mother at that. Sure, she fits in with her starched dresses, string of pearls, and floral aprons. Then there are the hushed and mystical consultations with neighborhood women in distress. The unsavory, mysterious plants in the flower beds. The divined warning to steer clear of a boyfriend whose fate is certainly doomed. But as the daughter of this bewitching homemaker comes of age and her mother’s claims become more and more outlandish, she begins to question everything she once took for granted.

goodreads

Ah, the sly Ms. Atwood wrote the epitome of a coming-of-age story. 😉

9

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

• 351 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published September 20, 2011
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Mythology, Fantasy, LGBTQA+, Coming of Age

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

goodreads

I could not resist putting this one on the list. Coming-of-age when your bestie/boyfriend is a demigod.

10

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

• 447 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published February 28, 2017
• Genres: Fiction, Social Justice, Coming of Age

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

goodreads

Does anyone get through adolescence unscathed by death? And to have your word decide the fate of so many people.

Thoughts