Coming of Age Stories
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
(Ex Libris Selection)
Named one of the best books for 2012, Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles is an
unforgettable coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of a strangely altered world. On an 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, and the environment is thrown into disarray. How will Julia and her family cope? Is
humankind doomed?
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goal of getting away. But when she heads
west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. She
arrives in Arizona with a three-year-old American Indian girl whom she "acquired" on the road,
and she learns that she must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity of
putting down roots.
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (Ex Libris Book)
When she was seven, Firoozeh and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving
with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his
graduate school years here. Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of her wonderfully
engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on
Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her
elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the
effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and
Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave
of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting
pot. (Publisher’s synopsis)
Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho by Jon Katz (Ex Libris
selection)
On the fringe of society with almost no social life and little to look forward to, Jesse and Eric
spent every spare cent on their computers and every spare moment on-line. Journalist Jon Katz
convinces them to use their marketable skills to pave their way to a better life out of Idaho. This
is a humorous true tale of triumph over adversity and of self-acceptance.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The narrator of this classic is Pip, a young orphan whose encounters with an escaped convict; an
eccentric, even maniacal old woman; and a beautiful girl teach him a great deal about life, love,
and the true definition of success.
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (Ex Libris Selection)
In the opening scenes, Henry Lee is awash with grief over the death of his wife and what he perceives to
be the dwindling prospects of his old age. However, when he hears about the recovery of the belongings
of Japanese-Americans who had been forced into internment camps during World War II, forty years
earlier, Henry is jolted back in time to his first love with a beautiful young Japanese-American girl.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Ex Libris Selection)
The setting is a futuristic dystopia, a nation called Panem that is obsessed with a sadistic survival game
that pits young people of its twelve districts against each other. Can Katniss, a young woman of intellect
and superior athleticism but also of exceptional compassion, prevail over her wily, cut-throat
competition?
Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
This is a story of a boy living in China during Mao's regime. Leaving home at a young age to
join a ballet academy, he is at first homesick and hates the art. As he practices, his passion for
ballet grows, and he becomes one of the most famous dancers in China.
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
This is the story of a young artist born into a Hassidic Jewish community in New York. His
dream of becoming an artist conflicts with his parents’ dreams for him.
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
(Ex Libris Book)
This is the story of a young woman's coming-of-age and the murder that rocked turn-of-thecentury America. (Publisher’s synopsis)
Old School by Tobias Wolfe
(Ex Libris Selection)
Tobias Wolff's Old School is at once a celebration of literature and a delicate hymn to a lost
innocence of American life and art. Set in a New England prep school in the early 1960s, the
novel imagines a final, pastoral moment before the explosion of the Civil Rights movement, the
Vietnam War, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the suicide of Ernest Hemingway.
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
In 1948, when he is fifteen, Trond spends a summer in the country with his father. The events —
the accidental death of a child, his best friend’s feelings of guilt and eventual disappearance, his
father’s decision to leave the family for another woman — will change his life forever. An early
morning adventure out stealing horses leaves Trond bruised and puzzled by his friend Jon’s
sudden breakdown. The tragedy that lies behind this scene becomes the catalyst for the two boys’
families to gradually fall apart. (Publisher’s synopsis)
A Painted House by John Grisham
(Ex Libris selection)
In something of a departure from his usual spy-thrillers, Grisham tells a story described as
simultaneously “heartwarming” and “heartbreaking.” It is a coming-of-age tale set in rural
Arkansas in which Luke faces not only the harsh realities of life but also the essence of the
human spirit.
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
(Ex Libris selection)
This eminently readable memoir is the vivid account of a young man's coming of age in the coal
country of West Virginia. Inspired by the Russian satellite Sputnik (and a few other things), he
and his friends build rockets, chase girls, and figure out what it means to be a grown-up.
Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
This is a story of two cousins, Anju and Sudha, whose relationship strengthens as they learn dark
family secrets and share their experiences of arranged marriages and personal tragedies that
follow. The story is set in both India and the United States and describes an exceptional bond
between two women.
The Train to Estelline by Jane Roberts Wood
Not-yet-eighteen-year-old Lucinda Richards boards the train for Estelline, Texas, in late summer
1911. She has accepted a job teaching fifteen students in a one-room schoolhouse. What
Lucinda learns is that Estelline speaks to us of our heritage as it shows us the timeless truths of a
young woman’s emotions and dreams.
True Grit by Charles Portis
(Ex Libris Book)
It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the
name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life,
his horse, and $150 in cash. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed
Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the murderer
into Indian Territory. (Publisher’s synopsis)
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
In small-town Oklahoma, a young pregnant woman finds herself abandoned and forced to live at
a Wal-Mart. She soon finds conversation, friendship, and a new family with the people of the
town. This book is real life--it will make you sense the magic in everyday things.