Coming of Age

Stories of growing up, first experiences, and transformation.

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1
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
A collection of short stories and vignettes alternating between Nick Adams's experiences in Michigan and brief sketches from the war. Hemingway's first major work, which established his minimalist "iceberg theory" style.
United States 1925
2
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Herman Melville
Young Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn have adventures along the Mississippi River, including witnessing a murder and searching for treasure. Twain's affectionate portrait of childhood on the frontier.
United States 1876
3
The Catcher in the Rye
Herman Melville
Sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield recounts the days following his expulsion from prep school, wandering New York City and railing against the "phoniness" of the adult world. One of the most controversial and widely read American novels.
United States 1951
4
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Young Scout Finch watches her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defend a Black man falsely accused of rape in Depression-era Alabama. Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut sold over 40 million copies and remains a staple of American school curricula.
United States 1960
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