Coming-of-Age Stories
And once again it's time to go back to school! This year we have chosen a selection of much loved coming-of-age stories, some of which were recommended by us by young readers from Hackney.
Find out all about the formative books that inspired the students of Bridge Academy and discover more transformative tales about growing up, in our selection of books for all ages.
The Final Year
Matt Goodfellow
“The Final Year is a brilliant collection of poems that perfectly captures the ups and downs of starting secondary school. Each poem is a snapshot of a different experience, from the nerves of the first day to the excitement of making new friends and discovering new subjects. Goodfellow's words are honest and relatable, making it easy for young readers to see themselves in the poems. The book is full of humour, warmth, and understanding, offering reassurance and a sense of shared experience to anyone embarking on this exciting new chapter in their lives. It's a fantastic read for anyone in their first year, or about to begin it!”
— Recommended by Fenna K, Y7
King of Nothing
Nathanael Lessore
“The book King of Nothing was written by Nathaniel Lessore, who has made another book. This book is about a boy named Anton, who has a reputation in his secondary school as his father is in prison. After many events, including a near-death experience, Anton begins to question his morality and change to be a better person for his new friends. I recommend this book because it was funny.”
— Recommended by Zackime N, Y7
Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.
Judy Blume
“Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret remains one of my favourite coming-of-age books. Its relatable exploration of the difficulties of growing up makes it essential reading for anyone struggling with the problems faced when trying to fit in. Blume skilfully talks about themes of faith, friendship, and self-acceptance through Margaret’s heartfelt conversations with God. Her experiences with being a teenager shed light on the societal pressures young girls face during this transformative time.”
— Recommended by Anonymous
Glasgow Boys
Margaret McDonald
“Glasgow Boys is a very entertaining book written from two perspectives, giving two stories in one. It explores concepts of adoption, friendship, and reunion. I liked it a lot and thought it was a very good book.”
— Recommended by Xavier W, Y7
The Hypocrite
Jo Hamya
Sicily, 2010. Sophia, on the cusp of adulthood, spends a long hot summer with her father, a successful author. Over the course of that holiday, their relationship will fracture.
London, 2020. Sophia's father, now 61, sits in a theatre, surrounded by strangers, watching his daughter's first play. A play that takes that Sicilian holiday as its subject and will force him to watch his purported crimes re-enacted. Set over the course of one day, this is the story of a father and a daughter, of all that divides and binds them.
Submarine
Joe Dunthorne
Meet Oliver Tate, fifteen years old. Convinced that his father is depressed ('Depression comes in bouts. Like boxing. Dad is in the blue corner') and his mother is having an affair with her capoeira teacher, ('a hippy-looking twonk'), he embarks on a hilariously misguided campaign to bring the family back together.
Meanwhile, he is also trying to lose his virginity — before he turns sixteen — to his pyromaniac girlfriend Jordana. Will Oliver succeed in either aim?
Close to Home
Michael Magee
Sean is back. Back in Belfast and back into old habits. Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through. Back in these scarred streets, where the promised prosperity of peacetime has never arrived. Back among his brothers, his ma, and all the things they never talk about.
Until one night Sean finds himself at a party – dog-tired, surrounded by jeering strangers, his back against the wall – and he makes a big mistake.
The Country Girls
Edna O'Brien
Caithleen 'Kate' Brady and Bridget 'Baba' Brennan are growing up in an Irish village after World War II. Kate is a romantic; Baba is a reckless survivor. After being expelled from convent school, they dream of the bright lights of Dublin — and are rewarded with bad luck and bad sex. They marry for the wrong reasons, but continue to fight the expectations forced upon 'girls' of every era.
Edna O'Brien's debut novels revolutionised Irish literature in the 1960s. Banned by the authorities as 'indecent' and burned by the clergy, they were notorious: but scandal turned to fame, and made this glorious coming-of-age tale a classic that inspires and delights readers to this day.
Red at the Bone
Jacqueline Woodson
The book opens in 2001 on the evening of Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone. She wears a special custom-made dress. But sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for Melody's mother, for her own ceremony — which never took place.
Unfurling the history of Melody's family — reaching back to the Tulsa race massacre in 1921 — to show how they arrived at this moment, Red at the Bone looks at the ways in which young people must so often make long-lasting decisions about their lives, even before they have begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
Maud Martha
Gwendolyn Brooks
Maud Martha Brown is a little girl growing up on the South Side of 1940s Chicago. Amidst the crumbling taverns and overgrown yards, she dreams. She admires dandelions, learns to drink coffee, falls in love, decorates her kitchenette, guts a chicken, buys hats, gives birth.
But her lighter-skinned husband has dreams too: of the Foxy Cats Club, other women, war. And the ‘scraps of baffled hate’ are always there … Written in 1953, Maud Martha is a poetic collage of happenings that forms an extraordinary portrait of an ordinary life: one lived with wisdom, humour, protest, rage, dignity, and joy.