The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

• ISBN: 978-0671027346
• Plot summary: A young teenager named Charlie finds himself at the beginning of high school and mostly alone. The book is a series of letters he writes to an unnamed recipient to whom he tells his thoughts, memories from childhood, and the interactions he has with the people around him. The letters chronicle the type of person Charlie has been--the so-called Wallflower who attempts to integrate him into the social scene at school, even if he is perfectly content with hanging back. Charlie is even more of a wallflower as his best friend commits suicide in the semester prior to high school starting. At the urging of his English teacher, Charlie attempts to join in with his peers and goes on to forge meaningful friendships with high school seniors, Sam and Patrick, who introduce him to their circle of friends, music, cigarettes, etc. But Charlie soon realizes that they won't be with him at school forever, along with a few other personal revelations.
• Critical evaluation: It is remarkable that even though the entire novel is told in the first person, Charlie's voice stays quite believable. While Charlie details his new experiences and memories from his past through the letters, the voice never wavers from it's strong, personal narrative of the wallflower leading the reader through his thoughts as he makes sense of his life. Charlie feels a sincere wonder for the world around him, and this genuine curiosity is easily conveyed to the reader as Charlie recounts the time he accidentally eats a pot brownie at a party, or the times his extended family gets together for holidays or special occasions, and how their interactions seem to repeat year after year. Charlie's experiences are common to most people who have grown up on the outskirts of the world of high school, but somehow the Chbosky is able to keep the text from going stale as the words using naiveté and an extremely like-able main character.
• Reader's annotation: As one wallflower attempts to integrate into normal "high school" society, he learns more about himself than he ever bargained for.
• About the author: Stephen Chbosky is a novelist and screen writer.
• Genre: Fiction/coming of age
• Curriculum ties, if any: Literature
• Booktalking ideas:
• Discuss the poem Charlie brings up in the novel.
• Would you be happy if your English teacher gave you extra work because they thought you were smart?
• Reading level/interest age: 15+
• Challenge issues: Minor drug use; incest (though not described graphically)
• Why was this item included? Everyone I knew in high school read this book.