Every year for Banned Books Week, the ALA compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books. It’s a reminder that “banned books” aren’t just the classics like To Kill a Mockingbird or 1984, but more often than not, they’re modern titles and deal with issues that are more familiar to today’s readers. This year, previous Spotlight The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is tied for the 3rd most challenged book with another collection favorite, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant YA Readers, a New York Times Bestseller, and the basis for the critically acclaimed 2012 movie, Perks is the high school story that echoes in classrooms around the world.
High school is difficult to navigate at the best of times. Insecurity reigns, especially when it seems like everyone is growing up and moving on without you. So you’re stuck on the sidelines, watching the world go by, taking it all in. A wallflower. After traumatic events pull him into a deep depression, Charlie is struggling through his freshman year of high school. At the encouragement of his English teacher, Charlie befriends two seniors, step-siblings Sam and Patrick. Together the trio unleashes their teenage inhibitions burying their problems in the world through parties, drugs, and fraught relationships. But high school doesn’t last forever.
“We didn’t talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough.”
Stephen Chbosky
No stranger to the ALA Banned Books list, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is recommended for high school readers and up. Even though it was written in the vastly different world of 1999, its themes of teenage nostalgia and angst remain timeless. Perks is one of those books that allows its readers to visit a world of exploration and drama safely in black and white. As a young high schooler, I remember being deeply affected by Perks, and because of it, I was able to better recognize unsafe situations and navigate my adolescence. For Book Club Groups of High School students ready to discuss and work through emotional issues, or Adult Book Groups who feel the sad nostalgia of youth and uncertainty. Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those books that will stick with you long after it’s finished.
“This book is my love letter and wish for every kid who is struggling with identity, because at the time I was writing it, I was struggling with my own.”
- Stephen Chbosky [x]
For more resources on Banned Books Week and how you can fight censorship in libraries visit ALA.org/bbooks.
If you’re interested in requesting Perks of Being a Wallflower for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 10 copies (A librarian must request items)
Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Simon & Schuster. (1999)
