Recommended Reading List

Coming of Age

The gap between childhood and adulthood is ripe for exploration. It is such a difficult period in the development of the self, both mentally and physically. Few would relive that period, but some brave souls are willing to turn back the clock and relive it through someone else's eyes.

These are the fantasies of unlived childhoods, showing longings as well as fears and a fundamental bravery in the face of seemingly unsurmountable hurdles. It is rarely just the growth towards maturity itself, if that were not enough, but also a series of events that lead to adulthood. A tragedy, a frightening discovery, the influence of something malign. Whatever the cause the affect is the same, an external representation of the struggle that occurs inside.

These novels are frequently enjoyable. A way to look back without reliving it all though there is a common message: forget monsters, aliens and kidnappers, there is something much more dangerous and frightening, and that thing is puberty.

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