Anonymous wrote:The Bell Jar

I'll second I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and all its sequels.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

I'll add on to my post To Kill a Mockingbird.

My college daughter just read The Four Agreements at my suggestion. She said it was life changing for her. It certainly was for me when I read it the first time.

I saw the PP above mentioned Leon Uris, and I had totally forgotten about reading Exodus. I read the covers off that thing, and my family wasn't Jewish.

Red China Blues by Jan Wong
An autobiography about a Chinese Canadian College student who thought the Mao Tsedong cultural Revolution would change the world for the better. She ended up studying abroad in China and staying on as an international reporter witnessing the Tiannamen Square massacre.

It really opened my eyes and made me think about all the "career protesters"/ anarchists I was hanging out with. I think all those college students supporting Bernie Sanders should read it. And no I don't think Bernie is like Mao Tsedong, I just think his younger fans are missing some of the complexities of the world that make any social revolution difficult.

Anonymous wrote:The Bell Jar

I'll second I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and all its sequels.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

YES.

I don't know about life changing, but books I read as a teen that really stayed with me:

Gone With the Wind
Journey (by Robert & Suzanne Massie)
A Ring of Endless Light (Madeleine L'Engle)
The People Therein (Mildred Lee)
Trinity (Leon Uris)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor)

The Bell Jar

I'll second I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and all its sequels.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grade teacher had us read Izzy Willy Nilly by Cynthia Voight. Girl loses her leg in some drunk driving incident, her life changes, etc...

Kind of controversial and likely wouldn't be allowed today but I felt it made a pretty strong impression about how small decisions can be huge, and the cusp of middle school is a good time to get this.

Wouldn't be allowed? There is absolutely nothing controversial in that (very good) book.

I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank when I was a tween.

I saw it in a bookstore and wanted it, because I had just started writing in my own diary at the time. I had no idea what I was in for.

It truly changed me forever, made me want to stand up for the right thing, got me thinking about all kinds of social justice issues. I can still remember how I felt reading certain pages. Just really life-changing in a lot of ways.

The Power of One

^^ PP here- stayed a virgin til I was 20

Jack Kerouac -- particularly On the Road.
For me, all the Judy Blume teen books: Tiger Eye, Are you there God it's me Margaret, Forever, Deenie
Also, for me: a pregnancy and childbirth book I found on the shelf. I read it when I was 12 and it impacted so much of my life including my entire pregnancy and birth.

Anonymous wrote:We Were the Mulvaneys. Actually my daughter had to read it for AP Lit and I snatched it from her when she was done. Great read for teens.

wow -that seems like a tough one for a teen to process on an emotional level. I loved the russians as a teen - dostoevsky, chekov, tolstoy. also loved the jane austen, bronte sisters type books. And Invisible Man made a big impression on me.

Anonymous wrote:My side of the mountain.
I was probably about 12 when i read it. It's about a boy who has a swiss army knife and goes off to live in the wilderness. With his pocket knife, he builds a home, animal traps, fishing poles, etc. To this day, I think swiss army knives are awesome.

+1

On the Road