10 Books That Totally Understand What Being a Teenage Girl Feels Like
1/12Books like *The Catcher in the Rye * and *The Perks of Being a Wallflower * have long been celebrated for their depiction of teenage life. They’ve basically become the canon of all teen lit, and while both are great representations of what may go through your mind when you’re surviving your teen years, they’re not the end-all and be-all, either. Plus, both of them are from a male POV!
We all know about books like *Go Ask Alice * and *Speak, * or even the *Traveling Pants * series. But there are tons of books that have resonated with teenagers throughout the years simply because they capture a moment in your life that you’ll never have again. Their narrators feel real. Certain sentences speak to you, as though the author was hanging out in your head writing down all your thoughts. You can find yourself on a page and realize that no, you’re definitely not alone.
Your teen years are full of change, from physical to mental to emotional, and these books really *get * just how crazy things can be in that defining seven-year stretch.
2/12Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling books were so beloved by teenage girls who identified with her sarcastic narrator that she ended up writing five (!!!) of them, chronicling Jess’s life from her early high school years until well past college. Readers couldn’t get enough of Jessica; she’s incredibly smart and perceptive, but she learns a lot about herself and her peers during her much-hated high school years. A copy of *Sloppy Firsts * is usually a precious time capsule, all tattered and dog-eared with long passages underlined by a whole squad of girlfriends who passed the book around.
3/12Dare Me by Megan Abbott
Megan Abbot’s slick, dark thriller about a troop of cheerleaders captures that restless feeling of teen girlhood, where you’re trapped in the space between child and woman and your relationships with your best friends are fraught with drama and conflicting feelings. If you’ve ever had a bestie who was also your frenemy, you’ll identify with the relationship between Addie and Beth.
4/12Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore
When this novel was published in 1956, it caused an uproar. Author Pamela Moore was just 18 when she penned the story of teenage Courtney. In the book, Courtney spends time with her single mother in Hollywood and her dad in New York, and grows up way too fast. (She's basically a precursor to Gossip Girl's Serena and Blair.) She parties and finds herself entangled in a relationship with a married man – not to mention a messy, tragic friendship. *Chocolates for Breakfast * perfectly describes the confusing emotions you experience when you’re discovering your sexuality and desires.
5/12The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
We had to include this one, because Suzanne Harris’s Katniss became an icon both on the page and on the screen. The best thing about Katniss is that even though she (spoiler alert!) eventually topples an empire, she’s not some perfect, one-dimensional heroine. She’s flawed. She might make bad decisions and second-guess herself, but that’s what makes Katniss so unique and relatable. And remember: she's a teenager! Jennifer Lawrence’s bang-on portrayal didn’t hurt, either.
6/12Cherry by Mary Karr
Mary Karr’s memoir of her teenage years in rural Texas and California’s hippie beaches reads like she time-traveled back to her teenage brain to write it. Mary knows she’s destined for something more than small-town Texas life and feels like a weirdo for being obsessed with poetry. The themes of *Cherry * are simple, but Karr’s writing is so sharp that teenage rites of passage like a first kiss are significant and moving even years after the fact. If you grew up in a small town and couldn’t wait to escape to something bigger and better, *Cherry * will hit home for you.
7/12Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
Author Robin Wasserman got her start in YA literature, which is why she can so perfectly write about teenage girls and their friendships. Hannah is a shy, quiet outsider when she meets the dark and edgy Lacey in ‘90s New England. Lacey soon transforms Hannah into the Doc Marten-wearing “Dex,” and the two of them fall into such an intense friendship that it eventually destroys their community. *Girls on Fire * isn’t a YA book by any means; it has serious adult themes of witchcraft, abuse, and sex, not to mention the dangerous, explosive side of friendship and obsession.
8/12Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here by Anna Breslaw
Former Teen Vogue contributor Anna Breslaw’s YA book focuses on smart, snarky Scarlett, who doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere but in an online fanfic community. Scarlett tries to find her voice by writing her own fanfic and using the real people around her as inspiration – much like *Harriet the Spy * for 2016 – to disastrous results. Scarlett is an underdog heroine; she’s not a popular kid, nor is she a total outsider. Those of us who didn’t quite fit in in school but found our people online will identify hardcore with her.
9/12Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Narrator Lee Fiora is a definite outsider at her cushy New England prep school. Her family isn’t rich and she wasn’t born into an upper-crust world of culture and privilege. That’s what makes this book so good. As a reader, you root for Lee, but you don’t always like her. She judges people before she really knows them and seems comfortable with her on-the-fringes status, but longs to be popular and cool like her peers. Lee’s struggle to blend her prep school teen years with her family’s Midwest blue-collar values, and the parental friction it creates, will resonate for anyone who’s spent time outside of the world they grew up in.
10/12In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Judy Blume made her name writing perfect teen fiction. Where is her crown already? Her latest book, *In the Unlikely Event, * is set in the ‘50s, but narrator Miri is dealing with the same things you are: drama with her best friend, a new boyfriend and a close, but frustrating relationship with her single mother. Miri’s perfect little world is rocked by three tragedies in a row, and you follow her journey as she reconciles the events of the past with the dreams of her future.
11/12The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Well, duh – we *had * to include this classic. Even though literally none of us were secret princesses, we all identified with the gawky, awkward Mia. Though she does have a little trouble staying true to herself while being groomed for the Genovian throne, Mia realizes what’s really important to her and manages to be herself while wearing a tiara. Mia was so popular with readers that Meg Cabot wrote nine *Princess * books so her readers could grow and navigate adulthood alongside their favorite heroine.
