• Looking for Alaska and any other John Green book: John Green is a master of coming of age and making awkwardness awesome and stabbing you in the emotional heart and making you love him for it.
• David Levithan: David Levithan is tied for my number one author so I’m a little biased, but his writing is like perfection and he is so good at taking situations and characters and making it feel like you’re reading your own journal that someone made sound amazing.
• Ned Vizzini: Especially Teen Angst? Naaah. . . A Quasi Auto-biography and It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Painful and real and awesome.
• Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: Not going to lie, I’m not a fan of this book but it IS sort of a quintessential coming of age book so I wanted to include it. . . I just think other people have written it better.
• Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler: The premise of this book is awesome and after that I can’t say much because it made me incredibly anxious that I am too much like Min, the main character.
• 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher: I love Jay Asher for taking suicide and tackling it in a very different way than I had seen it and covering the gigantic range of emotions that comes with it.
• Ellen Hopkins: Ellen Hopkins is amazing at writing coming of age stories that include hard stuff (that is the short dumbed down but true version of how I feel about her books).
• Cut by Patricia McCormick: One of the few cutting books that doesn’t make me want to bang my head against a wall.
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson: I don’t even have words for this book. Just read it.
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie: Another perfection book. This book reads like I wish Catcher in the Rye did.
• The Harry Potter Series: One of the best coming of age stories ever and well done enough that you are so glad that it took seven books.
• Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld: Really love this book. . . again it reads more in the way that I wish Catcher in the Rye did.
• Blankets by Craig Thompson: Lovely graphic novel. . . I love how much emotion is packed in with so few words.
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: I love Marjane hardcore and I loved reading about growing up in a way that was completely new to me.
• White Oleander by Janet Fitch: This is like a rollercoaster of a book but it is a well written one and I really love Astrid as far as characters go.
• She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb: This is my all-time favorite book so when I talk about it I tend to sound like a blubbering idiot but it is incredible and everyone should read it and I still find it hard to believe that it is written by a man.
• Whip It by Shauna Cross: I like the idea of this book more than the actual execution mostly because I wanted it to be longer and I wanted more development of Bliss.
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series by Ann Brashares: The idea of this is ridiculous but Ann Brashares makes it work and makes the friendships between the girls so real that I don’t care about magic jeans.
• Chris Crutcher: READ ALL THE CHRIS CRUTCHER!!!!! You won’t regret it.
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel: This book makes me feel all the feels. It is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read.

• Welcome to the Dollhouse: Awkwardness in a movie. But still awesome.
• The History Boys: This was a play first and I wish I could say that I had seen it, but it is a lovely little movie.
• St. Elmo’s Fire: As far as the brat pack movies go, this is one of my favorites.
• Dead Poet’s Society: One of my all-time favorite movies. There might be things wrong with it but I am blind to them.
• Secondhand Lions: This movie does not get enough credit. . . it is so poignant in such a family friendly way.
• What’s Eating Gilbert Grape: In my opinion the best Johnny Depp AND best Leonardo DiCaprio movie.
• All I Wanna Do: Maybe because I went to a women’s college, but this movie is awesomeness in 97 minutes. AND it has the Daughters of the American Ravioli so you know it has to be good.
• Now and Then: I love the concept of the four friends getting together as adults the way so many of us say we will and then don’t.
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: I really do like this movie as long as I can separate it from the books because I really love the books and how in-depth they are.
• The Goonies: Loooooove it.
• Angus: Based on a Chris Crutcher story!!!
• Rushmore: My second favorite Wes Anderson movie.
• Whip It: I am more forgiving of the lack of time with the movie than the book.
• The Squid and the Whale: Oh so painfully awkward and lovely at the same time.

What books, movies, tv, and music would you recommend for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower? Share your own suggestions in the comments!