The Greatest Books of All Time on Adolescence

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
4 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger 1951 American English
113 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank 1947 Dutch Dutch
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
213 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
241 Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth 1969 American English
244 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
302 The Lost Estate Henri Alain-Fournier 1913 French French
305 The Confusions of Young Törless Robert Musil 1906 Austrian German
449 Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau 1929 French French
477 Fateless or Fatelessness Imre Kertész 1975 Hungarian Hungarian
569 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
573 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 American English
605 Claudine Colette 1900 French French
792 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
905 Coming of Age in Samoa Margaret Mead 1928 American English
927 Cat and Mouse Günter Grass 1961 German German
933 Lives of Girls and Women Alice Munro 1971 Canadian English
1050 The Buddha of Suburbia Hanif Kureishi 1990 British English
1061 First Love Ivan Turgenev 1860 Russian Russian
1067 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
1202 The Country Girls Edna O'Brien 1960 Irish English
1222 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1309 The Member Of The Wedding Carson McCullers 1946 American English
1368 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1391 A Separate Peace John Knowles 1959 American English
1532 Arturo's Island Elsa Morante 1957 Italian Italian
1568 The Beautiful Summer Cesare Pavese 1949 Italian Italian
1578 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1634 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1671 The Ordeal Of Richard Feverel George Meredith 1859 British English
1741 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend 1982 British English
1889 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
1961 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1972 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
2004 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
2049 The Ripening Seed Colette 1923 French French
2083 The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris May Lessing 1974 British English
2298 The Getting Of Wisdom Henry Handel Richardson 1910 Australian English
2328 Tom Brown's School Days Thomas Hughes 1857 British English
2401 The Charwoman's Daughter James Stephens 1912 Irish English
2446 Blindness Henry Green 1926 British English
2553 Disobedience Alberto Moravia 1948 Italian Italian
2591 Emily of New Moon L. M. Montgomery 1923 Canadian English
2669 This Boy's Life Tobias Wolff 1989 American English
2974 Penrod Booth Tarkington 1914 American English
2975 Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes 1943 American English
3012 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3391 Crónica Del Alba Ramón J. Sender 1942 Spanish Spanish
3432 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
3444 Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Kenzaburō Ōe 1958 Japanese Japanese
3453 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3579 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3856 Breath Tim Winton 2008 Australian English
3953 Eroica Kosmas Politis 1937 Greek Greek
4066 The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot 2000 American English
4119 Anton Wachter Series Simon Vestdijk 1934 Dutch Dutch
4144 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
4200 Edisto Padgett Powell 1984 American English
4309 Invitation To The Waltz Rosamond Lehmann 1932 British English
4309 Pointed Roofs Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
4407 The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea Yukio Mishima 1963 Japanese Japanese
4436 A Mother's Kisses Bruce Jay Friedman 1964 American English
4711 Pigeon Feathers And Other Stories John Updike 1962 American English
4995 Persepolis Two Marjane Satrapi 2004 Iranian French
5002 Be Faithful Unto Death Zsigmond Móricz 1921 Hungarian Hungarian
5116 Swamplandia! Karen Russell 2011 American English
5330 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5342 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5427 The Machine Gunners Robert Westall 1975 British English
5601 Canada Richard Ford 2012 American English
5617 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney 2007 American English
5624 Olivia Dorothy Bussy 1949 British English
5625 School At The Frontier Géza Ottlik 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5656 Abigél Szabó, Magda 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
5665 The boys Henry de Montherlant 1969 French French
5733 Vernon God Little DBC Pierre 2003 British English
5749 Angus, Thongs And Full Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison 1999 British English
5777 Special Friendships Roger Peyrefitte 1943 French French
5803 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
5807 An Ordinary Youth Walter Kempowski 1971 German Unknown
5844 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
5984 The Idiot Elif Batuman 2017 American English
5985 Ham On Rye Charles Bukowski 1982 American English
6001 The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton 2008 New Zealand English
6161 Slouching Towards Kalamazoo Peter De Vries 1983 American English
6360 Girlfriend In A Coma Douglas Coupland 1998 Canadian English
6438 Who Will Run The Frog Hospital Lorrie Moore 1994 American English
6557 Prep Curtis Sittenfeld 2005 American English
6566 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
6635 The Opoponax Monique Wittig 1983 French French
6858 Young Man Luther Erik H. Erikson 1958 German English
6914 Théresè And Isabelle Violette Leduc 1966 French French
6936 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oates 1966 American English
7096 Try Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7143 Black Hole Charles Burns 1995 American English
7144 Báječná Léta Pod Psa Michal Viewegh 1992 Czech Czech
7651 The Republic Of Nothing Lesley Choyce 1994 Canadian English
7683 Looking for Alaska John Green 2005 American English
7735 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
7801 Another Brooklyn Jacqueline Woodson 2016 American English
7837 Sag Harbor Colson Whitehead 2009 American English
7976 Trust Exercise Susan Choi 2019 American English
8031 I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip John Donovan 1969 American English
8075 The Mighty Walzer Howard Jacobson 1999 British English
8187 A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A Sandwich Alice Childress 1973 American English
8235 Strange Heaven Lynn Coady 1998 Canadian English
8546 Monster Walter Dean Myers 1999 American English
8594 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt 1981 American English
8710 Sweet Talk Stephanie Vaughn 1990 American English
8865 O Ateneu Raul Pompéia 1888 Brazilian Portuguese
8907 Carreteras Secundarias Ignacio Martínez de Pisón 1996 Spanish Spanish
9034 Jouer Juste François Bégaudeau 2008 French French
9048 How I Live Now Meg Rosoff 2004 British English
9111 Cruddy Lynda Barry 1999 American English
9191 Carry Me Down M. J. Hyland 2006 Australian English
9221 The Rachel Papers Martin Amis 1973 British English
9261 A Children’s Bible Lydia Millet, Xe Sands 2020 American English
9308 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9510 Drinking Coffee Elsewhere ZZ Packer 2003 American English