Week 10: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

• Week: 10
• Book Title:  The Perks of Being of Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Book Cover Image:

Copyright (2012) Simon & Schuster 

• Book Summary:  Charlie, a freshman in high school looses a friend to suicide and an aunt in an accident.  What results is a series of choices that make him question many things in his life.  He experiments with writing letters and essays along with drugs and alcohol.  
• APA Reference:  Chbosky, S.  (1999).  The perks of being a wallflower. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Inc.
• My Impressions:  Although this book's main character is a freshman in high school, I feel there are many things in this book that would make it more appropriate for people over 18.  It is a censored book for many reasons:  rape, suicide, homicide, drugs, sex, homosexuality, alcohol, partner abuse, child abuse, etc.  Charlie, the main character, is a kid, who to my uneducated mind, is suffering from manic depression.  He is exceptionally bright and observant.  He is a good student, but doesn't seem to fit in anywhere.  When two older kids befriend him, Charlie is introduced to a great many things that make him question and wonder about his place in the world.  Depression in young people is nothing to mess around with, and I was glad to read that Charlie's parents do get him the help he needs.  This is a book I couldn't put down.  I kept wondering, "What else can this kid deal with?"
• Professional Review:

School Library Journal ( June 01, 1999; 9780671027346 )

Gr 9 UpAn epistolary narrative cleverly places readers in the role of recipients of Charlies unfolding story of his freshman year in high school. From the beginning, Charlies identity as an outsider is credibly established. It was in the spring of the previous school year that his best friend committed suicide and now that his class has gone through a summer of change, the boy finds that he has drifted away from old friends. He finds a new and satisfying social set, however, made up of several high school seniors, bright bohemians with ego-bruising insights and, really, hearts of gold. These new friends make more sense to Charlie than his star football-playing older brother ever did and they are able to teach him about the realities of life that his older sister doesnt have the time to share with him. Grounded in a specific time (the 1991/92 academic year) and place (western Pennsylvania), Charlie, his friends, and family are palpably real. His grandfather is an embarrassing bigot; his new best friend is gay; his sister must resolve her pregnancy without her boyfriends support. Charlie develops from an observant wallflower into his own man of action, and, with the help of a therapist, he begins to face the sexual abuse he had experienced as a child. This report on his life will engage teen readers for years to come.Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Goldsmith, F.  (1999, June 1).  [Review of the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by S. Chbosky].  School Library Journal.   Retrieved from Bowkers booksinprint.com.

• Library Uses:  In a library this book could be used, with parent permission, as a book club read.  When finished with the book, the club and library could sponsor a movie night with the film coming out this year.