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🧲 Books like this

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

Chris Fuhrman · back to the book

What’s in it

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24 books with the same feel

Include books by the same author
❤️

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas · 458 pages

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter navigates between the poverty-stricken neighborhood she has grown up in and the upper-crust suburban prep school she attends. Her life is up-ended when she is the sole witness to a police officer shooting her best friend, Khalil, who turns out to have been unarmed during the confrontation – but may or may not have been a drug dealer. As Starr finds herself even more t

Sudden LossLoss of InnocenceRebellion Against AuthorityComing of Age
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Looking for Alaska

John Green · 262 pages

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Ala

Loss of InnocenceRebellion Against AuthorityComing of AgeDeath of a Friend
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The Cider House Rules

John Irving · 573 pages

Set in rural Maine in the first half of this century, it tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch--obstetrician and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Clouds. It is also the story of his favorite orphan, Homer, who is never adopted.

Rebellion Against AuthorityComing of AgeLoss of InnocenceDeath of a Friend
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A Separate Peace

John Knowles · 196 pages

Gene Forrester looks back fifteen years to a World War II year in which he and his best friend were roommates in a New hampshire boarding school.

Coming of AgeLoss of InnocenceDeath of a FriendBittersweet
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky · 216 pages

Charlie writes letters to an unknown mail recipient, detailing his struggles with high school, family, and finding his place in the world. Full of beautiful quotes and written with such sincerity, this is a book that makes the reader reflect on their purpose in life, while simultaneously reminding us about the power music, friendships, and "feeling infinite" can have on our life. Read this book.

Loss of InnocenceDeath of a FriendComing of AgeBittersweet
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The Catcher in the Rye

Jerome David Salinger · 277 pages

With the author's recent passing, the classic novel about young Holden Caulfield's disillusionment with the adult world and its phoniness will only rise in popularity--and controversy, since it is a favorite target of censors, who often cite profan

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeRebellion Against AuthorityBittersweet
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A Walk to Remember

Nicholas Sparks · 240 pages

There was a time when the world was sweeter....when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats.... Every April, when the wind smells of both the sea and lilacs, Landon Carter remembers 1958, his last year at Beaufort High. Landon had dated a girl or two, and even once sworn that he'd been in love. Certainly the last person he thought he'd fall for was Jamie, the s

American SouthComing of AgeRebellion Against AuthorityTeen Protagonist
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The Round House

Louise Erdrich · 352 pages

A young man is upended after a violent attack on his mother, which leaves his family in turmoil. Well-written page turner that is hard to put down!

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeTeen ProtagonistBittersweet
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The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton · 192 pages

According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs f

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeDeath of a FriendBittersweet
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The Catcher in the Rye

J.D. Salinger · 218 pages

Story of Holden Caufield with his idiosyncrasies, penetrating insight, confusion, sensitivity and negativism. Holden, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.

Rebellion Against AuthorityLoss of InnocenceComing of AgeTeen Protagonist
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A Painted House

John Grisham · 465 pages

Using his own childhood for inspiration (and leaving the lawyers behind), bestselling author John Grisham sets A Painted House in 1950s rural Arkansas. During harvest time, together with hired Mexicans and hill people, seven-year-old Luke Chandler picks cotton on his family's rented 80 acres. But racial tension, a forbidden love affair, and murder cause Luke to grow up before he's ready.

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeAmerican SouthBittersweet
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In the Unlikely Event

Judy Blume · 512 pages

In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and

Sudden LossDeath of a FriendLoss of InnocenceTeen Protagonist
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A Fine Dark Line

Joe R. Lansdale · 308 pages

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeAmerican SouthTeen Protagonist
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Before I Fall

Lauren Oliver

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeDeath of a FriendBittersweet
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

J.K. Rowling · 734 pages

The fourth book in the Harry Potter franchise sees Harry returning for his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with his friends, Ron and Hermione . There is an upcoming tournament between the three major schools of magic, with one participant selected from each school by the Goblet of Fire. When Harry's name is drawn, even though he is not eligible and is a fourth play

Loss of InnocenceSudden LossDeath of a FriendComing of Age
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

Christopher Paul Curtis · 239 pages

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeAmerican SouthBittersweet
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Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeBittersweetTeen Protagonist
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Dead Poets Society

N.H. Kleinbaum · 166 pages

Todd Anderson and his friends at Welton Academy can hardly believe how different life is since their new English professor, the flamboyant John Keating, has challenged them to "make your lives extraordinary!" Inspired by Keating, the boys resurrect the Dead Poets Society--a secret club where, free from the constraints and expectations of school and parents, they let their passions run wild. As Kea

Rebellion Against AuthorityLoss of InnocenceComing of AgeTeen Protagonist
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The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

Robert Dugoni · 448 pages

Coming of AgeDeath of a FriendBittersweetLiterary Fiction
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Summer of '42

Herman Raucher · 251 pages

One summer in the life of a 15-year old boy.

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeBittersweetTeen Protagonist
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Old Yeller

Fred Gipson · 158 pages

At first, Travis couldn't stand the sight of Old Yeller. The stray dog was ugly, and a thieving rascal, too. But he sure was clever, and a smart dog could be a big help on the wild Texas frontier, especially with Papa away on a long cattle drive up to Abilene. Strong and courageous, Old Yeller proved that he could protect Travis's family from any sort of danger. But can Travis do the same for O

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeDeath of a FriendBittersweet
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Sunrise on the Reaping (a Hunger Games Novel)

Suzanne Collins · 382 pages

The phenomenal fifth book in the Hunger Games series! When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for? As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard ab

Rebellion Against AuthorityLoss of InnocenceDeath of a FriendTeen Protagonist
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Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Ed Tarkington · 336 pages

Welcome to Spencerville, Virginia, 1977. A time when teenagers roamed wild and free. When sons worshipped God, loved their mothers, and feared their fathers. And when eight-year-old Rocky still worshipped his older brother, Paul--sixteen and full of rebel cool--who was happy to have his younger brother as his sidekick, until one day things went terribly wrong and Paul disappeared. Seven years late

Loss of InnocenceComing of AgeAmerican SouthContemporary Fiction
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Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson · 144 pages

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

Coming of AgeLoss of InnocenceDeath of a FriendBittersweet

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