The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Pocket Books, New York: 1999
ISBN: 0671027344

Plot Summary:
15 year old Charlie is nervous about starting high school. His one friend Michael has killed himself and Charlie starts writing to a "friend" who he has never spoken to in real life. Through these letters, we get to read what is going on in Charlie's life. Soon after school starts, he makes friends with the senior Patrick, and his step-sister Sam, who he develops an intense crush on. He soon starts smoking and going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday with them and their group of friends, including Mary Elizabeth, whom he has a brief fling with.

Charlie endears himself to these people because he is so sensitive and always manages to find them the perfect gifts because he pays such close attention to what they say. His English teacher, Bill, is always giving him books to read and making him write extra essays because he sees how intuitive Charlie is. Once in awhile Charlie will allude to his Aunt Helen and something bad that happened in her past, and how he had to go to a psychiatrist when she died, and was consequently held back a year in school because he fell so far behind. Towards the end of the novel, Charlie has to start going back to the psychiatrist and we later find out that Aunt Helen had been molesting him. Yet he reassures the reader that everything is going to be fine, and he hopes we have a good life too.

Critical Evaluation:
This is such a touching, poignant book. Charlie is almost too good to be true. He is so sweet and caring and observant that the book just overflows with powerful insights into the nature of high school kids. I wish I had a friend like him when I was in high school. Because he is so introspective, it's tempting to compare him to Holden Caulfield, but I don't think Charlie has a cynical bone in his body. He is always wishing the best for people, even when they wouldn't have given him a second thought. When you finally find out what happened to him when he was so young, you just want to cry, but he won't let you. Right to the end, he's reassuring us that everything is good with him.

Reader’s Annotation:
Charlie prefers life on the sidelines, will he ever come out of the shadows and fully participate in life?

Information about the Author:
Stephen Chbosky grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from the University of Southern California's film writing program. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is his first novel.

Genre: realistic fiction

Curriculum Ties: none

Booktalking Ideas:
I would introduce Charlie and the letters he is writing to some anonymous friend. Then I would talk about his friendship with Patrick and Sam and how he is trying to participate more fully in life, rather than being a wallflower and some of the ways he accomplishes this or not.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
I think this book would be appropriate for ages 16 and up.

Challenge Issues:
This book would be challenged for the characters' drug use, and depiction of teen sexuality, including a homosexual relationship. I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this book:
This book had been on my radar for awhile, but when during the Luna discussion, one group mentioned it as a book to read if we enjoyed Luna, so I decided to give it a shot.