4 Books in 4 Years: Books to Guide You Through High School

Freshman Year

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

“Just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant” – Louisa May Alcott

“Little Women” is set in the 1860s, but don’t let its time period frighten you away. This book is about five sisters who live with their mother, their father away fighting in the Civil War, as they all go about their lives. We follow them as they grow up and watch as their perspectives on life and people change while they combat their adversities involving topics such as love, careers, family, identities, and morals. It’s just a great, classic book, in general, especially for girls in the pursuit of their passions who are beginning to come of age. I think this book is perfect for freshmen because of its simple, yet substantial rhetoric and the topics it deals with and the way they’re expanded upon. It’s so akin to life during freshman year where everything is new and you start to make new relationships with people and places around you. It’s also that year where you start to get an understanding as to what may come next as you grow older and have a better concept as to how the world truly is. This is the perfect book for the practice of sprouting new ideas and forming opinions that need to be had in order to later fully develop them into something more meaningful.

• You’ll like this book if you liked watching: “Now and Then” or “Flipped” 
• Similar reads: “Anne of Green Gables” by L. M. Montgomery 

Sophomore Year

Montana 1948 by Larry Watson

“My mother feared for my soul, a phrase that sounds to me now comically overblown, yet I remember that those were precisely the words she used.” – Larry Watson 

This book deals with familial morality in the point of view of a 52-year-old David Hayden, as he recalls his life as a 14-year-old boy. We follow the retelling of his father, a sheriff in their small town, amid allegations that his eldest son, a well-respected doctor, is assaulting one of his female patients. His father has the choice to arrest his own son and justifyingly serve him his punishment or to not say anything and sweep it all under the rug. But the matter isn’t so easily dealt with that way, and the integrity of his family slowly deteriorates before Hayden’s 14-year-old eyes when he hears, sees, and finds out about things he really wasn’t supposed to. This book is just mature enough for any sophomore looking for a retrospective read, one that’ll leave them to question their own morals and maybe others they know, as well. It’s a perfect read if you’re looking for something easy and simple but doesn’t lack substance.  

• You’ll like this book if you liked watching: “Outer Banks”
• Similar reads: “Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, “Phoebe Will Destroy You” by Blake Nelson

Junior Year

The Girls by Emma Cline

“Poor Sasha. Poor girls, the world fattens them on the promise of love. How badly they need it, and how little most of them will get.” – Emma Cline

This book follows 14-year-old girl Evie Boyd in the oppressive heat of the summer of ‘69, as her parents have divorced and are more occupied with their own lives than with her. Feeling alone and unloved, she searches for things and people who don’t make her feel that way, but she finds them in all the wrong places. This is a good read if you’re looking for relatability and navigating any growing pains. I think this book is perfect for juniors because of the mature topics presented within it, and especially in some select passages (similar to the quote above), there are little hints or notions of such bigger issues than the ones merely in the book—ones that might occur more often as you really find your feet in the pursuit of self-discovery. Some of the passages stop and are expanded upon, and Cline has such a beautiful way of doing so that it does take a bit of understanding to really digest. This book is heartbreaking but deals with some of the very real realities a lot of teenage girls experience. 

• You’ll like this book if you liked watching/reading: “Daisy Jones and the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid 
• Similar reads: “Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous 

Senior Year

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

“All this time I told myself we were born from war–but I was wrong Ma. We were born from beauty” – Ocean Vuong

My God, this book is good. It’s an absolute must-read for every upperclassman ever. This book is actually a letter to the protagonist’s (Little Dog’s) mother. In it, he reflects on the difficulties he faced within his and her relationship and what life was like for him as he acclimated to the new American culture and society he was thrown into, rattling the Vietnamese customs he’d been surrounded by in his early life. I think this book is perfect for seniors because it deals with grappling between the past and present, which occurs during senior year as you start to really mold into the person you’ve been carving and sculpting yourself into being. And although it seems to be a bit drastic to compare being a senior in high school to the idea that a grown man’s character and understanding of the world is due to the acknowledgement of his childhood, the two are not so vastly different. Senior year (as I’ve come to endure) is about reaping the benefits of consistent hard work, completion, and the celebration of it all. It also holds some of the most characteristically defining ages in our lives, 17-18.  Aside from its lovely and rather poetic language, what makes this book such a necessary read is its theme of reconciliation as you come to grow and understand that these experiences are mandatory to develop as a person, and why the understanding of it all is essential.

• You’ll like this book if you liked watching: “Lady Bird” 
• Similar reads: “All in Pieces” by Suzanne Young, “Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid