As we develop from children into adults, the teenage years often play a significant role in our lives. Our horizons expand, we make and break friendships, we often have our first romances; in short, we discover who we really are.
The same can be said for the main characters in the novels on this list. As they come of age, these characters are tested in unexpected ways and learn and grow along the way. As readers, we feel their triumphs and failures as acutely as if they were our own.
Browse this list to read books about characters in a pivotal moment in their lives and how they grow because of or in spite of those challenges. And if you’re participating in the Crazy4Fiction Reading Challenge, pick a book to fulfill the coming-of-age story prompt!
The Dogwood Gospel
by Cindy Morgan
The only life sixteen-year-old Charlie has known is with Rose and Arlo, the couple who raised her as their own. But when their rules become too oppressive and she discovers a hint to the secrets of her past, Charlie runs away. Her daring trick riding skills catch the eye of a carnival owner, who transforms Charlie into “The Irish Princess,” a renowned trick-riding act. As Charlie finds family among the carnival’s wounded souls, a police chief finds an unsettling connection between Charlie and an unsolved murder.
The Year of Jubilee
by Cindy Morgan
In the summer of 1963, Grace Mockingbird struggles under the weight of her mother’s expectations while holding out hope for her brother’s healing. Grace is determined to do what she can to save her little brother, but she has little to do but wait and worry. On the edge of adulthood, Grace’s eyes begin to open to the world beyond her town of Jubilee, Kentucky.
Under the Magnolias
by T. I. Lowe
Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.
Come Down Somewhere
by Jennifer L. Wright
Sixteen-year-old Olive Alexander has lived on a ranch in the Jornada del Muerto region of southern New Mexico her entire life. But when World War II begins, the government seizes her family’s land for the construction of a new, top secret Army post. When Jo Hawthorne crosses her path, Olive sees a chance for friendship—until she learns that Jo’s father is the Army sergeant who now occupies her beloved ranch. Olive slowly warms to Jo’s winsome faith and steady attempts at friendship . . . until one devastating day when the sky explodes around them and their lives are torn apart.
Sugar Birds
by Cheryl Grey Bostrom
For years, Aggie has learned the ways of the northern woods, where she sketches nests of wild birds as an antidote to sadness. Then her mother forbids her to climb the trees that give her sanctuary and comfort. Angry, ten-year-old Aggie accidentally lights a tragic fire and flees downriver.
A search party gathers hours after Celia arrives at her grandmother’s nearby farm. Hurting from her parents’ breakup, she also plans to run. But when she joins the hunt for Aggie, she meets two irresistible young men who compel her to stay.
The Promise of Jesse Woods
by Chris Fabry
The summer of 1972 is the most pivotal of Matt Plumley’s childhood, when his family moves from Pittsburgh to Dogwood, West Virginia. A fish out of water, Matt is relieved to forge a fast bond with two unlikely friends: Dickie Darrel Lee Hancock, a mixed-race boy, and Jesse Woods, a tough-as-nails girl with a sister on her hip and no dad in sight. As the trio traipses the hills and hollers, Matt begins to fall for Jesse, and their promises to each other draw him deeper into her terrifying reality.