13 Classic Books Every Teenager Must Read

We ain’t pulling any punches with these books. Life comes atcha fast, and it’s better to be prepared for it. These books teach them hard lessons that every teenager is gonna need learn about the world. And sometimes it’s better to watch a character experience the hard stuff, so you know better. Here are 13 classic books every teen should read.

1. 1984

1984 teaches one of most important lessons of all: don’t trust the government. Now I’m not saying stockpile weapons and food and hide in the woods in case the government decides to turn, simply that it is never wise to put absolute faith into institutions. Especially institutions with power over you. 1984 is set in an alternate history where the world has fallen victim to complete totalitarianism. Citizens of the surveillance state Oceania live and die based on how well their follow their government’s rules. But what happens when a young couple attempt their own quiet little rebellion? Nothing good.

2. Catcher in the Rye

Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger is the classic teenage novel. Love him or hate him, this novel’s famously unreliable narrator is currently experiencing something that every person feels at some point when they’re growing up: alienation. Holden is a self-exiled outcast who rails against “phoniness.” Anything and everything about society that feels inauthentic or untrue. He’s the original rebel, but he has a cause. He’s still working out the details.

3. The Great Gatsby

What makes The Great Gatsby great is not the story itself, but the way it’s told. It is without a doubt one of the most beautifully written books in the English language, despite its author F. Scott Fitzgerald considering the novel a titanic failure and a nadir in his career. Its gorgeous prose teaches many lessons teens need to learn: don’t overly concern yourself about being popular, don’t try to repeat the past, and don’t EVER try to get back together with you ex.

4. The Outsiders

Written by S.E. Hinton when she was only 15 years old, The Outsiders is the greatest teenage novel ever written. It’s the story of two rival gangs, the lower class Greasers from the working class part of town, and the prep school Soc who see them as less-than. While on the surface the novel seems primarily about class, it’s really a lesson about cherishing one’s fleeting youth. Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.

5. Native Son

Richard Wright’s Native Son is a terrifying novel. Inspired by the real life Brick Bat Murders, Wright’s coming of age drama revolves around a young Black man named Bigger Thomas, who is employed as a driver for a wealthy white family. After the accidental death of the family’s daughter, Bigger must flee over the rooftops from an entire city that is out for his blood. It’s a tale of how institutional racism and class divisions can force people into a life of criminality, though the cards were stacked against them to begin with.

6. The Odyssey

The Odyssey is the ultimate epic. Written by the great grandaddy of fiction Homer himself, The Odyssey is the tale of the Greek hero Odysseus and his decade long journey home. Blown of course while returning from the Trojan War, Odysseus must conquer sea monsters, cyclopses, and a horny band of suitors in order to return to his wife and child and live out his days in peace.

7. Dracula

Despite Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla being the TRUE first vampire novel, Brahma Stoker’s Dracula is the improvement upon the form that is responsible for bringing Gothic horror and science fiction to the masses. The epistolary novel centers around ol’ Dracula doing what he does best: tryna suck on people. While the works of modern authors like Stephen King are far scarier, it’s an important book in literary history. A must read for any fans of the supernatural genres.

8. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Alex Hayley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an intimate portrait of one of the most influential and misunderstood civil rights leaders in history. The novel tells of how Malcolm X, went from a small time thief and hustler on the streets of Harlem to one of the most incendiary public speakers and thinkers of the 1960s. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the portrait of a hero whose legacy must never be forgotten.

9. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

The theatre kids are gonna love this. There’s a reason why William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English canon, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare will show you why. The author’s legacy titanic. Monolithic. The English language wouldn’t be the same without him. He was one of the first authors to elevate the language into the realm of art, which had never before been done. Important Renaissance works were written in French, or Spanish, or German. Never English. Willy changed all of that.

10. The Things They Carried

The militaries of the world all use the same strategy for recruitment: get ’em while they’re young. Teenagers of every nation are swept up in their military’s promises of adventure, but Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a crushing reminder of the reality of war. Modeled off of his own experiences in Vietnam, O’Brien’s novel shows war for everything is is: absurd, boring, terrifying, cruel, and altogether useless.

11. Song of Achilles

While a little young to be considered a true classic, Madeline Miller’s decade old romance Song of Achilles is one of the best romance stories ever penned. Miller retells the tale The Iliad and its center lovers Achilles and Patroclus from their time spent together as youths, to their coming of age during the Trojan War. It is a beautiful, sexy, aching novel that reads more like poetry than prose. You will cry for the last 50 pages.

12. The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a grim reminder of the realities that woman face in societies that value traditionalism and religious dogma. Set after a right-wing take over of the government, America is now ruled by religious theocracy that relegates women to being nothing more than property of their husbands. The Handmaid’s Tale is one of institutionalized misogyny played out to its ultimate end.

13. The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a novel about mental illness. Its young protagonist is rocked by a mental breakdown and is struggling to survive in a society that would rather see her swept under the rug. One’s teenage years are often ugly, rife with confusing and heart emotions. Thankfully, The Bell Jar proves that whatever you’re feeling, no matter how dark it is, someone else has felt it before.