The book I chose for our book talk was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. In 2012 a film adaptation of the book was released, I was in grade nine at the time and I remember seeing the film in theaters with my friends. I absolutely fell in love with the movie and it left a lasting imprint on me. Recently I decided to re-watch the movie on Netflix and I remembered how much I loved the movie back in high school, and how I still loved it now seven years later. I had never read the book and so that is how I came to choose this book for my book talk. I figured, if a book could have such an impact on my own life then it could likely affect other young adults just as much. The book deals with relatively mature themes such as rape, suicide, physical and sexual abuse, depression, and homophobia.

Due to these being an important part of the novel, I would suggest that the book not be studied by younger than grade eleven or twelve. Though I watched the movie in grade nine, the book is slightly more graphic, and delves deeper into the serious issues than the movie does. I think the target audience for this novel would be young adults going through high school because they can find a way to relate to the struggles the characters are going through. The book is also very real in the way it addresses these issues; it does not romanticize these issues or try and make them less severe than they are just so there is no controversy surrounding the book. I think these are the exact reasons why this book would be useful for older high school students. They do not want to be babied and reading something that is this direct could affect the students more than a book that tried to avoid serious topics would.

The book does not overly focus on the issues of race, class, and gender. There are certain conflicts that arise in the book that are gender biased, but it is not necessarily the central focus of the book. This book was written before the media blew up about the #MeToo movement, but the book definitely addresses the issues of sexual assault. The book also looks at sexual assault against both men and women. It also deals with the pressures of determining one’s own identity. Particularly in high school, young adults are often trying to find who they are, and when the topic of sexual and gender orientation comes up, this can cause even more confusing, especially if someone does not have a good support system.

These are just a few examples of serious topics explored in the novel. I would definitely recommend this book to future students or just other young adults in general. In particular, I would recommend this book to older high school students who are interested in reading higher level books. A good way a teacher could use this book in their classroom is to get students thinking about all the issues it addresses. One project the students could do is choose one of the major issues high school students face nowadays that is addressed in the book and do some type of research-based inquiry project. The students could write an essay about how the book addresses their selected topic and why it is important for students to talk about that topic, or they could create a presentation based on how their issue affects students in the present day (as this book was written in the late 90’s). This book could also get students debating on controversial topics such as abortion, the legalization of marijuana, or the stigmas behind LGBTQ rights.