There are numerous books about teenage isolation out there for teens and other demographics to consume. Why is this the case? Many books about isolation mirror the feelings that many teens have during that period of their lives. At some point in the teen years, individuals may feel as if they are alone and isolated from the world at large. Books that speak about these real-life feelings often provide comfort to teens and can bring back memories for those in other age groups.
Books About Teenage Isolation
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson: Perhaps the best known of the books about teenage isolation out there. Speak tells the story of a teenage girl who keeps trying to come to terms with what has happened to her. Raped early in her high school career, the teen calls the police at a party and becomes known for the act. Melinda becomes more and more depressed as she tries to deal with what happened to her. At the end of the school year, her social pariah state changes when everyone finds out why she really called the police that night.
Not Anything by Carmen Rodriguez: In this book, people think that Susie should have everything. After all, she's from one of the sunshine capitals of the world where there are stars galore. However, Susie doesn't see things that way. Instead, she feels left out of everything. Her mother died, she doesn't have a boyfriend in the land of popularity, her dad is flaky, and her friends are always somewhere else. Susie hopes to keep herself in a land of the lost.
Strays Like Us by Richard Peck: Molly is the child of a drug addict who loves drugs more than her. Her father died of AIDS and the two were never close. Abandoned by her parents in many ways, Molly is lost. At the ripe age of 12, she's sent to live with a relative she's never met in a world she has never known. Molly tries to find roots in a town where there are so many people with deep roots. Will Molly and her 'newness' be able to penetrate a town of lifelong relationships?
The Firing by Richard Macsween: Anne is forced to move to a small city from Manchester, England (a booming social environment). She's used to lights and glamour and being on top of the world; she's not used to this tiny town with her mother and new stepdad. Anne struggles to find her place, but is sure that the new boy in town, Wolf, is the answer to finding her place. Will she be able to get her footing in a society that doesn't like either of them?
What They Always Tells Us by Martin Wilson: Two teens, Alex and James, are brothers who couldn't be more different from one another. While one teen is popular and loved, the other is lost and depressed. Dealing with his own sexual identity and a suicide attempt, Alex doesn't know how to handle the life around him. James deals with an entirely different world as he is looking forward to college acceptance letters and the rest of his life. How do these two lives cross when things begin to unravel?
Georgie by Malachy Doyle: A mute 14-year-old boy is the subject of this novel. He is convinced that he ruins everything good that is ever given to him. He is certain he will amount to nothing. He moves from an institution to a home in Wales throughout the course of the novel. He begins to examine what parts of his past caused him to become a mute and the steps he will take to move past them. The book traces how Georgie's life changes over the novel's 160 pages.
Find Hope in Books
Books about teenage isolation tell different stories. Some tell how a teen has made it through drama growing up along the way, while others tell how a teen has just made it through her teenage years. Whatever the angle of the story, it is important for teens to read books that can help them see the light at the end of their own tunnels.
