Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
tiffanyak avatar reviewed on + 215 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


Written as a series of letters from an anonymous high school freshman named Charlie to an unidentified person, this book brilliantly chronicles the issues facing high school students today. It's believable, real, and honest, without pushing anything too far. While it does deal with multiple adult themes (many of the same ones teens face every day), it does so in such a way that for the most part you have to already know about what is being referenced in order to understand. If you didn't already know, most of it would go over your head.

I found it brilliant and refreshing. It's not often you find a book that is brave and honest enough to acknowledge the truth nobody wants to admit: Teens already know about these issues. I wish this had been on my high school reading list. I got a lot more out of it than most of the 'safe' titles they gave us, which parents wouldn't object to but which also don't have anything for a teen today to take from them. This book had a very important message that all teens could take from it: Everything will be okay in the end. No matter what's going on in your life, or whether you're popular or not, it'll all be alright.

I think that's a message that it would be good for everybody to hear and trust.