The Perks of Being a Wallflower Gallery Books (1999) ISBN: 9781451696202
By Stephen Chbosky
Written in a personal journal format, Charlie reveals the challenges he faces during his freshmen year of high school. Charlie begins his story by sharing details of his friend, Michael’s, suicide, which occurred during the boys’ 8th grade year. After Michael’s death, Charlie, along with some of Michael’s other friends, attend counseling. Charlie carries this and his beloved aunt’s death with him as he forges through his freshmen year of high school. Charlie finds two pivotal friends in seniors, Patrick and Sam, a step-brother and sister duo who welcomes Charlie into their pack of wallflowers. Through their friendship and his English teacher’s reading recommendations, Charlie begins to come to terms with the tragedy that he’s endured and the mental illness he bears. This formative tale underscores a teenager’s experimentation with drugs, sex, and self-discovery.
Quantitative: Lexile—720L; ATOS—4.8
Qualitative: Although the language doesn’t pose much difficulty, the interest level of The Perks of Being a Wallflower is for upper grade students. With issues like sex, drugs, suicide, mental illness, and homosexuality in addition to the use of vulgar language, this book would not be appropriate for the age group Accelerated Reader matches it with. However, these issues connect with various access points that make this book highly engaging for high school students. The journal format of the novel may pose some difficulty. In many instances, Charlie’s first-person narrative includes flashbacks that a reader must interpret. Additionally, because of Charlie’s mental state, he often leaves thoughts or observations open-ended allowing the reader to fill in the gap. Two specific instances occur in the form of the “Dear Friend” that Charlie addresses each journal entry to and the vague details regarding his relationship with his favorite aunt. With allusions to classical literature and eighties/early nineties music, readers may struggle to understand how the themes of these books and songs relate to the novel as a whole. Both prior and cultural knowledge will definitely assist in a reader’s understanding of the themes Chbosky presents.
Content Area: English; Health—Relationships; Health—Homosexuality; Health—Mental Health; Health--Teen suicide
Standards: RL.9/10.2-5; 9
Curriculum Suggestions: The Perks of Being a Wallflower would be great additional or supplemental reading that connects to the classic novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Students could compare and contrast Charlie’s experiences to Holden Caulfield’s experience. Both books that revolve around teenage angst and with characters struggling to maintain a healthy mental state, the books, when analyzed side by side, add more meaning to one another. What do the students notice about the voices of Charlie and Holden? How does the structure of each novel influence the reader’s attitude toward each character?
Another way teachers can encourage additional reading is through the intertextuality of the novel. Teachers could create “Charlie’s Reading List.” This list could be used, again, as supplemental or additional reading. Since many of the texts are already appear on recommended, core literature lists, English teachers could even organize their class thematically using “Charlie’s Reading List” as an anchor.
Like Catcher in the Rye, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that was a challenged book. Teachers could have students examine the books that have been challenged and determine what makes these books controversial. It would also serve as a wonderful display in the library for Banned Book Month.
Finally, teachers may want to have their students keep a personal journal or blog Like Charlie, they may find the exercise therapeutic. Allowing for journal/blogging time in the course of a class period would emphasize the importance and benefits of keeping a journal.
Digital Resources:
· Perks of Being a Wallflower Screenplay--http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/splaylib/Screenplay-Perks_of_Being_a_Wallflower.pdf
*Meets the “Reading for Pleasure HS/MS” requirement
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