The Perks of Being a Wallflower By: Stephen Chbosky

Fifteen-year-old Charlie is coping with the suicide of his friend, Michael. To lessen the fear and anxiety of starting high school alone, Charlie starts writing letters to a stranger, someone he heard was nice but has never met in person. At school, Charlie finds a friend and mentor in his English teacher, Bill. He also overcomes his chronic shyness and approaches a classmate, Patrick, who, along with Patrick’s step-sister Sam, become two of Charlie's BFFs. During the course of the school year, Charlie has his first date and his first kiss, he deals with bullies, and he makes friends, loses them, and gains them back. He creates his own soundtrack through a series of mix tapes full of iconic songs, and Reads a huge stack of classic books.

Charlie has had a crush on Sam throughout the story, but Sam told him at the beginning to not think of her that way. He ends up dating another girl (Mary Elizabeth) who he’s not really into. Sam dates a boy, Craig, who ends up cheating on her. They break up. Patrick is gay, and the school’s quarter back is into Patrick but doesn’t want the school to know. As a result, Patrick ends up really hurt and confides in Charlie. He talks to Charlie, and ends up kissing Charlie. While Charlie did not want to kiss Patrick, he thought that maybe it would make Patrick feel better so he let him. Charlie has a relatively stable home life, though, with supportive, if distant, parents to fall back on. Unfortunately, a disturbing family secret that Charlie has repressed for his entire life surfaces at the end of the school year. Charlie has a severe mental breakdown and ends up hospitalized. Charlie's final letter closes with feelings of hope: getting released from the hospital, finding new friends during sophomore year, and trying his best not to be a wallflower. Charlie hopes to get out of his head and into the real world, participating in life instead of just watching it fly by.