What's a good coming of age novel about best friends?

Question

Like a Seperate Peace, Huckleberry Finn (not really... but I didn't want to get this as an answer), etc.

Answer 1

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a very good Coming of Age novel, its a big read, friendship is a rather large aspect of it.

Answer 2

Without a doubt, Shelter, by Jayne Ann Phillips. This is a novel about young girls trying to find their place in the world. However, there is also a young boy struggling with his own difficult coming of age, in addition to adults who still have some "growing" up to do. Phillips shakes the traditional coming of age folklore and forces the reader to consider if the traditions that we allow to "shelter" are justified. There are the unexpected "tornados" in life that rip our "shelters" apart with no warning, meaning, or justification.

Answer 3

Reilly's Luck by Louis L'Amour.Its a western.A young boy is abandoned by his own mother(she tells her boyfriend to kill him)The boy ends up with a gambler and he brings him up.Turns out to be the best gamble he ever made.The boy grows up and later kills the people who murdered the gambler.The Daybreakers,Fair blows the wind are also good books by the same author.

Dragon Jousters series by Mercedes Lackey.The first book 'Joust', is about Vetch a young serf who is rescued by a Dragon Jouster from his cruel master.He becomes a Dragon boy(one who takes care of dragons).Later he secretly hatches his own dragon.The later two books are about how he escapes to his native Alta and how the war between Alta and Tia ends.The setting is strongly Ancient Egyptian.

Take a Thief by Mercedes Lackey is about a young boy Skif who is ill-treated by his relatives.He later falls in with a gang of thieves and becomes a master thief.Later he gets bonded with a talking horse and is admitted to a Herald's College.

These are all coming of age books.

Answer 4

UNDER COTTONWOODS
By Stephen Grace (2004)

Under Cottonwoods is a lyrical novel of two Wyoming friends who are drawn together by their love of fly fishing and the outdoors. Walter is a handsome young man whose face and brain are scarred as a result of a climbing accident that has left him partially paralyzed and mentally diminished. Mike, who lost both of his parents when he was a young teen, is in his own way as handicapped as Walter. Mike seems at first to be the stronger, admirably and compassionately lending a hand to an unfortunate friend, but it’s soon clear that each is giving the other something priceless: the insight and courage to challenge the odds, embrace reality, and find a way to flourish and grow. Through quiet times on pristine streams, dangerous times on angry rivers, and through blizzards, harassment in the local nightclub, the pains of opportunities lost, and the daily grind of a life of diminished expectations, Walter and Mike grow stronger as their friendship deepens. With Mike’s help, Walter is able to reestablish a bond with his father and dare to chance romance, while Mike, with Walter’s constant encouragement and astute observations, is able to make peace with his wife and get on with his life.

Answer 5

The Outsiders

Answer 6

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Answer 7

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
It's a great book about friendship and making difficult choices. A true american classic. It's only 105 pages long, one of my absolute favorites!

Answer 8

The Kite Runner is a wonderful book about the meaning of friendship.

Answer 9

Darn! when I saw the question Seperate Peace was perfect!

I can recommend it - It's the best 'good' book I've ever read (i.e. not da vinci or harry potter)

Answer 10

I personally don't endorse "coming of age" books, but the movie sisterhood of the traveling pants has a book associated with it i believe, and that should do the trick....