Feature: BEFORE GEORGIA THERE WAS HOLDEN…

BEFORE GEORGIA THERE WAS HOLDEN…

On July 16, 1951 Jerome David Salinger introduced America to the madman world of Holden Caulfield, a mouthy 16-year-old with a lot of opinions about a whole lot of things. Controversial and cool, sad and hilarious, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE forever changed the landscape of teen literature.

Fifty years later, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE continues to affect teens --- and considering how jaded teens are today, that's no easy feat. What is it about cantankerous Holden Caulfield and his adventures in New York City that strikes a chord with teens?

Well, like all teens, Holden is pissed off.

He hates Pencey Prep. He hates the movies. He hates teachers. He hates boring people (almost as much as he hates dumb people). He hates the idea of growing up to be a rich NY businessman and being expected to always take elevators and taxicabs even when you really just want to be walking outside. And, boy, he really hates phonies. Man, he hates them above all else. In fact, other than his sister Phoebe with whom he has an intensely close relationship, there isn't much that Holden doesn't hate.

Under no circumstances, though, should Holden Caulfield ever be passed off as a hopeless cynic. It would be an unfair and untrue characterization of Salinger's brilliant hero. Holden's overwhelming distrust in and distaste for humanity is born from a profound sense of loneliness, insecurity, boredom, terror, and sadness. In other words, he's grappling with an eternal and inescapable teenage crisis: alienation.

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is a gift to all teens. Not only in and of itself as a simply great story, but as a forefather of the candid, graphic, honest, compelling teen literature we have today. And so, in honor of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE's 50th Anniversary, Teenreads.com would like to bring you a sampling of some other notable classics that paved the way and continue to relate.

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
by J. D. Salinger
Back Bay Books
ISBN: 0316769177
277 pages

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GO ASK ALICE
Anonymous
Aladdin Paperbacks
ISBN: 0689817851
185 pages

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Suburban teen angst. Creepy boys. Burgeoning sexual anxiety and insecurity (see previous sentence). Eating disorders (see previous two sentences). Depression, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies (see previous three sentences). Twenty-five years after its initial publication, GO ASK ALICE remains one the most candid and compelling portraits of debilitating drug addiction as a desperate escape from the terror of adolescence.

THE OUTSIDERS
by S. E. Hinton
Puffin
ISBN: 014038572X
180 pages

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Written by S. E. Hinton when she was just a teen herself (16 to be exact), THE OUTSIDERS caused quite a stir when it was first published back in 1967. In pitting the Greasers (wrong-side-of-trackers) against the Socs (privileged richies) and filtering the story through Ponyboy --- an uncharacteristically sensitive and poetic Greaser --- Hinton created a timeless tale of class struggle, family loyalties, and the universality of grief.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
by Harper Lee
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060194995
323 pages

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Brilliant in its simplicity, Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (her one and only book, by the way, which, by the way, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961) tells the compelling tale of fundamental human emotion, instinct, decency, and morality. Like so many other of the books on this list, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD has also spent a fair amount of time sitting on various banned books lists.

Is there anyone on earth who doesn't love TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD? No, I didn't think so.

A SEPARATE PEACE
by John Knowles
Bantam Books
ISBN: 0553280414
196 pages

Set in a boy's private school in the social turmoil of World War II, A SEPARATE PEACE is a heartbreaking coming of age tale of male adolescence and the complexities friendship. Phineas is the golden boy --- popular, intelligent, athletic --- while Gene is the shy one --- bookish and quiet. The inevitable culmination of this intensely charged relationship will break your heart, leave you reeling and stay with you forever.

FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON
by Daniel Keyes
Skylark
ISBN: 0553274503
216 pages

FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON is a modern day fable about a mentally retarded man who undergoes an experimental operation that turns him into a genius and the unexpected twists and turns that his life takes as a result. Author Daniel Keyes does an amazing job of capturing all the different phases he goes through, telling the story through Charlie's eyes. Published in 1959 to critical acclaim, the book won a Hugo award for best novella (and was eventually turned into a Broadway musical...huh).

THE CHOCOLATE WAR
by Robert Cormier
Laureleaf
ISBN: 0440944597
191 pages

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Watching someone take a stand is easy; doing it yourself can be absolutely terrifying. That's what Jerry Renault learns when he refuses to participate in his school's annual candy drive and incurs the wrath of the ruling clique of students ---- a wrath egged on by the school's administration. Robert Cormier's groundbreaking debut novel --- first published in 1974 to much controversy and censorship --- is still brutal, frightening, and completely mesmerizing.

LORD OF THE FLIES
by William Golding
Perigee
ISBN: 0399501487
208 pages

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With THE LORD OF THE FLIES Golding offers a fascinating character study of the fundamental humanity --- or more appropriately, inhumanity --- of male adolescents when stripped of the comforts of civilization and reduced to their most primal nature. First published in 1954, the often horrifying tale of "fair-haired" Ralph and chubby, four-eyed Piggy and their struggle for survival continues to provoke and deeply affect teens.

THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING
by Carson McCullers
Bantam Books
ISBN: 0553250515
153 pages

When Frankie is invited to be a "member" of her brother's wedding, she assumes it means she'll join her brother and his new wife in their new life. "At last she knew just who she was and understood where she was going...The three of them would go into the world and they would always be together." Of course --- because adolescence is an endless series of disappointments --- Frankie's domestic fantasy is not to be and her disillusionment with the world grows. First published in 1946 when McCullers was only 29, THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING continues to be a consummate classic and Frankie the perfect heroine.

--- Sarah Brennan