Read this when
The Catcher in the Rye
When you hate everyone, sometimes it's just grief with a sarcastic voice. Holden gets it. 🧢
Who it's for
Holden's funny, abrasive voice lets alienated readers feel recognised before the book asks anything of them.
Feelings it meets
What it is
J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a teenager who has just been expelled from Pencey Preparatory Academy in Pennsylvania. Rather than go home to face his parents, he spends a long weekend shortly before Christmas wandering New York City. Along the way he meets acquaintances and adults he sees as 'phony,' while thoughts of his younger brother Allie, who died of leukemia, keep surfacing.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla where licensed) and as an ebook. Audiobook availability has been limited; check your library's catalogue.
Before you start
Heads up: A classmate's suicide; a brother's death.
Age: Ages 14+
Once we dreamt that we were strangers. We wake up to find that we were dear to each other.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 9
