Module 15: Perks of Being a Wallflower - Censorship Issues

Book Summary:

Charlie is a freshman student whose best friend committed suicide.  He is learning how to cope with this change in his life, so he begins to write letters to an unknown person.  The letters let the reader into the mind, heart and soul of Charlie as he makes new friends, who are seniors,  and begins the journey into adulthood.  Charlie also becomes friends with his English teacher who sees the potential that Charlie has and he gives him extra books to read and writing assignments. Charlie has to learn how to deal with and overcome many issues in his life and he learns how to progress and be successful even though he has had some traumatic things happen to him in his young life.

APA Reference:

Chbosky, S. (1999). The perks of being a wallflower. New York. NY: Gallery.



Impressions:

This was an interesting read, but I enjoyed the book.  I began to feel sorry for Charlie and I did not want anything else to happen to him. He had so many experiences good and bad and most people would have cracked emotionally before Charlie did at the end of the book.  I kind of thought that he was repressing an experience from the little glimpse into his life when he was younger and in the hospital.  This book covers almost every controversial teen and adult issues and was a little overwhelming.   I felt that Chbosky was trying to include many obstacles for Charlie to be able to overcome and triumph over his struggles. Although this book contains physical and sexual abuse, mental illness, drug abuse, rape, teen pregnancy, racism, sexual experimentation including oral sex, homosexuality and masturbation just to name a few, I think that this book is a valuable resource if it can help give guidance and maybe prevent some of these situations or help an individual look for professional help and begin to heal.

Professional Review:

An epistolary narrative cleverly places readers in the role of recipients of Charlie's unfolding story of his freshman year in high school. From the beginning, Charlie's identity as an outsider that his class has gone through a summer of change, the boy finds that he has drifted away from old friends. He finds a new and satisfying social set, however, made up of several high school seniors, bright bohemians with ego-bruising insights and, really, hearts of gold. These new friends make more sense to Charlie than his star football-playing older brother ever did and they are able to teach him about the realities of life that his older sister doesn't have the time to share with him. Grounded in a specific time (the 1991/92 academic year) and place (western Pennsylvania), Charlie, his friends, and family are palpably real. His grandfather is an embarrassing bigot; his new best friend is gay; his sister must resolve her pregnancy without her boyfriend's support. Charlie develops from an observant wallflower into his own man of action, and, with the help of a therapist, he begins to face the sexual abuse he had experienced as a child. This report on his life will engage teen readers for years to come.

Goldsmith, F. (1999). Grades 5 & up: Fiction. School Library Journal, 45(6), 126.

Library Uses:

This book could be used to discuss the issues involved with banned books and censorship of books.  The topics in the book could be compiled and used by the students to create a display for "Banned Books Week".