6 meaningful books to gift a high school or college-bound graduate
The best graduation gift books aren't self-help — they're the coming-of-age stories that meet a graduate exactly where they are: leaving one life for the next, unsure, and figuring out who they want to become. These six are award-winning, widely loved, and built to be read outside a classroom for once.
Best for graduating 8th graders through college-bound seniors · grades 8–12.
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by Charles Dickens · Grades 9th–12th · 544 pages · 1861
Dickens's story of an orphan lifted into London society by a mysterious inheritance weighs ambition against gratitude — the original 'launching into the world' novel.
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by Elizabeth Acevedo · Grades 8th–12th · 368 pages · 2018
Winner of the Printz Award, the National Book Award, and the Carnegie Medal — Elizabeth Acevedo's verse novel about finding your own voice against family expectations.
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by Yann Martel · Grades 9th–12th · 336 pages · 2001
The Booker Prize winner about a teenager surviving 227 days adrift with a Bengal tiger — a story about which version of your own story you choose to believe.
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by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · Grades 10th–12th · 336 pages · 2003
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut novel follows a teenager finding her own voice outside her father's house — a quiet, powerful pick for someone about to leave home.
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by Maya Angelou · Grades 10th–12th · 289 pages · 1969
Maya Angelou's first memoir, about her childhood and her emergence as a writer — one of the most enduring American coming-of-age stories ever written.
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by Daniel Keyes · Grades 8th–11th · 311 pages · 1966
Daniel Keyes's novel about intelligence, dignity, and what it means to be seen — the kind of book that reads completely differently once school is over.
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