The book “The Perks of being a Wallflower” was released on February 1^st 1999. Author Stephen Chbosky wrote this fiction novel to show readers an inside look at growing up. This collection of personal letters takes its readers on a journey of Charlie’s life.

The story follows a young teen, Charlie, who has encountered a rough life before starting high school. Charlie tells his life story through a series of letters to an anonymous recipient and mentions that the names in the story including his own have been changed to protect their identities as well as his own.

Charlie’s extremely honest story begins with a letter explaining how his only friend, Michael, has committed suicide. He ends eighth grade dealing with grief, counselors and his parents trying to help him cope with the tragedy. 

Charlie enters high school lost and trying to find his place in the world. He soon meets Patrick, a happy-go-lucky senior, whose outspoken flamboyant attitude helps to lift Charlie’s spirits. His stepsister Sam also helps but in a different way.

Charlie is attracted to Sam as soon as he meets her, and is not afraid to mention it. “Sam has brown hair and very very pretty green eyes. The kind of green that doesn’t make a big deal about itself.” Sam makes it clear they could never be together but proceeds to give him a first kiss that was much unlike her own.

During the course of the school year, Charlie deals with bullies; he experiments with drugs and drinking and has his first date and his first kiss. He also makes friends, loses them, and gains them back. He uses mix tapes full of classic songs and all the books he reads to take the reader though his defining freshman year.

Towards the end, Charlie reveals a devastating and even disturbing family secret that he has repressed until now. Charlie has a severe mental break down that causes him to be hospitalized because of the secret.   

His final letter ends with feelings of hope: getting released from the hospital, forgiving his family, gaining new friends, and trying to live his life to the fullest instead of as a wallflower. Charlie has come to realize he needs to stop being trapped in his own mind and live freely in the world.

This ever-popular novel has recently been taken to the big screen by its author (Chbosky). Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller, the movie hit theatres on October 12^th, 2012 and has been a huge success in theatres everywhere.