The Catcher in the Rye

By J.D. Salinger

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around — nobody big, I mean — except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." - Holden Caulfield

What's it about?: Set in the 1950s, 16-year-old Holden Caulfield flunks out of prep school (for the fourth time) and decides to spend a few days in New York City before returning home to his family for Christmas. All alone in the Big Apple, Holden encounters prostitutes, cross-dressers, surly cab drivers and old friends and finds himself on the fringe of the terrifying realities of the world of grown-ups.

Why your child should read it: It's in a league of its own. Few other novels have ever cut so directly and bluntly to the heart of the wonders, hesitations and fears of the passage from adolescence to adulthood. Ironically, though, when this novel was published in 1951 it was meant for adults . But for generations of youth, reading The Catcher in the Rye has acted as a right of passage. Holden's crass narration and innocence (despite his tough exterior) make this book incredibly relatable to most young people, especially those on the verge of that cliff — the "phony" adult world that Holden so desperately wants to help children avoid. No wonder adults have tried to ban this book from schools for decades.

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