List of coming-of-age stories

Coming-of-age stories focus on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, although "coming of age" is a genre for a variety of media, including literature, theatre, film, television and video games.

In literature
• The Books of Samuel

• The Telemachy in Homer's Odyssey (8th century BC)

• Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, by Ibn Tufail (12th century)

• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding (1749)

• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne (1759)

• Candide, by Voltaire (1759)

• Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen (1817)

• Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens (1837–1839)

• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens (1860–1861)

• Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (1868–1869)

• Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott (1871)

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (1876)

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (1884–1885)

• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (1894)

• The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (1894–1895)

• The Blue Lagoon, by Henry De Vere Stacpoole (1908)

• Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908)

• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)

• All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (1929)

• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)

• The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers (1940)

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith (1943)

• Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes (1943)

• The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (1951)

• East of Eden, by John Steinbeck (1952)

• Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson (1956)

• The Baron in the Trees, by Italo Calvino (1957)

• Flowers for Algernon, short story and novel by Daniel Keyes (short story 1959, novel 1966)

• To Kill a Mockingbird, novel by Harper Lee (1960)

• Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls (1961)

• A Clockwork Orange, a novel by Anthony Burgess (1962)

• The Learning Tree, novel by Gordon Parks (1963)

• The Graduate, novel by Charles Webb (1963)

• The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath (1964)

• The Last Picture Show, by Larry McMurtry (1966)

• The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton (1967)

• Last Summer, by Evan Hunter (1968)

• Sounder, by William H. Armstrong (1969)

• A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck (1972)

• A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich, by Alice Childress (1973)

• Ordinary People, by Judith Guest (1976)

• A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean (1976)

• Vision Quest, by Terry Davis (1979)

• The Body, short story by Stephen King (1982)

• The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (1982)

• The Sheep-Pig, by Dick King-Smith (1983)

• Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card (1985)

• It, by Stephen King (1986)

• This Boy's Life, memoirs by Tobias Wolff (1989)

• What's Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges (1991)

• The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides (1993)

• Ghost World, graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (1993–1997)

• The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, novel by Chris Fuhrman (1994)

• The Zigzag Kid, by David Grossman (1994)

• Into the Widening World, a collection of 26 short fictional coming-of-age stories by 26 notable authors (published 1995)

• Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling (1997–2007)

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

• Alex Rider, by Anthony Horowitz (2000–till date)

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares (2001)

• Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (2001)

• Invincible, by Robert Kirkman (2003–2018)

• The Power of Five, by Anthony Horowitz (2005–2012)

• Winter's Bone, by Daniel Woodrell (2006)

• Call Me by Your Name, by André Aciman (2007)

• Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, by Peter Cameron (2007)

• The Enola Holmes Mysteries: The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer (2007)

• The Name of the Wind and the rest of The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (2007–present)

• Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain by Derek Landy (2007–2014; 2017–present)

• Goodnight Punpun, by Inio Asano (2007)

• Paper Towns, by John Green (2008)

• Homestuck, by Andrew Hussie (2009)

• The Summer I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han (2009–2011)

• The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by Emily M. Danforth (2012)

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews (2012)

• Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli (2015)

• Boy Erased: A Memoir, by Garrard Conley (2016)

• Bones & All, novel by Camille DeAngelis (2015)

• The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas (2017)

• Boy Swallows Universe, by Trent Dalton (2018)

• Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (2018)

• The Prom: The Novel, by Saundra Mitchell with Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin (2019)

In theatre

 * West Side Story (1957–present)
 * Oliver! (1960–present)
 * Miss Saigon (1989–present)
 * Once on This Island (1990–present)
 * Billy Elliot the Musical (2005–2016)
 * Spring Awakening (2006–2015)
 * Hadestown (2006–present)
 * 4000 Miles (2011–2013, 2022)
 * Choir Boy (2012–2019)
 * Dear Evan Hansen (2015–present)
 * Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2017–present)
 * Mean Girls (2017–present)
 * The Prom (2017–present)
 * & Juliet (2019–present)
 * Almost Famous (2019–present)
 * The Outsiders (2022–present)
 * How to Dance in Ohio (2022–2024)

In Manga and Anime
A large portion of the manga industry is dedicated to teenagers, such as Weekly Shōnen Jump and Weekly Shōnen Magazine and, therefore, a majority of said manga contains some aspects of the protagonist's growth. Coming-of-age stories are called Shujinkō-Seichōkei (主人公成長系), meaning "protagonist's growth type".

Manga

 * Ao Haru Ride (2011–2015)
 * Love Me, Love Me Not (2015–2019)
 * Naruto (1990 -2014)
 * My Hero Academia (2014–present)
 * Strobe Edge (2007–2010)

Anime

 * Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
 * The End of Evangelion (1997)
 * Kiki's Delivery Service (1998)
 * Eureka Seven (2005)

In film
In film, coming-of-age is a genre of teen films. Films in this subgenre include:

• Little Women (1933)

• Anne of Green Gables (1934)

• Captains Courageous (1937)

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)

• The Wizard of Oz (1939)

• Babes in Arms (1939)

• Pinocchio (1940)

• Little Men (1940)

• Bambi (1942)

• The Human Comedy (1943)

• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

• Great Expectations (1946)

• Oliver Twist (1948)

• The Blue Lagoon (1949)

• Cattle Drive (1951)

• The Red Badge of Courage (1951)

• East of Eden (1955)

• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

• The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959)

• Old Yeller (1957)

• Johnny Tremain (1957)

• The House of the Angel (1957)

• The 400 Blows (1959)

• the 1961 and 2021 film versions of West Side Story

• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

• David and Lisa (1962)

• The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)

• Oliver! (1968)

• Romeo and Juliet (1968)

• Kes (1969)

• Last Summer (1969)

• The Learning Tree (1969)

• The Last Picture Show (1971)

• Summer of '42 (1971)

• Walkabout (1971)

• Sounder (1972)

• American Graffiti (1973)

• Badlands (1973)

• Tom Sawyer (1973)

• Huckleberry Finn (1974)

• Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)

• Cooley High (1975)

• Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975)

• the original Star Wars Trilogy (1977–1983)

• Saturday Night Fever (1977)

• A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1978)

• Big Wednesday (1978)

• Grease (1978)

• Bloodbrothers (1978)

• Breaking Away (1979)

• Over the Edge (1979)

• Fame (1980)

• Foxes (1980)

• Ordinary People (1980)

• The Blue Lagoon (1980)

• Endless Love (1981)

• Gregory's Girl (1981)

• The Fox and the Hound (1981)

• The Last American Virgin (1982)

• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

• Flashdance (1983)

• The Outsiders (1983)

• Risky Business (1983)

• Rumble Fish (1983)

• Footloose (1984)

• Sixteen Candles (1984)

• The Karate Kid (1984)

• The Bay Boy (1984)

• The Color Purple (1985)

• the Back to the Future Trilogy (1985–1990)

• The Breakfast Club (1985)

• Fandango (1985)

• Heaven Help Us (1985) aka Catholic Boys

• Mischief (1985)

• Vision Quest (1985)

• Pretty in Pink (1986)

• Stand by Me (1986)

• Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

• Empire of the Sun (1987)

• Running on Empty (1988)

• Stand and Deliver (1988)

• Stealing Home (1988)

• Big (1988)

• Heathers (1988)

• The Delinquents (1989)

• Dead Poets Society (1989)

• Say Anything... (1989)

• The Little Mermaid (1989)

• A Brighter Summer Day (1989)

• Mermaids (1990)

• My Own Private Idaho (1991)

• Dogfight (1991)

• Boyz n the Hood (1991)

• The Man in the Moon (1991)

• Flirting (1991)

• A River Runs Through It (1992)

• A Bronx Tale (1993)

• Menace II Society (1993)

• Dazed and Confused (1993)

• This Boy's Life (1993)

• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

• The Man Without a Face (1993)

• The Thief and the Cobbler (1993)

• The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)

• There Goes My Baby (1994)

• Little Women (1994)

• The War (1994)

• The Lion King (1994)

• Babe (1995)

• The Basketball Diaries (1995)

• Empire Records (1995)

• Kids (1995)

• Clueless (1995)

• Whisper of the Heart (1995)

• Tom and Huck (1995)

• Romeo + Juliet (1996)

• Titanic (1997)

• Telling Lies in America (1997)

• All I Wanna Do (1998)

• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

• The Virgin Suicides (1999)

• The Wood (1999)

• The Iron Giant (1999)

• American Beauty (1999)

• Girl, Interrupted (1999)

• Almost Famous (2000)

• Billy Elliot (2000)

• Girlfight (2000)

• Bring It On (2000)

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

• Y tu mamá también (2001)

• Spirited Away (2001)

• The Princess Diaries (2001)

• Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

• the Harry Potter Franchise (2001–2011)

• The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)

• Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

• Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

• Thirteen (2003)

• The Motorcycle Diaries (2003)

• Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

• House of D (2004)

• 13 Going on 30 (2004)

• Lakshya (2004)

• Mean Girls (2004)

• Temporada de patos (2004)

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

• ATL (2006)

• Superbad (2007)

• Happy Days (2007)

• Hounddog (2007)

• Persepolis (2007)

• Juno (2007)

• The Poker House (2008)

• 35 Shots of Rum (2008)

• Let the Right One In (2008)

• The Reader (2008)

• Gamyam (2008)

• Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

• Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008)

• Fish Tank (2009)

• Bandslam (2009)

• Wake Up Sid (2009)

• How to Train Your Dragon (2010–2019)

• Winter's Bone (2010)

• Submarine (2010)

• Let Me In (2010)

• Pariah (2011)

• Hick (2011)

• Turn Me On, Dammit! (2011)

• Life of Pi (2012)

• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

• The Zigzag Kid (2012)

• The Spectacular Now (2013)

• The Kings of Summer (2013)

• The Way Way Back (2013)

• Wetlands (2013)

• Fukrey (2013)

• Boyhood (2014), which was filmed with the same cast over a period of twelve years

• Girlhood (2014)

• The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

• The Falling (2014)

• Mustang (2015)

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

• The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

• Dope (2015)

• Mistress America (2015)

• Paper Towns (2015)

• Coming Through the Rye (2015)

• Kerintha (2015)

• Sleeping Giant (2015)

• Yevade Subramanyam (2015)

• Inside Out (2015)

• The Peanuts Movie (2015)

• Moana (2016)

• Moonlight (2016)

• The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

• American Honey (2016)

• 20th Century Women (2016)

• 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (2016)

• Call Me by Your Name (2017)

• Hot Summer Nights (2017)

• Lady Bird (2017)

• It (2017)

• November Criminals (2017)

• Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi (2017)

• Coco  (2017)

• Eighth Grade (2018)

• Mid90s (2018)

• The Hate U Give (2018)

• Leave No Trace (2018)

• Boy Erased (2018)

• The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)

• Love, Simon (2018)

• To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

• Bumblebee (2018)

• The Grinch (2018)

• The King (2019)

• The Lion King (2019)

• Booksmart (2019)

• Little Women (2019)

• Yes, God, Yes (2019)

• Enola Holmes (2020)

• Onward (2020)

• Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (2020)

• Nahuel and the Magic Book (2020)

• The Half of It (2020)

• The Prom (2020)

• Cherry (2021)

• Chhello Show (2021)

• Luca  (2021)

• Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

• Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)

• There's Someone Inside Your House (2021)

• Licorice Pizza (2021)

• Encanto (2021)

• CODA (2021)

• The Hand of God (2021)

• The Black Phone (2021)

• Live Is Life (2021)

• Turning Red (2022)

• Aftersun (2022)

• Bones and All (2022)

• Egghead & Twinkie (2023)

• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)

• Barbie (film) (2023)

• Uproar (2023)

• Merrily We Roll Along (TBA)

• Inside Out 2 (2024)

Films featuring protagonists in particular age groups, such as pre-teens, are:
 * Melody (1971)
 * Pretty Baby (1978)
 * E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
 * My Girl (1991)
 * The Sandlot (1993)
 * Léon: The Professional (1994)
 * Crooklyn (1994)
 * Now and Then (1995)
 * The White Balloon (1995)
 *  Matilda (1996)
 * Ponette (1996)
 * Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
 * Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
 * The Florida Project (2017)
 * Jojo Rabbit (2019)
 * C'mon C'mon (2021)
 * The Fabelmans (2022)

or post-high school and college students, in films such as:
 * Love Story (1970)
 * Young People (1972)
 * Carrie (1976)
 * Animal House (1978)
 * Porky's (1981)
 * With Honors (1994)
 * Kicking and Screaming (1995)
 * Good Will Hunting (1997)
 * Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
 * American Pie (1999)
 * Ghost World (2001)
 * the Spider-Man film franchise (2002–present)
 * An Education (2009)
 * 3 Idiots (2009)
 * Whiplash (2014)
 * Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
 * Aanandam (2016)
 * Meesaya Murukku (2017)
 * Chhichhore (2018)
 * The Souvenir (2019)
 * Pink Skies Ahead (2020)
 * The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
 * Don (2022)

or people aged around 20 years old who do not go to college, such as:


 * Brooklyn (2015)
 * 'Sweet 20' (2017)

or in the case of unique coming-of-age stories centered on post-college aged individuals, such as:
 * All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
 * The Seven Year Itch (1955)
 * The Graduate (1967)
 * Charly (1968)
 * Taxi Driver (1976)
 * An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
 * St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
 * What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
 * Never Been Kissed (1999)
 * Old School (2003)
 * The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
 * Frances Ha (2012)
 * The Worst Person in the World (2021)
 * All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

In television
Coming-of-age television series include:

• 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020)

• Adventure Time (2010–2018)

• Amphibia (2019–2022)

• Anne with an E (2017–2019)

• Annika (1984)

• Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2011)

• Atypical (2017–2021)

• Boy Meets World (1993–2000)

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)

• Dawson's Creek (1998–2003)

• Degrassi franchise (1979–2017)

• * Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–2015)

• Di4ries (2022–present)

• The End of the F***ing World (2017–2019)

• Euphoria (2019–present)

• Everything Sucks! (2018)

• Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000)

• Girl Meets World (2014–2017)

• Girlboss (2017)

• Glee (2009–2015)

• Gossip Girl (2007–2012)

• Grand Army (2020–present)

• Gravity Falls (2012–2016)

• Happy Days (1974–1984)

• Heartstopper (2022–present)

• Hilda (2018–2023)

• I Am Not Okay with This (2020)

• Ladhood (2019–present)

• Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983)

• Love, Victor (2020–2022)

• The Lying Life of Adults (2023–)

• Malhação (1995–present)

• Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (2019–present)

• Ms. Marvel (2022)

• My Brilliant Friend (2018–)

• My So-Called Life (1994–1995)

• On My Block (2018–2021)

• One Day at a Time (2017–2020)

• One Summer (1983)

• Over the Garden Wall (2014)

• The Owl House (2020-2023)

• PEN15 (2019–2021)

• Prisma (2022–present)

• The Queen's Gambit (2020)

• The Sea Beyond (2020–)

• A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–2019)

• Sex Education (2019–present)

• Sintonia (2019–present)

• Skam (2015–2017)

• * SKAM Austin (2018–2019)

• Skins (2007–2013)

• Steven Universe (2013–2020)

• Stranger Things (2016–present)

• The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022–present)

• Teen Wolf (2011–2017)

• That 70's Show (1998–2006)

• Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022)

• We Are Who We Are (2020)

• We Bare Bears (2015–2019)

• Wednesday (2022–present)

• The Wonder Years (1988–1993)

• Anos Dourados (1986)

• Anos Rebeldes (1992)

• Young Royals (2021–present)

• Young Sheldon (2017–2024)

In video games

 * Life Is Strange (2015)