Weird Bildungsroman

Bildungsroman: A class of novel that depicts and explores the manner in which the protagonist develops morally and psychologically. These are examples which maybe a little different than your average coming of age novel.

Updated February 6, 2023
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Ender's game
Card, Orson Scott.
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game--adapted to film in 2013 starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford--is the classic Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novel of a young boy's recruitment into the midst of an...
It
King, Stephen 1947-
Paper Book
Stephen King's classic #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the massively successful films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two as well as inspiration for HBO Max's series It: Welcome to Derry--about seven adults who return to their hometown to...
The lightning thief
Riordan, Rick
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller | Now a series on Disney+ 12-year-old Percy Jackson discovers he is the son of Poseidon in the opener to the hilarious, fast-paced adventure fantasy series for young readers ages 10 and up The paperback edition of the...
We have always lived in the castle
Jackson, Shirley 1916-1965
Paper Book
Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly...
A wizard of Earthsea
Le Guin, Ursula K. 1929-2018
Paper Book
The first novel of Ursula K. Le Guin's must-read Books of Earthsea. Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. ...
A prayer for Owen Meany : a novel
Irving, John 1942-
Paper Book
"A remarkable novel. . . . A Prayer for Owen Meany is a rare creation. ... An amazingly brave piece of work ... so extraordinary, so original, and so enriching. . . . Readers will come to the end feeling sorry to leave [this] richly textured and carefully wrought world." --STEPHEN KING,...
Inkheart
Funke, Cornelia 1958-
Paper Book
From internationally acclaimed storyteller Cornelia Funke, the first book in the bestselling, magical epic. Inkheart is a modern classic that has stolen the hearts of generations of young readers. One cruel night, Meggie's father reads aloud from a book called INKHEART-- and an evil ruler...
Something wicked this way comes
Bradbury, Ray 1920-2012
Paper Book
The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. The shrill siren song of a calliope beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.