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)^[1]
• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding (1749)^[2]
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne (1759)^[2]
• 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)^[3]
• All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (1929)
• 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)^[4]
• 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)^[5]
• 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)^[6]
• The Prom: The Novel, by Saundra Mitchell with Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin (2019)^[7]

In theatre

• West Side Story (1957–present)^[8]
• 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)

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".

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)^[11]
• The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959)
• Old Yeller (1957)
• Johnny Tremain (1957)
• The House of the Angel (1957)
• The 400 Blows (1959)^[11]
• the 1961 and 2021 film versions of West Side Story^[8]
• 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)^[11]
• 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)^[12]
• 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)^[11]
• The Karate Kid (1984)^[11]
• The Bay Boy (1984)
• The Color Purple (1985)
• the Back to the Future Trilogy (1985–1990)
• The Breakfast Club (1985)^[11][13]
• Fandango (1985)
• Heaven Help Us (1985) aka Catholic Boys
• Mischief (1985)
• Vision Quest (1985)
• Pretty in Pink (1986)
• Stand by Me (1986)^[11]
• Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
• Empire of the Sun (1987)^[11]
• Running on Empty (1988)
• Stand and Deliver (1988)
• Stealing Home (1988)
• Big (1988)^[11]
• Heathers (1988)
• The Delinquents (1989)
• Dead Poets Society (1989)^[11]
• Say Anything... (1989)
• The Little Mermaid (1989)
• A Brighter Summer Day (1989)
• Mermaids (1990)^[11]
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Dogfight (1991)
• Boyz n the Hood (1991)^[12][14]
• The Man in the Moon (1991)
• Flirting (1991)
• A River Runs Through It (1992)
• A Bronx Tale (1993)^[11]
• Menace II Society (1993)
• Dazed and Confused (1993)^[11][13]
• This Boy's Life (1993)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)^[11]
• 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)^[13]
• Clueless (1995)^[11]
• 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)^[12]
• The Iron Giant (1999)
• American Beauty (1999)
• Girl, Interrupted (1999)
• Almost Famous (2000)^[11]
• Billy Elliot (2000)
• Girlfight (2000)
• Bring It On (2000)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Y tu mamá también (2001)^[11][15]
• Spirited Away (2001)^[15][14]
• 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)^[14][15]
• Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
• Thirteen (2003)^[11]
• The Motorcycle Diaries (2003)
• Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
• House of D (2004)
• 13 Going on 30 (2004)
• Lakshya (2004)
• Mean Girls (2004)^[11][15]
• Temporada de patos (2004)
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)^[11][14]
• ATL (2006)
• Superbad (2007)^[11][13][14]
• Happy Days (2007)
• Hounddog (2007)
• Persepolis (2007)
• Juno (2007)^[11]
• 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)^[15]
• Bandslam (2009)
• Wake Up Sid (2009)
• How to Train Your Dragon (2010–2019)
• Winter's Bone (2010)
• Submarine (2010)^[13][14]
• Let Me In (2010)
• Pariah (2011)
• Hick (2011)
• Turn Me On, Dammit! (2011)^[16]
• Life of Pi (2012)
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)^[15]
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)^[11][15][14]
• The Zigzag Kid (2012)
• The Spectacular Now (2013)
• The Kings of Summer (2013)
• The Way Way Back (2013)
• Wetlands (2013)^[16]
• Fukrey (2013)
• Boyhood (2014), which was filmed with the same cast over a period of twelve years^[13][15]
• Girlhood (2014)^[16][15]
• 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)^[16]
• Dope (2015)^[12]
• Mistress America (2015)^[16]
• 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)^[13][15][14]
• The Edge of Seventeen (2016)^[16][15]
• American Honey (2016)
• 20th Century Women (2016)
• 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (2016)
• Call Me by Your Name (2017)^[13][15]
• Hot Summer Nights (2017)
• Lady Bird (2017)^[13][15][14]
• It (2017)
• November Criminals (2017)
• Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi (2017)
• Coco (2017)
• Eighth Grade (2018)^[15][14]
• Mid90s (2018)^[14]
• 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)^[15]
• Bumblebee (2018)
• The Grinch (2018)
• The King (2019)
• The Lion King (2019)
• Booksmart (2019)^[15]
• 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)^[14]
• 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)^[17]
• Live Is Life (2021)^[18]
• Turning Red (2022)
• Bones and All (2022)
• Egghead & Twinkie (2023)
• Merrily We Roll Along (TBA)
• Barbie (2023)

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)^[14]
• Léon: The Professional (1994)
• Crooklyn (1994)^[12]
• 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)^[19]
• Jojo Rabbit (2019)^[20]
• C'mon C'mon (2021)^[21]
• The Fabelmans (2022)^[22]

or post-high school and college students, in films such as:

• Love Story (1970)
• Young People (1972)
• Carrie (1976)^[11]
• Animal House (1978)
• Porky's (1981)
• With Honors (1994)
• Kicking and Screaming (1995)
• Good Will Hunting (1997)
• Can't Hardly Wait (1998)^[11]
• American Pie (1999)^[11]
• Ghost World (2001)
• the Spider-Man film franchise (2002–present)^[15][11]
• An Education (2009)^[11]
• 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)^[11]
• Charly (1968)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
• St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)^[11]
• Never Been Kissed (1999)
• Old School (2003)
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
• Frances Ha (2012)^[23]
• The Worst Person in the World (2021)^[24]
• All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
• Uproar (2023)

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)^[25]
• Heartstopper (2022–present)^[26]
• Hilda (2018–present)
• 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)^[27]
• 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)
• 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)^[28]
• We Are Who We Are (2020)
• We Bare Bears (2015–2019)
• Wednesday (2022–present)
• The Wonder Years (1988–1993)^[25]
• Anos Dourados (1986)
• Anos Rebeldes (1992)
• Young Royals (2021–present)

In video games

• Life Is Strange (2015)^[29]

References