Young Adults

Young adult books for readers ages twelve and up engage the awakening intellect and deepening emotional life that characterize adolescence — what Waldorf education calls the emergence of independent thinking and idealism. This collection of approximately 170 titles includes literary fiction, biography, philosophy, mythology, and coming-of-age narratives chosen for substance, beauty of language, and relevance to the questions teenagers carry.

Featured works range from Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival — the grail quest that anchors the Waldorf eleventh-grade curriculum — to modern classics by Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Ende (Momo, The Neverending Story), and Lloyd Alexander. Biographies of historical figures such as Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, and Mahatma Gandhi appear alongside introductions to philosophy, social justice, and ecological thinking. Charles Kovacs’ upper-school history narratives on the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the modern age serve both classroom use and independent reading.

For younger independent readers, see our Young Readers section. Parents and upper-school teachers looking for literature that honors adolescent intelligence without resorting to cynicism or sensationalism will find this collection at the Rudolf Steiner Bookstore thoughtfully assembled for that purpose.