Graduation

  • Alice Sebold's _The Lovely Bones_ has some graduation scenes (at least one), though it is less obvious than the other books mentioned, but the murdered narrator's younger sister eventually graduates from college and this is an illustration of how one of the family members is able to function and succeed post-family trauma.
  • Rats Saw God_ Rob Thomas_ deals in large part with the transition between high school and college, and a good chunk of the narrative also grows out of the narrator's bargain with his counselor that he can graduate if he writes an extensive paper.
  • The Perks of Being A Wallflower_ by Stephen Chbosky is about a young adult (freshman or sophomore) in high school who has a circle of friends (and an older sister) who are all headed towards graduation. Although the main character is younger, he deals with the prospect of his friends being scattering to different locations post graduation, and that looms pretty heavily throughout the book.  There's also a graduation scene towards the end.
  • This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (The novel begins the day after graduation but mentions the ceremony, etc
  • TRIBES by Arthur Slade. High school senior Percy's mental and emotional anguish over the loss of his father and the suicide of his friend keep building as graduation gets closer.  Percy treats his world as an anthropological study,   categorizing his peers and the cliques they create as "tribes".
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