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Bildungsroman
“Blidungsroman.” “Coming-of-Age.” “Novel of Formation.” “Growing Up” J is 13 years old today and officially a teenager. It’s always been uncharted territory with him. He’s always been my mystery child. We’re always trying to figure out what we can do to make him comfortable and safe or what we should do to make sure he can have the best learning experiences possible. Why does he do the things he does? Why doesn’t he experience and feel the world the same way we do? But now, at 13, we’re starting a different type of uncharted territory. Our society eats up coming-of-age stories. YA stories are just dripping of wonderful, painful, angsty material. Go into any…