The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky
A shy freshman writes letters about friendship, first love, and hard truths as he finds his place in high school. Honest, tender, and with heavy themes. Read the full description
Best for: Older teens and adults, check content notes
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is #99 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 48 out of 100.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s reading interest has run from #67 to #89 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
The Perks of Being a Wallflower was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 406 times in the past 12 months, peaking in September 2025 with 70 (107% above its monthly average of 34). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were down 35% on the three months before. 88% of the adds were “want to read”, 4% “currently reading” and 8% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 279,946 times in the past 12 months, peaking in November 2025 with 29,022 views. The latest three months were up 9% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Adaptations
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower (film), 2012
Adaptations are listed from Wikidata; a release date near a rise in the charts above is context, not proof of a cause.
What the data says about The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Moderate swings. Monthly shelf adds averaged 34 with some ups and downs.
- Busiest and quietest months. September 2025 was its busiest month (70 adds), about 5.4 times its quietest, August 2026 (13).
- Against its genre. It had 35% fewer shelf adds than the average Young adult book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.4% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #83 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 1999 (27 years ago), it is older than 55% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #99 | 48 |
Is The Perks of Being a Wallflower rising or falling?
Cooling It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level.
On Open Library, The Perks of Being a Wallflower ranks outside the top 200 this week, #150 this month, and #158 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why The Perks of Being a Wallflower made the Top 100
The Perks of Being a Wallflower made the list mainly on reader love (+16.8 points) and momentum (+12.8 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.3). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have The Perks of Being a Wallflower open right now than 12% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Young adult books
It is #13 of the 13 Young adult books on this month’s list.
About The Perks of Being a Wallflower
A shy freshman writes letters about friendship, first love, and hard truths as he finds his place in high school. Honest, tender, and with heavy themes.
Why it’s here: It keeps finding readers who feel like outsiders, generation after generation.
Best for: Older teens and adults, check content notes
At a glance
- First published
- 1999-02-01
- Genre
- Young adult
- Also described as
- epistolary fiction, coming-of-age fiction, young adult fiction
- Length
- about 231 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 11 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 51 on Open Library
- Setting
- Pittsburgh
- Characters listed
- The Smiths, Charlie, Patrick, Sam, Craig
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Friendship
- Mental health
- Coming of age
What reading it is like
Told in letters. Vulnerable and candid.
At about 231 pages it is a medium-length read: roughly 5 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Contains abuse, sexuality and drug use, and is frequently challenged.
The premise
Charlie, a shy freshman, writes letters about friends, first love, and secrets he struggles to face. The book covers heavy topics with honesty and warmth.
What you’ll get
- A heartfelt coming-of-age story
- Letters as a format
- A cult favorite for teens
You might skip it if you find stories about trauma difficult.
Pairs well with: The Outsiders · The Fault in Our Stars
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #98 and #100
Questions about The Perks of Being a Wallflower
What rank is The Perks of Being a Wallflower on the Top 100 books?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is #99 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 48 out of 100.
Is The Perks of Being a Wallflower rising or falling?
Cooling. It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level. On Open Library, The Perks of Being a Wallflower ranks outside the top 200 this week, #150 this month, and #158 over the past year.
Why is The Perks of Being a Wallflower on the Top 100?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower made the list mainly on reader love (+16.8 points) and momentum (+12.8 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.3).
How many people are reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 142 readers currently reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, 2,515 who want to read it and 265 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has The Perks of Being a Wallflower had over the past year?
406 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak September 2025, 70); latest three months down 35% on the prior three; 279,946 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (up 9% over the latest three months); Adaptations on Wikidata: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is The Perks of Being a Wallflower best for?
Older teens and adults, check content notes.
Ask a question about The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Ask about this book's chart history, reading interest, or who it is for. Answers come from this page's data and can be wrong.
Answers are AI-written from BookWard’s own help content and can be wrong. Please do not share personal information: questions and answers may be saved and, if they are useful, shown on this site without your name.
How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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