Dead poet's society is a great book for teenagers. It is full of interesting teen characters who are trying to come up with answers to all sorts of questions. It also reveals to teens that private school is not full of "nerds" and is a lot more work then you could ever imagine.
The main character, Todd, was very shy and unsure of himself at the beginning of the book. He didn't talk much in class, and would stay in his room and study. Teens learned, from him, that you don't have to be shy, you can let yourself out, like Todd did after he read his poem in front of his English class. Another influential character was Neil. Neil's parents wanted him to have the best life possible, good grades, friends, and a good education, but they wanted him to have their life, not his own. So many teenagers go through the very same thing, and I think it was great that Neil decided to go into a play behind his parents back. It showed teens they cannot always live by other people, they need to make their own decisions. I didn't agree with Neil killing himself though, I think they should have made him a stronger person and have him pull through his situation. I feel the way they made it end could give teens the impression that suicide is the only way out, when it isn't. .
All of the characters acted like regular teens, which is a very good for a teen reader because they are more interesting to them. The characters liked to party, have fun, play sports, and just hang out with friends. I liked how the writer had a love story between, Knox and Chris, that didn't really work out, because most books would have had Knox win Chris, which, in reality, doesn't usually happen.
This book provided teens with extra insight into the world by showing them what private school is really like. Most teens have never gone to a private school and they expect it to be full of nerds that have no problems except for making sure they keep an A average.
