Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories (1962) by John Updike. "A & P" is one of the stories in this collection which contains stories about characters making choices and living with those choices as they grow.

The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger, a classic—and controversial—coming-of-age story. Holden Caulfield is kicked out of school—again—and decides to take a few days vacation before heading home.

25 & under Fiction edited by Susan Ketchin and Neil Giordano. A collection of stories by writers who are twenty-five years old or younger. It includes one story about the extraordinary outcome of an ordinary event that happens to a woman walking away from an A & P.

The Children of Perestroika Come of Age: Young People of Moscow Talk about Life in the New Russia (1994) by Deborah Adelman. What is it like to be a teenager in Moscow? Adelman interviews a cross-section of young people and finds that Russian youth face many of the same problems as their American counterparts.

Coming of Age: Short Stories About Youth & Adolescence (1993), edited by Bruce Emra. A collection of short stories about coming of age.

Minor Characters (1983) by Joyce Johnson. In this memoir, Johnson writes of what life was like for a woman in the company of the Beat writers during the 1950s.