So, same high school, different assignment. This time they need a coming of age/finding oneself/journey through life book that takes place anywhere but Europe or America. Fiction or non-fiction, but must be suitable to be read by a very modest high school student (ie, no sex or violence). I thought maybe some Julia Alvarez would work, maybe Poisonwood Bible (I can't remember if there's much sex in there) or Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (occasional drunkenness, but nothing too bad in there, if I remember correctly). I'm still searching.
Any other ideas???
Thanks!
A couple come to mind
Two written in English:
1) The Road From Coorain by Jill Ker Conway - growing up in the Australian outback (the best part of the book) and beyond. Memoir.
2) The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay - South Africa. Fiction with a male protagonist. Written about 1984, if I remember correctly. Some violence (he becomes a boxer) but not graphic or explicit.
There's lots of fantasy/science fiction out there that has what you want, with completely imaginary worlds, although that may not be what you are looking for. My personal favorite of these in the YA field would be Lois Lowry's The Giver. Recommended for adults too, which is a hard trick to pull off. Barron's guide to SF calls it "the best YA science fiction novel of the last twenty years". My take would be that there are very few YA novels of any kind that come close to this book.