The Bell Jar is intense. It's a book about subjugation, mental illness, and suicide, and its intensity can be a little off-putting for teens—Plath is a far cry from John Green. But that doesn't mean The Bell Jar isn't just as relevant to teen readers these days as, say, The Fault in Our Stars. You'll just have to do a bit more work connecting these dots for your students.

Here's a pretty timeless in for you: Esther is in the throes of an identity crisis for much of the book, just like pretty much every teen in the history of teenagers. So while the trimmings and trappings of her particular experience may seem pretty foreign to teen readers today, the feelings that lie at the heart of them are not. Who hasn't struggled to figure out who they want to be in the world and how to navigate society's expectations? Foreground this conundrum, and you'll help students stay connected to the text.