If someone has instructed you to read, write or analyze a story in the second-person narrative, you need to seek out material that offers a "you" point of view in the telling. The easiest way to identify this trait in a book is to literally flip through the pages searching for the word "you." Certain authors use the word "you" sparingly, so you need to dig deeper to identify with the point of view. If you find yourself in this situation, focus on the tone of the telling. If you feel like the writer is directly addressing you and pulling you into the story, you are most likely reading a second-person telling.
Writers often utilize a second-person narrative because it affords the luxury of personally engaging readers from the first page of the storytelling process. It's hard to not feel close to the characters and story action when you feel you're being individually addressed and drawn into the telling with the word "you." Another benefit is that once you've established an initial connection to the reader, every time that reader sees the word "you," he naturally feels like he's returned to the center of the action. Once you hook the reader into the story, he remains personally invested in watching it unfold.
Using a second-person narrative to tell a story gives the writer the ability to create a sense of immediacy in his narrative. Once the reader realizes that he's personally being addressed and that the writer desires to share information or insight with him directly, he innately engages with the story on a more active level. The difference is similar to being the driver of a car versus being the passenger in one: As the driver, you feel more in control of the interaction and therefore more strongly invested in the situation versus being a passenger who's simply along for the ride.
As much as a second-person narrative is an exciting perspective through which to read a story, it does create limitations and firmly establish boundaries for the writer. Second person limits the writer's ability to move further away from his subject matter, thus giving the reader a broader perspective of what's going on, both physically in the scene and psychologically in the characters' heads. For example, being able to move from one character's thoughts to another's, as is done in third-person narrative, opens up the story to various interpretations by the reader. A second-person narrative restricts reader interpretations to a single perspective.