Books about mental illness seem to be in the majority, compared to their picture book and middle grade counterparts. I think it’s important because the teenage years can be quite turbulent. It is also common that during this time some people begin to have symptoms of mental illness; others start in their early twenties.
Being a teenager is hard enough without the burden of mental illness. so I’m happy that these books on mental illness exist. the list below features selections with youth or their parents/family members dealing with mental illness. covered conditions include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcoholism, and eating disorders.
You are reading: Ya books about mental health
As with all of my lists, this list includes the best books I’ve ever read and others that have received high marks from reviewers I trust. It’s not a catalog of all the mental health books I could find, because there are so many!
Please note that some of these books feature suicidal characters which can be triggers for some people.
and books on mental illness (anxiety)
one way or another
adolescent with anxiety
Published: October 6, 2020
Sliding Doors brings together all the boys I’ve loved before in a sweet and clever holiday romance about a girl who decides to stop letting her anxiety get in the way of true love. the average person makes 35,000 decisions every day. That’s about 34,999 too many for Paige Collins, who lives with a debilitating fear of making the wrong decision.
The simple act of choosing an art elective is enough to send her into a spiral of hypothetical questions. What if she is destined to be a famous potter but wastes her talent in the drama club? What if there’s a carbon monoxide leak in the pottery studio and everyone drops dead? (Gloomy, but possible!) Which is why, when Paige is presented with two last-minute options for Christmas vacation, she is paralyzed by indecision. Should she go with her best friend (and lifelong crush) Fitz to her family’s romantic mountain cabin? Or should she accompany her mother to New York, a city that Ella Paige has dreamed of all her life?
Just when it looks like Paige is going to crack under the pressure of choice, fate intervenes, in the form of a slippery grocery store floor, and Paige’s life splits down two very different parallel paths. A road leads to New York where Paige falls in love with the city. . . and the charms of his unexpected tour guide. the other leads to the mountains where paige might finally get her chance with fitz. . . until his anxiety threatens to ruin everything. However, before Paige has a happy ending in any of his fates, he will have to face the truth about her struggles with anxiety and learn that you don’t have to be “perfect” to deserve the truth. love.
happily ever after
adolescent with anxiety
Published: January 5, 2021
sixteen-year-old tessa johnson has never felt like a protagonist in her own life. she has rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she is a true female lead is in her own writing: in the stunning love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and her #1 devoted reader. p>
When Tessa is accepted into a prestigious art school’s creative writing program, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. but when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just… gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in her own real-life love story. and she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps toward a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like something out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.
but as tessa checks off each item on caroline’s list, she drifts further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about, including the surprising bond she develops with Sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s on her way to having her own love story in real life, but is it the one she wants after all?
between you, me and the bees
adolescent with anxiety, panic attacks
Published: June 22, 2021
Josie Hazeldine just graduated from high school and is ready for a summer filled with sunshine, beekeeping, and… lying to her mom.
Josie’s mom couldn’t be more proud that her daughter went to college, something she never got to do. But Ella Josie wants to stay in her California hometown and take over her family business, Hazeldine Honey. So the college acceptance her mom is excited about? yes, josie turned him down. but she’s going to come clean, but not yet.
The neighbor’s adorable and artsy grandson who’s in town for the summer further entangles Josie’s web of lies. He likes Josie and the feeling is very mutual, but he’s a Blumstein: Hazelnut’s sworn enemy and their number one competition at the annual honey show in late July. As he continues his secret affair, Josie knows she’s getting too involved to leave him behind when the summer is over.
Can Josie stay with the guy she can’t stop thinking about without the secrets she’s juggling collapsing around her?
highly illogical behavior
adolescent with agoraphobia
Published: May 10, 2016
sixteen-year-old solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn’t left the house in three years, which is fine with him.
ambitious lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best college psychology program (she’s being realistic). but how can she prove herself that she deserves a place there?
Solomon is the answer.
Determined to “fix” Sol, Lisa steps into his life, sitting with him on Star Trek marathons and introducing him to her charming boyfriend Clark. Soon, the three teenagers are much closer than they thought they would be, and when their walls come crashing down, their friendships threaten to collapse as well.
a very illogical coming of age hilarious and touching behavior perfect for readers of matthew quick and rainbow rowell shows the different ways we hide from the world and how love, tragedy and the need for connection can be the only things that bring us back to the light.
eliza and her monsters
adolescent with anxiety, panic attacks
Published: May 30, 2017
Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of the popular webcomic Monsterous Sea, but when a new kid at school tempts her to live an offline life, everything she’s worked for begins to unravel.
>
Rainbow Rowell’s fangirl meets Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona in this acclaimed novel about art, fandom, and finding the courage to be yourself. “a must.”—school library magazine
In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, awkward, and has no friends. Online, Eliza is Lady Constellation, the anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monster Sea. With millions of followers and fans around the world, Eliza’s personality is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community.
then wallace warland transfers to her school and eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worth it. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built – her history of hers, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity – begins to unravel.
Featuring pages from the eliza webcomic as well as screenshots from eliza’s online forums, this uniquely formatted book will appeal to fans of nimona de noelle stevenson and fangirl rainbow rowell.
something like fine
adolescent with anxiety
Published: June 22, 2021
Senior year of high school is full of changes.
for hayley mills, these changes are not exactly welcome. all she wants is for everyone to forget her public meltdown and remember her as the achiever she once was, and who she is determined to be again. But it’s hard to be seen as an entrepreneur when she’s forced to take TV production classes with all the slackers like Lewis Holbrook.
for lewis, however, this is going to be his year. After spending a summer watching ’80s movies, he’s ready to transition from self-described fat, funny sidekick to leading man in his own life, including picking up the girl. the only thing standing in his way is, well, himself.
When the two meet in class, neither is particularly excited. But then they start making mini-documentaries about their classmates’ hidden talents, and suddenly Hayley is drawing attention for more than just her breakdown, and Lewis isn’t just a background character anymore. It seems like they both finally get what they want, except what happens when who you’ve become isn’t who you really are?
love, life and the list
parent with anxiety
Published: December 26, 2017
Seventeen-year-old abby turner’s summer isn’t going quite as planned. She has a not-so-secret but definitely unrequited crush on her best friend, Cooper. she has not been able to handle her mother’s growing anxiety problems. and now she’s been turned away from an art show because her work “has no heart.” So when she gets another chance to show her paintings, Abby won’t take any chances.
which is where the list comes in.
Abby gives herself a month to do ten things, ranging from facing a fear (#3) to learning a stranger’s story (#5) to falling in love (#8). she knows that if she can complete the list, she will become the kind of artist she always dreamed of being.
but as the deadline approaches, abby realizes that completing the list is not as easy as it seems. . . and that maybe, just maybe, she can’t change her art if she’s not willing to change herself first.
looking for audrey
adolescent with severe social anxiety
Published: June 9, 2015
An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. she has been making slow but steady progress with dr. sarah, but when she audrey meets linus, her brother’s playmate, she is energized. she connects with him. Audrey is able to talk about her fears with Linus in a way that she has never been able to with anyone before. As her friendship deepens and her recovery gathers momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops that helps not only Audrey but her entire family.
the land of mosquitoes
adolescent with anxiety
Published: March 3, 2015
After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is swept from her home in northern Ohio to the “badlands” of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated environment with her father and new stepmother. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns that her mother is sick in Cleveland. she so she abandons her new life and boards a greyhound bus heading north to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes some turns she never saw coming, she herself must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty and what it means to be sane. Told in an unforgettable, kaleidoscopic voice, Mosquitoland is a modern American odyssey that’s as funny as it is heartbreaking.
flying girls #2: micah, the good girl
adolescent with anxiety
Published: September 1, 2020
Micah Dupree had always liked being the “good girl.” she was happy painting, going to church and excelling in her school projects. after all, she had a perfect older brother to live up to. But when she unexpectedly dies, Micah’s world is turned upside down. With her anxiety growing out of her, a serious boyfriend on the scene, and new feelings surfacing, Micah begins to wonder what it really means to be the “good girl”…and if it’s worth it, anyway.
With simple text and captivating characters, flyy girls is a perfect series for readers of any level.
a kind of silent thunder
adolescent with selective mutism
Published: January 9, 2018
A girl who can’t speak and a boy who can’t hear embark on a journey of self-discovery and find mutual support in this gripping and emotionally resonant novel by bestselling author Sara Barnard. perfect for morgan matson and jandy nelson fans.
steffi doesn’t speak, but she has a lot to say. rhys can’t hear, but she can hear.
steffi has been a selective molt for most of her life. the name of her condition has always struck her as ironic, because she certainly doesn’t “choose” not to speak. in fact, she would give anything to be able to speak as easily and often as everyone around her. She suffers from crippling anxiety, and uncontrollably, in most situations, she just can’t open her mouth to get the words out.
steffi has been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. but rhys, the new kid in school, sees her. he is deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means she is assigned to help him acclimatize. To Rhys, it doesn’t matter that Steffi doesn’t talk. As they find ways to communicate, Steffi discovers that she does have a voice and that she is falling in love with the only person who makes her feel brave enough to use it. But as she begins to overcome a lifelong challenge, she is soon faced with questions about the nature of her own identity and the very essence of what it is to know another person.
sparrow
adolescent with social anxiety; suicide attempt
Published: October 10, 2017
sparrow has always had a hard time making friends. She always preferred to stay home on weekends with his mother, a rich IT executive at a Manhattan bank, reading or bird watching, than playing with other children. and that has made school a lonely experience for her. she has made life a lonely experience.
but when the only teacher who really understood her, mrs. wexler, the school librarian, a woman who let her have lunch in the library office instead of hiding in a bathroom, a woman who shared her passion for novels and knew exactly which ones she loved, is killed in a car freak accident, Sparrow’s world falls apart and she is found on the roof of her school in an apparent suicide attempt.
With the help of an insightful therapist, Sparrow finally reveals the truth about her inner life. and it is here that he discovers a way out in rock & music roll…
starfish
adolescent with social anxiety
Published: September 26, 2017
a beautiful and emotionally resonant debut novel about a half-Japanese teenager dealing with social anxiety and her narcissistic mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school.
kiko himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what’s on his mind. With a mother who makes her feel ordinary and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she gets to the art school of her dreams, Prisma, her real life will begin. /p>
but then kiko doesn’t fit into the prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with his family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the West Coast, Kiko seizes her opportunity despite the anxieties and fears they try to stop her. And now that she is finally free to be herself outside the restrictive walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.
From first-time author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous and heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that comes when we embrace ourselves.
under rose-tinted skies
adolescent with agoraphobia
Published: January 3, 2017
Norah has agoraphobia and OCD. when groceries are left on the porch, she can’t go out to get them. Struggling to hook the bags with a stick, she meets Luke. she’s sweet and funny, and he just caught her fishing for groceries. because of course she did. she norah can’t leave the house, but can she let someone in? As her friendship deepens, Ella Norah realizes that Luke deserves a normal girl. one who can lie on the front lawn and gaze at the stars. one that is not so screwed. Readers themselves will fall in love with Norah in this poignant, humorous and deeply engaging portrait of a teenage girl struggling to find the strength to face her demons.
this is my brain in love
adolescent with anxiety
Published: April 14, 2020
jocelyn wu only has three wishes for her junior year: get through without dying of boredom, direct a short film with her best friend priya venkatram, and spend at least two months of the year without being compared or confused. with Peggy Chang, the only other Chinese girl in her grade. will domenici has two goals: to find a paid summer internship and to prove that he has what it takes to become the editor of her school’s newspaper.
Jocelyn’s father then tells her that her family’s restaurant may be going under and all the wishes are gone. Because her dad has the marketing skills of a dumpling, Jocelyn and Will, her unlikely new employee, must bring an extra Chinese garden into the 21st century (or, at least, into Facebook). What starts out as a rocky association soon turns into something more. But family prejudice and A-Plus’s uncertain future threaten to tear Will and Jocelyn apart. It will take everything they have and more to save the family restaurant and their budding romance.
and books on mental illness (depression)
it’s a funny story
adolescent with depression, attempted suicide
Published: September 25, 2010
like many ambitious teens in new york city, craig gilner sees admission to manhattan executive pre-professional high school as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed in life, which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college and getting the right job, Craig studies day and night to pass the entrance exam, and he does. that’s when things start to go crazy. At her new school, Craig realizes that she’s not bright compared to the other kids; he is just average, and maybe not even that. he soon sees his once-perfect future crumble.
the amazing color of the after
parental suicide
Published: March 20, 2018
leigh chen sanders is absolutely certain of one thing: when her mother committed suicide, she turned into a bird. Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. there, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In searching for her, she ends up chasing ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the very day she kissed her best friend and lifelong secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life. her. she alternating between reality and magic, past and present, hope and despair. , the amazing color of after is a luminous debut novel about finding oneself through family history, art, bravery, and love.
great darius is not well
adolescent with depression
Published: August 28, 2018
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. he is a fractional persian, half, on his mother’s side, and his first trip to iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he is sure things will be the same in Iran. his clinical depression doesn’t exactly help, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents just complicates things. then darius meets sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they spend their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s skyline. sohrab calls him darioush, the original persian version of his name, and darius has never felt more himself than now that he is darioush with sohrab. Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who has ever not felt good enough, then he met a friend who makes him feel much better than good.
the memory of light
adolescent with depression, suicide attempt, psychiatric hospitalization
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Published: January 26, 2016
This beautiful real-world novel from Marcelo author about life after a suicide attempt is perfect for fans of All the Bright Places and Thirteen Reasons Why. When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the mental disorder ward at Lakeview Hospital, she knows one thing: after her suicide attempt, she shouldn’t be alive. but she then she meets mona, the live wire; gabriel, the saint; e.m., always angry; and Dr. desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview and offer her an acceptance she’s never had. But Vicky’s newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group apart, sending Vicky back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. she may not have them. she doesn’t know. Inspired in part by the author’s own experience with depression, Memory of the Light is a rare young adult novel that focuses not on the events that lead to a suicide attempt, but on one’s recovery, on living when life doesn’t seem worth living, and how we carry on anyway.
advantages of being an outcast
adolescent with depression
Published: September 24, 2019
Stephen Chbosky’s critically acclaimed debut novel follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. first dates, family drama and new friends. sex, drugs and the rocky horror picture show. devastating loss, young love and life on the sidelines. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and heartwarming roller-coaster days known as growing up.
A #1 New York Times Bestseller for over a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of print copies, this novel for teenage readers (or older “wallflowers”) will have you laughing, crying, and maybe nostalgic for those times when you, too, tiptoed onto life’s dance floor. p>
home, home
adolescent with depression and anxiety; suicide attempt
Published: May 26, 2020
moving from trinidad to canada was not his idea. but after being hospitalized for depression, her mother sees it as her only option. now, living with an estranged aunt she barely remembers and dealing with her “her problems” in a foreign country, she feels more lost than ever.
everything in canada is cold and confusing. no one says hello, no one walks anywhere, and the bus rides are endless and noisy. She just wants to be home in Trinidad where her only friend goes to school and Sunday church service like she used to do.
But this new home also brings unexpected surprises: the opportunity for a family that loves unconditionally, the possibility of new friends, and the promise of a hopeful future. Although you don’t see it yet, Canada is a place where you can feel at home, if only you can find the courage to be honest with yourself.
looking for alaska
adolescent with depression
Published: March 3, 2005
first drink. first prank first friend. first love.last words. miles halter is fascinated by the famous last words and tired of the safe life of him at home. he leaves for boarding school to seek out what the dying poet françois rabelais called “the great perhaps”. he has plenty waiting for miles at culver creek, including alaska young, who will lure miles into his maze and catapult him into the big maybe. Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this impressive debut marked the arrival of bestselling author John Green as an innovative new voice in contemporary fiction.
who played this song?
adolescent with depression
Published: September 24, 2019
Stuck in the sunny, sultry suburbs of a small town, seventeen-year-old Morgan knows why she’s in therapy. she can’t count the number of times she’s been the only non-white person at the sleepover, she’s been teased for her “weird” outfits and told she’s not “really” black. she also has spent most of her summer crying in bed. so she is that too.
Lately, it feels like the whole world is listening to the same terrible song over and over, and it’s telling them how to feel, who to vote for, what to believe. Morgan wonders, when will she be able to turn off this song and start living for herself?
Loosely based on her own teenage life and diaries, this incredible debut from award-winning poet Morgan Parker will have readers stand up and applaud a girl brave enough to live life on her own terms and for themselves.
my heart and other black holes
adolescent with depressions; suicidal ideation
Published: February 10, 2015
Aysel, a sixteen-year-old physics nerd, is obsessed with planning her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without flinching, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothing.
There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicidal Couples, Ella Aysel Ella is convinced that she has found the solution: Roman, a teenager haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner.
Although Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly begin to fill each other’s broken lives. But as her suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question if she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can unlock the potential of his energy together.
the last time we said goodbye
sibling suicide
Published: February 10, 2015
From the new york times bestselling author cynthia comes a dazzling and heartbreaking novel about love and loss, which the book list called “at once excruciatingly painful and full of life and hope” in a featured review.
ever since his brother, tyler, killed himself, lex has been trying to keep his grief under lock and key and forget what happened that night. But as she begins to rebuild her life, her family and her friends, Lex is haunted by a secret she hasn’t told anyone: a text Tyler sent that could have changed him. everything.
someone else now
parent with severe depression
Published: February 23, 2021
Before she kissed one of the Cohen boys, seventeen-year-old Jessi Rumfield knew what it was like to have a family, even if, technically, that family didn’t belong to her. she had spent her childhood next door, challenging rowan cohen to tennis matches while her older brother luke studied in the background and mel took care of the three of them like mother jessi always wished she had. .
but then everything changed. It’s been almost a year since Jessi last visited the Cohen house. rowan is gone. Mel is in remission and Luke hates Jessi for her role in breaking up the family from her. Jessi now spends her days at a dead-end summer job avoiding her real mother, who suddenly wants to play a part in Jessi’s life after being away for so long. But when Luke gets home from college, it’s hard to ignore the past. And when she asks Jessi to pretend to be her girlfriend during the last months of Mel’s life, Jessi finds herself drawn back into the world of the Cohens. Everything has changed, but Jessi can’t help but want to be a cohen, even if it means playing pretend for one last summer.
there’s no place like it
father with depression in rehabilitation
Published: May 21, 2019
by christina june, the author began with goodbye and wherever you want to be, there is no place like here, a modern version of hansel and gretel.
ashlyn zanotti has big plans for the summer. she just spent a year in boarding school and can’t wait to go home. But when Ashlyn’s father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a halfway house for “burnout,” also known as depression, her life is turned upside down.
the icing on the cake? Ashlyn’s dad sends her to work with a cousin she doesn’t even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed “indoor girl,” not even Ash’s habit of leaving breadcrumbs, inspirational sayings that she scribbles everywhere, can help her cope.
With a dangerously sloppy camp manager doling out the hard work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little childhood drama to wrestle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the hardest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her father’s marching orders, or find the courage to finally face her father and have any hope of finding her way back. home.
Fans looking for stories with elements of drama, romance, friendship, and an unflinching gaze to navigate and improve even the most difficult parent-teen relationships need look no further.
when the truth is revealed
adolescent with depression, attempted suicide
Published: January 8, 2019
last month, elin attempted suicide.
She knows she’s lucky her parents found her in time. she’s lucky to go to the prom with her three best friends, just like any other teenager. as if she had never been. And if she has anything to say about it, no one but her best friends will know that she did it.
jenna, rosie and ket will do anything to keep elin’s secret and make sure it never happens again. That’s why they’re determined to make prom night feel like last spring was uneventful. This could be the night that convinces Elin that life can go back to what it was.
except at the prom, elin goes missing.
Now it’s up to her friends to find her. but each of the girls has their own demons to face. ket is being blackmailed by an ex. rosie is falling in love for the first time. and jenna. . .
jenna is falling apart.
and no one, not even his best friends, knows why.
Heartbreaking and utterly impossible to put down, When the Truth Reveals follows four friends as they confront their greatest hopes and darkest secrets during one night that will change their lives.
all the things we never said
adolescent with depression and anxiety; suicidal ideation
Published: July 11, 2019
16-year-old mehreen miah’s anxiety and depression, or “chaos” as she calls it, have taken over her life, to the point where she can’t take it anymore. her so she joins mementomori, a website that matches people with their partners and assigns them a date and method of death, ‘the pact’. Mehreen is paired with Cara Saunders and Olivia Castleton, two strangers facing serious issues of their own.
While they secretly meet over the next few days, Mehreen develops a strong bond with Cara and Olivia, the only people who seem to understand what she’s going through. But ironically, what brought them together to commit suicide has also created a mutually supportive friendship that makes them realize that, with the right help, life is worth living. It’s not long before all three want out of the pact. But in a terrifying twist of fate, the website won’t let them stop and an increasingly sinister game begins, with mementomori pitting the girls against each other.
a pact is a pact, after all.
In this powerful debut written in three viewpoints, Yasmin Rahman has crafted a poignant and moving novel that celebrates life. all the things we never said are about friendship, strength, and survival.
verona comics
adolescent with anxiety
Published: April 21, 2020
jubilee has it all together. She’s an elite cellist and when she’s not working at her step-mother’s independent comic shop, she’s preparing for the biggest audition of her life.
ridley is barely holding it together. Her parents own the largest chain of comic book stores in the country, and Ridley can’t help but disappoint them, that is, even when they’re paying attention.
They meet one fateful night at a comic book convention prom, and the two can’t help but fall in love with each other. Too bad their parents are at each other’s throats whenever they can, making a relationship between them nearly impossible. . . unless they manage to keep it a secret.
On the other hand, the enmity between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley’s anxiety mounts, Jubilee tries to help, but she finds herself torn between hearing her rapidly approaching and her relationship becoming more intense. What if love can’t conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give?
and books on mental illness (bipolar disorder)
the surprising power of a good ball of dough
father with bipolar disorder, adolescent with depression, psychiatric hospitalization
Published: November 10, 2020
anna chiu has her hands full. when she’s not taking care of her brother and sister or helping out in her father’s restaurant, she’s taking care of her mother, whose debilitating mental illness keeps her in bed most days. Rory, her dad’s new delivery boy, is a welcome distraction and, though she knows things aren’t going well at home, she begins to feel like she could be a normal teenager. from bad to worse. And as her mother’s condition worsens, Anna and her family question everything they understand about themselves and others. , and family. The strong themes of it are balanced by a beautiful romance that makes for an enjoyable but important read.
when we collide
adolescent with bipolar disorder; father with depression
Published: April 5, 2016
Seventeen-year-old Jonah Daniels has lived in Verona Cove, California his whole life, and only one thing has changed: his father used to be alive and now he’s gone. With a mother lost in a deep bout of depression, Jonah and her five siblings struggle to keep their home and restaurant left by her father. But at the beginning of summer, a second change arrives: Vivi Alexander, the new girl in town.
vivi is in love with life. she’s charming and unfiltered, she refuses that the medicine she’s been told should make her feel better. After meeting Jonah, she slips into the Daniels’ house with no problem, winning over each brother with her imagination and playfulness. But it’s not long before Vivi’s zest for life begins to waver. soon her adventurous spirit turns into an all-out pursuit of danger.
Through every up and down, Vivi and Jonah’s love is put to the test. . . But what happens when love just isn’t enough?
breathes like water
adolescent with bipolar disorder
Published: May 19, 2020
susannah ramos has always loved water. Susannah, a swimmer whose early talent made her a world champion, was poised for greatness in a sport that demands so much from her youngsters. But an unexplained slowdown has put her dream in jeopardy, and Susannah is struggling to keep her career afloat when two important people enter her life: a new trainer with a revolutionary training strategy, and a charming fellow swimmer named Harry Matthews.
As Susannah begins her long and painful climb back to the top, her friendship with Harry turns into a passionate and supportive love. But Harry faces her own challenges, and even as their bond draws them closer, other forces work to tear them apart. As he struggles to balance her needs with those of the people he cares about most, Susannah will learn the cost and beauty of trying to achieve something extraordinary.
all the bright places
adolescent with bipolar disorder
Published: January 6, 2015
the new york times best-selling love story about two teenagers who find themselves on the edge of the abyss.theodore finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways in which he could kill himself, but every day he too searches for, and manages to find, something to keep him here, alive and awake.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting down the days until graduation when she can escape her small town Indiana and her grief over the recent death of her sister. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the school’s bell tower—six stories above the ground—it’s unclear who saves whom. soon it is only with violet that the chaffinch can be itself. And it is only with finches that Violet can forget to count the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s world begins to shrink. . . .
and books on mental illness (ocd)
turtles to the bottom
teenager with OCD
Published: October 10, 2017
Zaza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but a $100,000 reward is on the line and his best and most intrepid friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and wide divides that separate them from Pickett’s son, Davis.
aza is trying. she’s trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while she lives inside the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
until the last word
teenager with OCD
Published: June 16, 2015
If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling.
samantha mcallister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the slicked back hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret her friends would never understand: Sam has a purely obsessive OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off.
Guessing your every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that your lifelong friends turn toxic at the first sign of the wrong outfit, the wrong lunch, or the wrong crush. However, she knows that she would be really crazy if she left the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep the new friend a secret from her with a refreshingly unflappable sense of humor, along with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist.
Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a close-knit group of misfits who have been largely ignored by the school. Sam is immediately attracted to them, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verses, and she begins to discover a whole new side of herself. she slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than ever as part of the popular crowd. . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and everything she holds dear.
the rest of us live here
adolescent with ocd; adolescent with an eating disorder
Published: October 6, 2015
what if you’re not the chosen one? The one that he’s supposed to fight zombies, or soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the hell this new thing is, with the blue lights and death?
what if you’re like mikey? who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask henna out before someone goes and blows up high school. again.
Because sometimes there are bigger problems than the end of the world this week, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.
even if cougars love your best friend.
the weight of our sky
teenager with OCD
Published: February 5, 2019
Melati Ahmad looks like your average sixteen year old who goes to the movies and is obsessed with the beatles. However, unlike most other sixteen-year-olds, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn within her, one that threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of death. count and tap to keep him satisfied.
but there are things melati can’t protect her mother from. On the night of May 13, 1969, racial tensions in his hometown of Kuala Lumpur erupt. The Chinese and the Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother are separated by a burning city.
with a 24 hour curfew and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a chinese boy named vincent and all the courage and determination in melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, his own prejudices. , and his djinn’s growing power to return to the one person he can’t risk losing.
ocd love story
teenager with OCD
Published: July 23, 2013
when bea meets beck, she knows instantly that he is her kind of crazy. sweet, strong, a little messy beck understands her like no one else can. he makes her feel almost normal. he makes her feel like she could fall in love with her again.
but despite her feelings for beck, bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who’s beautiful and magnetic…and has no idea bea exists. but bea knows a lot about him. she spends a lot of time watching him. she has a diary full of notes. some might even say she’s obsessed.
bea tells herself she has it all under control. but this is not a choice, it is a compulsion. the truth is that she is breaking down…and she could end up breaking her own heart.
six goodbyes we never said
adolescent with OCD, generalized anxiety
Published: September 24, 2019
two teenagers meet after a tragedy and learn about love, loss and letting go
naima rodriguez doesn’t want your patronizing sympathy as she mourns her father, her hero, a fallen marine. she’ll hate you forever if you ask her to open up and remember him “as she was,” though that’s all her loving family wants her to do to control her complex obsessive-compulsive disorder. she’d rather everyone back off as she separates her marshmallows from lucky charms into six, always six, ziploc bags, all the while avoiding friends and people and living the life her father so desperately wanted for her.
dew respectfully requests a little more time to process the sudden loss of his parents. she’s stirring up a flood of secret anxieties, so she’s counting on her trusty voice recorder to convey the things she couldn’t otherwise say out loud. she really could use a friend to navigate a life filled with pain and loss and all the beautiful moments in between. and then he meets naima and everything changes, but not in the way he or she expects.
candace ganger’s six farewells we never said are not a love story. if you ask naima, it’s not even a similar story. but it’s a story about love and fear and how sometimes you need a little help to be brave enough to say goodbye.
all our broken pieces
teenager with OCD
Published: May 7, 2019
You can’t keep apart two people who are meant to be together for a long time. . .
Lennon Davis doesn’t believe in much, but he does believe in the safety of number five. if she turns on the bedroom light switch five times, maybe her new school won’t suck. but that doesn’t feel right, so she flips the switch back on. and again. ten more flicks of the switch and maybe her new stepfamily will accept her. twenty-five more movies and maybe she won’t cause the deaths of any more loved ones. fifty more and she can finally go to sleep. kyler benton witnesses this pattern of lights from the safety of her tree house in the yard next door. Only there, hidden from the prying eyes of his classmates, can Kyler fill his notebooks with lyrics that reveal the boy’s true scars behind the oversized hoodies and caustic humor. but kyler finds that descriptions of blond hair, sad eyes and thrashing fingers are beginning to fill the pages of his notebooks. Lennon, the lonely neighbor his father has warned him about, infiltrates his mind. Even though she has enough to deal with without Lennon’s rumored tragic past in her life, Kyler can’t help but want to know the truth about her new muse.
and books on mental illness (schizophrenia)
I made you up
adolescent with schizophrenia
Published: May 19, 2015
It turns out that reality is often not what you perceive it to be; sometimes, there really is someone who wants to catch him. For fans of the Silver Linings Playbook and The Liar, this thought-provoking debut tells the story of Alex, a high school senior, and the quintessential unreliable narrator, unable to tell the difference between the real life and illusion.
alex fights a daily battle to discover what is real and what is not. Armed with a take no prisoners attitude, her camera, a magic 8-ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to enter university. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until she runs into Miles. Didn’t she imagine it? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual teenage rites of passage. but alex is used to being crazy. she is not ready for the normal. can she trust herself? can we trust her?
deep challenging
adolescent with schizophrenia
Published: November 4, 2020
winner of the national book award and the golden comet
A captivating novel about mental illness that lingers long past the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman.
Caden Bosch is on a ship headed to the deepest point on earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Mariana Trench. Caden Bosch is a bright high school student whose friends are beginning to notice his strange behavior. Caden Bosch is appointed the ship’s resident artist to document the voyage with images. Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team, but spends her days walking miles, absorbed in the thoughts in his head. Caden Bosch is torn between his loyalty to the captain and the allure of mutiny.Caden Bosch is torn.
challenger deep is a deeply powerful and personal novel from one of today’s most admired teen writers. Laurie Halse Anderson, award-winning author of Speak Up, calls Profound Challenge “a brilliant journey through the dark sea of the mind; scary, sensitive and powerful. simply extraordinary.”
and books on mental illness (eating disorders and body dysmorphia)
winter girls
adolescent with anorexia
Published: March 19, 2009
“dead girl walking”, say the boys in the corridors. “tell us your secret”, whisper the girls, from one bathroom to another. I am that girl. I am the space between my thighs, daylight shines through. I am the bones they want, wired in a porcelain frame.
lia and cassie are best friends, winter girls frozen in matchstick bodies, competing in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. but what comes after size zero and size double zero? When Cassie succumbs to inner demons, Lia feels the restless spirit of her friend haunting her.
In her most lyrical and emotionally wrenching book since the multi-award winning speech, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the mighty vortex of anorexia and her painful road to recovery.
paperweight
adolescent with eating disorder
Published: July 7, 2015
Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. in his life. in his body and now in an eating disorder treatment center in the dusty desert outskirts of new mexico.
life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at mealtime, escort her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid.
Her father signed her up for sixty days of treatment. but what no one knows is that she stevie doesn’t plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days left until the anniversary of Ella’s brother Josh’s death, the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days left until she ends her life, too.
Paperweight follows the journey of seventeen-year-old stevie as he struggles not only with a life-threatening eating disorder, but with the question of whether he can ever find absolution for the mistakes of his past…and if he really deserves it.
the new david espinoza
adolescent with body dysmorphia
Published: February 11, 2020
david espinoza is tired of being bothered. When a video of him getting knocked down by a bully’s slap in the face goes viral at the end of junior year, David vows to use the summer to get stronger, do whatever it takes to become a man, and surprise everyone when school starts again. fall.
Soon David will be spending all his time and money at Iron Life, a nearby gym full of bodybuilders. frustrated with his slow progress, his life finally turns to his muscle gain. as he says in the iron wall of life, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
as david falls into the dark side of the bodybuilding world, searching for his ideal body at all costs, he will have to deal with the fact that it could actually cost him everything.
and books on mental illness (ptsd)
the impossible knife of memory
father with ptsd
Published: January 7, 2014
For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying in one place for long as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. now they are back in the town where he grew up so hayley can go to school. Maybe, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories of her, even have a relationship with Finn, the cute boy who obviously likes her but hides his own secrets from her. p>
Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrifying memories drag him to the brink of hell and the drugs push him to the ground? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.
girl against the universe
adolescent with ptsd
Published: May 17, 2016
from the art author of lainey and liars, inc. comes a fresh, contemporary story about a girl dealing with PTSD and the boy who wants to help her overcome the past. perfect for fans of sarah dessen or jenny han.
Sixteen-year-old Maguire knows the universe is against him. no matter how many charms she buys online or how many good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when she’s around. Like that time the roller coaster went off the rails. Or the time his brother, his father, and his uncle died in a car accident, and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch. despite what her therapist tells her about him, maguire thinks it’s best to hide in his room, away from anyone he might accidentally hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star who wants to help her break her losing streak. Ella Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for him is to stay away from her, but it turns out that staying away may be harder than she thought.
just listen
adolescent with post-traumatic stress disorder; adolescent with eating disorder
Published: February 28, 2008
Last year, Annabel was “the girl who has everything,” at least that’s the role she played in the Kopf department store TV commercial. the exciting sophie left her, there was no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic and there was no one for her to sit down to lunch with. her until she meets owen armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to telling the truth. With owen’s help, maybe annabel can face what happened the night she and sophie stopped being friends.
a heart in a body in a world
adolescent with ptsd
Published: September 18, 2018
then…
annabelle’s life was not perfect, but it was full, full of friends, family, love. and a boy…whose attention annabelle found both flattering and unsettling.
until that attention intensified.
now…
annabelle is running. fleeing the pain and tragedy of the past year. Alone with her grandfather and her journal she fills with words she can’t say out loud, Annabelle races from Seattle to Washington, DC, and toward a destination she doesn’t understand but is determined to achieve. With every beat of her heart, every step of her feet, Annabelle gets closer to the healing and strength she discovers within herself to let love and hope come back into her life. /p>
annabelle’s journey is the ultimate testament to the human heart and how it goes on after it’s been broken.
the lucky ones
adolescent with ptsd
Published: April 7, 2020
may is a survivor. but she doesn’t feel like one. she feels angry. and lost and alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to leave the band room that day. no one understands what she went through, no one saw or heard what she did. no one can understand how it feels to be her.
Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends dumped him and now he hangs out with his little sister…and the only true friend left. His best friend is needy and demanding, but he won’t let Zach fade into himself. That’s how Zach ends up at band rehearsal that night. the same night he may go with his best friend to an audition for a new band.
which is how may meets zach. and how zach meets may. and how they could both realize that survival might be an option after all.
and books on mental disorders (alcohol use disorder)
twelve steps to normality
father with alcoholism
Published: March 13, 2018
kira’s twelve steps to a normal life
1. accept grams is gone 2. learn to forgive dad 3. win back best friend’s ex-boyfriend…
and somewhere between 1 and 12, realize that when your parent is an alcoholic, there is no such thing as “normal.”
When Kira’s father checks into rehab, she is forced to leave everything behind: her home, her best friends, her boyfriend…everything she loves. Now her father is sober (again) and Kira returns home, determined to get her life back on track…exactly as it was before she was sent away.
but is that what kira really wants?
Life, love and loss come together in this visceral and moving story from buzzfeed writer farrah penn about a girl who struggles to piece together the fragments of her once-normal life before her alcoholism shattered her. .
and books on mental illness (hoarding disorder)
the agony of the bun o’keefes
father with hoarding disorder
Published: September 5, 2017
It’s Newfoundland, 1986. Fourteen-year-old Bun O’Keefe has lived a lonely life in an unsafe and unhealthy home. his mother is a compulsive hoarder and bun has had little contact with the outside world. what he has learned about life comes from the random books and old vhs tapes he finds in the boxes and bags his mother brings home. bun and his mom rarely talk, so when bun’s mom tells bun to go away one day, she does. hitchhiking out of town, bun ends up on the streets of st. John’s, Newfoundland.
Fortunately, the first person she meets is the busker, a busker who senses her naivety and takes her in. together they live in a house with an eclectic cast of characters: chef, a hotel dishwasher with culinary dreams; Cher, a drag queen with a tragic past; big eyes, a Catholic schoolgirl desperately trying to reinvent herself; and the owner, a man who is told to avoid at all costs. Through her experiences with her new roommates and their sometimes tragic revelations, Bun learns that the world extends beyond the walls of her mother’s house and discovers the joy of being part of a new family, a family of friends who care.
there they are: 52 books for young adults on mental illness. I hope you find some of these books useful. Fortunately, many of the selections on this list are more light-hearted than not.
Which of the books on this list have you read? that you thought? And which ones would you recommend for this list? please leave your recs in the comments! thank you.
See Also: Best Books About the Salem Witch Trials – History of Massachusetts Blog
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