May is Mental Health Awareness Month and no group can use it more than adolescents. In my 20+ years of being an educator and 15+ years as a school librarian, I can attest that offering books as bibliotherapy helps. It helps the student and their caregivers when navigating difficult moments that they cannot bear alone.
This past year I was awarded a grant that had me work alongside my high school's wellness center counselor to select books for student support groups, as well as adding specific books requested by students to the school library collection. In my experience, the books that touch on the survival aspect of mental health struggles are what readers want to read and learn about with the hopes of transferring those successes to their own lives.
Here are the nonfiction and fiction books that I recommend for young adults and some middle grade readers:
Brave Face, a memoir, How I Survived Growing Up, Coming Out, and Depression by Shaun David Hutchinson. Young adult audience and up.
The Beasts in Your Brain, Understanding and Living with Anxiety and Depression by Katherine Speller. Young adult audience and up.
It Won't Ever Be the Same, A Teen's Guide to Grief and Grieving by Karie Leigh. Middle grade audience and up.
The Anxious Generation, How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. Young adult audience and up.
The Amazing Generation, Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen Filled World by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price. Middle grade audience and up.
Look Me in the Eye, My Life With Asperger's by John Elder Robison. Young adult audience and up.
One in a Million, a graphic memoir by Claire Lordon. Young adult audiences and up.
Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindess and Community by Born This Way Foundation Reporters and Lady Gaga. Middle grade audiences and up.
Move, How Physical Activity Helps Maintain Mental Health by James Roland. Middle grade audiences and up.
Brain on Fire, My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. Young adult audience and up.
Obsessed, a Memoir of My Life with OCD by Allison Britz. Young adult audiences and up.
Invisible Differences, A Story of Autism, Adulting, and Living a Life in Full Color by Julie Dachez, Madmoiselle Caroline, Edward Gauvin. Young adult audience and up.
Art Cure, The Science of How the Arts Save Lives by Daisy Fancourt. Young adult audience and up.
Helping Teens Who Cut, Using DBT Skills to End Self-Injury by Michael Hollander. Young adult audience and up.
Heads Up, Changing Minds on Mental Health by Melanie Siebert. Middle grade audience and up.
Teen Guide: Social Anxiety by Mary Gerard. Middle grade audience and up.
Puzzled: A Memoir About Growing up with OCD by Pan Cooke. Middle grade audience and up.
Age 16 by Rosena Fung. Middle grade audience and up.
Weirdo by Tony Weaver, Jr., Jess & Cin Wibowo. Middle grade audiences and up.
Shoot the Moon by Matt Beam. Young adult audience and up.
Ash & Feather by Sharon Frances. Middle grade audience and up.
Louder Than Hunger by John Schu. Middle grade audience and up.
Ab(solutely) Normal, Short Stories that Smash Mental Health Stereotypes edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter and Rocky Callan. Young adult audience and up.
Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton. Young adult audience and up.
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Young adult audience and up.
Chaos Theory by Nic Stone. Young adult audience and up.
Buzzing by Samuel Sattin and Rye Hickman. Middle grade audience and up.
If you're looking for book suggestions with an elementary school audience, check out my list HERE.
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