9 YA Books About Mental Health

Katouh’s novel tells a story of the Syrian Revolution through the experience of Salama Kassab, a pharmacy student thrown into service as a doctor in the face of overwhelming demand for medical services. She struggles to survive and maintain hope as her world falls apart, especially as her pregnant sister-in-law Layla nervously waits to give birth. Salama’s desperate to leave but torn by her loyalty to the country she loves, a conflict that deepens when she meets a green-eyed boy named Kenan, caring for his two younger siblings and determined to stay. 

The text also offers a compassionate look at the experience of those who suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Salama’s imaginary companion Khawf, a manifestation of her PTSD, follows her around all day, urging her to leave Syria and do whatever she can to stay safe. Salama courageously struggles with him while still trying to navigate her job and her family relationships, and it’s a powerful look at both the effort it takes to battle anxiety on a daily basis and the trauma war victims experience.

Khorram’s Darius the Great books are a delight. The smart, funny Darius has a lot to navigate: bullies who make fun of his Persian heritage, the discomfort of being biracial and not fully fitting in with either parent’s culture, and constant conflict with his disapproving father. When his family travels to Iran to visit his dying grandfather, Darius navigates a new culture, builds relationships with his grandparents, and meets Sohrab, his grandparents’ neighbor and his first best friend.

But Darius also struggles with depression, something he shares with his father. Khorram realistically portrays what it’s like to struggle with depression, especially amidst all the awkwardness that just comes with being a teenage boy trying to navigate puberty and family relationships. We especially appreciated the representation of someone doing their best to live with depression rather than someone in the middle of a crisis.

In the sequel, Darius’s relationship with his father improves, and it’s a joy to watch his realistic and messy family do its best to love each other. Darius is in his first relationship (with his boss’s son), Sohrab is distant, and Chip Cusumano, his former bully and now soccer teammate, is paying him a lot of attention. So many YA books present boys as adventurous heroes; it’s refreshing to meet a teen boy narrator who shares what it’s like to be awkward and navigating all kinds of feelings, an experience we imagine is closer to reality for most teens. We hope your students, boys and girls, will fall in love with Darius like we did.

Samantha McAllister may look like she has her life together—she is, after all, one of the Crazy Eights, the most popular girls in school. But the big secret she’s hiding is that she’s been diagnosed with OCD, specifically a subtype called “Purely Obsessional” in which her brain attacks her with intrusive thoughts day in and day out but without the external compulsions that typically characterize OCD.

When Sam meets a new friend, Caroline, who is very different from the Crazy Eights (she dresses in T-shirts and flannel and doesn’t even wear makeup), Caroline introduces her to a secret club on campus called Poet’s Corner, where students meet to write and read poems, sharing their “stuff” with a vulnerability Sam has never experienced. As Sam discovers the healing power of poetry, new friends, and a new boy to obsess over (mostly in a teenage way but with a touch of OCD thrown in), she battles against her fears of the Crazy Eights discovering her disorder and new friends and kicking her out of their group.

As someone who struggles with a similar form of OCD, Steph is thrilled that this book exists. It’s a realistic portrayal of how OCD and exposure therapy work, and it shows readers that the disease doesn’t always manifest as the stereotypical cleaning and organizing. Sam’s journey to be brave and be herself resonates deeply, and we have had many students who would have loved to be part of Poet’s Corner themselves.

Content warning: there is a subplot involving a girl who committed suicide that you may want to be mindful of when recommending the book to your students.

We meet Charlotte (Charlie) Davis in recovery following a suicide attempt. Charlie’s dad has died, her mom is abusive, and her best friend also attempted to commit suicide. Charlie has been living on the street, where she has suffered several traumatizing experiences with predatory men. Whenever anger and fear build up inside her, Charlie finds release by cutting her arms and legs with shards of a mason jar. Charlie’s recovery seems tenuous enough, but when her insurance runs out and her mother abandons her, things get a whole lot harder.

Charlie goes to Tucson, where her friend (and crush) Mikey lives, to start over, and she gets a job as a dishwasher at True Grit, a local cafe. She’s drawn into an unhealthy relationship with the cook, Ryley, an addict battling his own demons. Charlie must figure out how to put all the pieces of herself back together well enough to survive in this world, resisting the temptation to cope with immense pain in self-destructive ways.

This is a tough read, and content warnings abound. We probably wouldn’t use it as a First Chapter Friday recommendation, but studies suggest nearly 20% of teenagers will self-harm at least once, and the number of teenagers seeking emergency care for self-harm has skyrocketed in recent years, so it seems a topic that needs addressing. If a student feels heard, seen, and hopefully even encouraged to keep fighting to stay healthy by finding Glasgow’s novel on our shelves, we believe it’s a worthwhile addition.

This charming love story between Celine Bangura and Bradley Graeme starts, as so many love stories do, with the characters being bitter rivals. Celine and Bradley are two of the top students in their school, and they were childhood friends until Bradley became one of the popular kids. When a chain of mishaps leads them both to enroll in a wilderness leadership experience with real scholarship potential, pure hatred softens into, you guessed it, love.

The novel also beautifully portrays Bradley’s struggles with OCD. Hibbert shares in her author’s note that OCD runs in her family, and her experience keeps her from straying into stereotypes about the disorder. Bradley’s OCD is mostly under control, so we can see how living with mental illness has shaped (and continues to shape) him into a strong young man who pursues what he wants even when it’s hard and encourages others to do the same. 

According to her author description, Hibbert “writes witty, diverse romances . . . because she believes that people of marginalized identities need honest and positive representation.” Celine and Bradley, both of whom are Black, are portrayed honestly and positively despite all their baggage and challenges, and while this may just be a charming love story for some, we think others will be glad to see themselves on Hibbert’s pages.

Ying’s gorgeous graphic novel introduces us to Val, who grows up just wanting to be gwai, which translates roughly to “good” or “obedient.” From an early age, Val can’t eat without her mother making comments about being careful not to get fat, and she’s expected to get good grades and never disappoint her family.

Over time, Val develops an eating disorder, and we watch her struggle to hide it while navigating family dynamics, the world of social media, going out to eat with friends, and a school trip to Paris.

Ying, who describes her own struggles with disordered eating and the role books like this played in her long road to recovery, powerfully depicts the internal battle Val faces every day. There’s one panel that especially stands out to us: Val has eaten with friends and doesn’t have time to purge as she usually does. She’s trying to engage with her friends but can barely concentrate because her brain is screaming “Fat” at her, over and over. Not only does this give us empathy and understanding of the dynamics behind eating disorders, but it’s an experience that will resonate with many who struggle with other forms of depression and anxiety.

Ultimately, Val learns that happiness has to come from herself: not her mother, not her friends, not her thinness. The novel ends not with everything fixed but with Val on the lifelong road to recovery, and we hope Ying’s graphic novel offers students the hope and foothold they need to start on their own road to recovery.

When McBride’s novel in verse opens, Whimsy is completing her stay in a mental hospital after her parents discovered her list of ways to commit suicide. While there, she meets Faerry, and when she is released from the hospital, he and his family move onto her street. Both Whimsy and Fae are magical; Whimsy, whose grandmother taught her Hoodoo, loves fairy tales and hides her glowing hands in leather gloves when she’s not in the hospital.

Whimsy avoids the Forest down the street from her home, lingering at its edges but afraid to go inside because of an incomplete memory from her past. When Fae disappears into the Forest, however, she must go after him, and as she works to rescue him, they realize their paths have intertwined before.

Initially, the story is a little bit confusing with all the talk of magic, partial memories, Fae, the Forest, and excerpts of fairy tales, which might make this a challenging read for younger students. When you realize, however, that McBride (a talented poet we’ve recommended before) is using the Forest metaphorically, the novel becomes a stunning depiction of what it’s like to live with clinical depression. While it may provide helpful insight to students who don’t suffer from depression (or know someone who does), it provides opportunities for those who do suffer with depression to feel seen and represented in a powerful, beautiful way.

McBride provides content warnings at the beginning of the book, and while there are frank references to depression, self-harm, and suicide, none of the depictions are graphic.

Emory is the good, if invisible, daughter in her family: her sister Maddie is hot and popular, and her brother Joey is in rehab, recovering from an opioid addiction. Emory just wants to keep her brother alive and healthy and avoid adding to her parents’ problems, but being the invisible one takes its toll.

When the novel begins, Joey is in rehab and Emory is in the hospital, recovering from a shattered kneecap after the two were involved in a car accident that killed one of their classmates. When Joey returns and they go back to school, they must face their classmates’ stares, rumors, and wrath. 

Emory also finds herself ensnared in her own addiction: hooking up with popular baseball star Gage Galt in her pool house despite his refusal to make their relationship public. When news (and photos) of their relationship leaks, Emory is mortified and heartbroken, feeling more invisible than ever.

Glasgow’s portrayal of addiction is rich: not only do we see the wrestling Joey must do on a daily basis to overcome his addiction but the toll it takes on his entire family. It’s also a powerful story for teenagers who need to be reminded that they deserve to be in relationships that offer more than hookups in the shadows and that texting nude photos is a decision with potentially major consequences. From beginning to end, we’re rooting for Emory as she learns to stand up for herself to Gage and her parents, finds friendships, and accepts Joey where he is, fighting a lifelong battle.