May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Here is a list of books that deal with mental illness by addressing things like depression, anxiety and OCD, and more.  

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Juvenile/Middle Grade

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look | anxiety, first grade, funny, being afraid 

Ghost by Jason Reynolds | PTSD, running, teams 

The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson OCD, mystery, neighborhoods  

Guts by Raina Telgemeier | anxiety, friendships, school, graphic novel

Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty OCD, genius, comfort zone, middle school  

The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller | parental depression, science project, hope  

Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand feeling blue, separation, reality and fantasy  

Stanley Will be Fine by Sally J. Pla | anxiety, scavenger hunt, friendships comics trivia  

Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington | parents with mental health issues, small town, summertime, secrets, angst  

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff anxiety, friendship, grief, community

Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy Baldwin | parents schizophrenia, family farm, friendships, summertime 

 

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Young Adult

All the Right Places by Jennifer Niven | depression, escape, heart wrenching, witty  

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman | schizophrenia, recovery, delusions, mutiny  

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia | anxiety, online communities, webcomics, introvert 

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman | social anxiety, artist, toxic relationships 

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin depression, gender fluid, punk, new kid 

Turtles all the Way Down by John Green | OCD, mystery, friendship, resilience 

Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge | anxiety, creatives, mountain towns, graphic novel 

 

Resources

Teen Link helpline for teens by teens 866.833.6546 

Frontier Behavioral Healthlocal behavioral health clinic  509.838.4651 

Regional Crisis Line: 1.877.266.1818   

National Alliance of Mental Illness 

Teens and Young Adults 

Spokane

National Suicide Hotline 1.800.273.8255 (TALK)    

 

If you have more questions, feel free to reach out to Youth Services Librarian Katie at krickard@spokanelibrary.org.