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All That I Can Fix by Crystal Chan
In Makersville, Indiana, fifteen-year-old Ronney lives with a drug-addicted mother, a suicidally depressed father, and an overly-sensitive younger sister. He's also in love with a perfectionist girl who doesn't love him back. Adding to the turmoil is an eccentric man outside of town who collects neglected zoo animals, but one day lets the animals out of their cages then kills himself. Ronney's sister is petrified with visions of marauding lions, his parents don't seem to care, and his best friend goes on his own personal safari. In Makersville, a throng of gun control supporters and gun rights advocates descend, bringing the same chaos Ronney feels.
Guts by Raina Telgemeier
Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one, too, so it's probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school, where she's dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends, not-friends, and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session. It soon becomes clear that Raina's tummy trouble isn't going away... and it coincides with her worries about food, school, and changing friendships. What's going on? Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face -- and conquer -- her fears.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby
Fig tries to connect with her artistic, bipolar father, after an incident at school leads her art teacher calls social services. She then researches the artist Van Gogh to try to understand the links between mental illness and creativity in an effort to better understand her father. Her new neighbor, Mark, understands more than Fig does about issues beyond bipolar disorder that plague her father, and he becomes indispensable to the family. Fig suffers drama at school too as she deals with a boy who likes her and the girl she has a crush on.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Perfect by Natasha Friend
Following the death of her father, a thirteen-year-old uses bulimia as a way to avoid her mother's and ten-year-old sister's grief, as well as her own.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Kristina Georgia Snow's life is turned upside-down, when she visits her absentee father, gets turned on to the drug "crank", becomes addicted, and is lead down a desperate path that threatens her mind, soul, and her life.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Solo by Kwame Alexander; Mary Rand Hess (As told to)
Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy, including the loss of his mother. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming Blade will become just like his father.
In reality, the only thing Blade and Rutherford have in common is the music that lives inside them. And songwriting is all Blade has left after Rutherford, while drunk, crashes his high school graduation speech and effectively rips Chapel away forever. But when a long-held family secret comes to light, the music disappears. In its place is a letter, one that could bring Blade the freedom and love he’s been searching for, or leave him feeling even more adrift.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
Eighth-grader Lily Jo McGrother, who identifies as a girl even though born in a boy's body, makes friends with Norbert "Dunkin" Dorfman, a boy with bipolar disorder--which is bad enough for his social life, but he is also hiding a terrible secret that makes things much worse. Only Lily Jo and Dunkin's friendship has the power to change their lives.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy
Twelve-year-old Rahul Kapoor heads into seventh grade armed with advice his grandfather gave him--to find a thing he's good at and become the best at it. But Rahul struggles with his identity, including his confusing attraction to classmate Justin Emery. Rahul joins the Mathletes but it doesn't go as planned, and when Jenny asks him to a dance, Rahul spirals into depression and anxiety. With the help of his best friend Chelsea, Rahul confronts who he actually is.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Sara and the Search for Normal by Wesley King
Seventh-grader Sara just wants to be normal, but instead she deals with panic attacks and other issues that make her avoid other people. When she starts group therapy, she meets talkative and outgoing Erin, who doesn't believe in "normal." Sara soon finds herself with an actual friend, but discovers that there's more to Erin than she lets on. In order to help Erin, Sara might have to sacrifice their friendship
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller
Middle schooler Natalie is given a school assignment to answer a question using the scientific process. Her teachers suggests that Natalie enter an egg drop competition. Natalie hopes to use the prize money to fly her mother to see the Cobalt Blue Orchids, flowers that survive against impossible odds, to help her mother love life again. Her efforts lead to truths about her botanist mother's depression and her own cultural identity.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Can You See Me? by Libby Scott; Rebecca Westcott
Eleven-year-old Tally really wants to fit in at her new school, which means somehow hiding her autism, hypersensitivity to touch, and true self, and trying to act "normal". But Tally begins to wonder--what is "normal" anyway?
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Khorram, Adib
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending 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 like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab. Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt not good enough—then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama J. Lockington
Eleven-year-old Makeda June Kirkland struggles to find her place in her new school after her family moves from Maryland to New Mexico. Makeda, who is of African American decent and has been adopted into an all white family, finds herself wondering how life might be different if she were part of a family that looks like her. In the midst of it all, she must deal with her mother's recent mental health diagnosis and mood swings that come with her being bipolar.
Read in:
EMS | WMS | Sora
All That I Can Fix by
In Makersville, Indiana, fifteen-year-old Ronney lives with a drug-addicted mother, a suicidally depressed father, and an overly-sensitive younger sister. He's also in love with a perfectionist girl who doesn't love him back. Adding to the turmoil is an eccentric man outside of town who collects neglected zoo animals, but one day lets the animals out of their cages then kills himself. Ronney's sister is petrified with visions of marauding lions, his parents don't seem to care, and his best friend goes on his own personal safari. In Makersville, a throng of gun control supporters and gun rights advocates descend, bringing the same chaos Ronney feels.
Guts by
Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one, too, so it's probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school, where she's dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends, not-friends, and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session. It soon becomes clear that Raina's tummy trouble isn't going away... and it coincides with her worries about food, school, and changing friendships. What's going on? Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face -- and conquer -- her fears.
Hurricane Season by
Fig tries to connect with her artistic, bipolar father, after an incident at school leads her art teacher calls social services. She then researches the artist Van Gogh to try to understand the links between mental illness and creativity in an effort to better understand her father. Her new neighbor, Mark, understands more than Fig does about issues beyond bipolar disorder that plague her father, and he becomes indispensable to the family. Fig suffers drama at school too as she deals with a boy who likes her and the girl she has a crush on.
Solo by
Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy, including the loss of his mother. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming Blade will become just like his father.
In reality, the only thing Blade and Rutherford have in common is the music that lives inside them. And songwriting is all Blade has left after Rutherford, while drunk, crashes his high school graduation speech and effectively rips Chapel away forever. But when a long-held family secret comes to light, the music disappears. In its place is a letter, one that could bring Blade the freedom and love he’s been searching for, or leave him feeling even more adrift.
Lily and Dunkin by
Eighth-grader Lily Jo McGrother, who identifies as a girl even though born in a boy's body, makes friends with Norbert "Dunkin" Dorfman, a boy with bipolar disorder--which is bad enough for his social life, but he is also hiding a terrible secret that makes things much worse. Only Lily Jo and Dunkin's friendship has the power to change their lives.
The Best at It by
Twelve-year-old Rahul Kapoor heads into seventh grade armed with advice his grandfather gave him--to find a thing he's good at and become the best at it. But Rahul struggles with his identity, including his confusing attraction to classmate Justin Emery. Rahul joins the Mathletes but it doesn't go as planned, and when Jenny asks him to a dance, Rahul spirals into depression and anxiety. With the help of his best friend Chelsea, Rahul confronts who he actually is.
Sara and the Search for Normal by
Seventh-grader Sara just wants to be normal, but instead she deals with panic attacks and other issues that make her avoid other people. When she starts group therapy, she meets talkative and outgoing Erin, who doesn't believe in "normal." Sara soon finds herself with an actual friend, but discovers that there's more to Erin than she lets on. In order to help Erin, Sara might have to sacrifice their friendship
The Science of Breakable Things by
Middle schooler Natalie is given a school assignment to answer a question using the scientific process. Her teachers suggests that Natalie enter an egg drop competition. Natalie hopes to use the prize money to fly her mother to see the Cobalt Blue Orchids, flowers that survive against impossible odds, to help her mother love life again. Her efforts lead to truths about her botanist mother's depression and her own cultural identity.
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending 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 like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab. Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt not good enough—then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.
For Black Girls Like Me by
Eleven-year-old Makeda June Kirkland struggles to find her place in her new school after her family moves from Maryland to New Mexico. Makeda, who is of African American decent and has been adopted into an all white family, finds herself wondering how life might be different if she were part of a family that looks like her. In the midst of it all, she must deal with her mother's recent mental health diagnosis and mood swings that come with her being bipolar.
