Mental Illness in Young Adult Literature: Exploring Real Struggles through Fictional Characters by Kia Jane Richmond

Abstract

[...]librarians and mental-health professionals who work with youth can use this book to find recommendations for young adult novels that they may share with youth or use to understand adolescent experiences with mental illness, not least because it includes a substantial list of texts for a classroom library, gives suggestions for curricular units, and offers specific lesson plans and activities to make starting such a unit accessible. [...]chapters include Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Schizophrenia Spectrum, Bipolar Disorder, Depressive Disorders, Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders, and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Suicidal Behavior Disorders. According to Richmond, it "is important to note that Craig's choice to stop taking his medication suddenly could have contributed to an increase or change in his symptoms" (75). Given the fact that the "National Institute of Mental Health [estimates] that more than 20 percent of … young adults experience mental illness," these books clearly deserve a place in classrooms, both on shelves and in curricula (9).