Mental Health Book List 9-12

Mental Health Awareness Month

The theme of this list is "Change is Hard"

Updated February 23, 2026
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All the blues in the sky
Watson, Renée
Paper Book
Winner of the Newbery Medal | A New York Times bestseller | A USA Today bestseller #1 New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medal winner Renée Watson explores friendship, loss, and life with grief in this poignant novel in verse and...
Alone
Freeman, Megan E.
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel in verse from a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet tells the story of a young girl who wakes up one day to find herself utterly alone in her...
Black star
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book The thrilling follow up to the #1 New York Times bestseller The Door of No Return stars Kofi's granddaughter, Charley, who's set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball...
The girl in the walls
Kuyatt, Meg Eden
Paper Book
There's a ghost in the walls, and V must decide if it is an ally or an enemy. The wrong decision could destroy her and her family. From Schneider Honor Award winning author Meg Eden Kuyatt comes a chilling and insightful novel-in-verse. After a hard school year, V has...
Isabel in bloom
Respicio, Mae
Paper Book
A middle-school girl discovers a connection between her home in the Philippines and her new home in the U.S. through a special garden in "this sweet and heartfelt novel [that] explores how bumpy beginnings can offer chances for new growth" (The New York Times)
King and the dragonflies
Callender, Kacen
Paper Book
A 2021 Coretta Scott King Honor Book! Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature! Winner of the 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry! In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him...
Wishtree
Applegate, Katherine
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times-bestelling author of Odder and The One and Only Ivan. "Beautiful in every way one can imagine. Everyone should read this book." --R.J. Palacio, bestselling author of Wonder, White Bird, and Pony ...

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