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 | A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year | A Kirkus Best Book of the Year | A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year | A Chicago Public Library...
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...
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)
It's all or nothing, Vale
Arango, Andrea Beatriz
Paper Book
A poignant novel in verse in which, after a life-changing accident, one girl finds her way back to her life's passion. From the Newbery Honor-winning author of Iveliz Explains It All. A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR All these months of staring at...
Kareem between
Safadi, Shifa Saltagi
Paper Book
This award-winning, heartfelt coming-of-age novel in verse tells the powerful story of a seventh-grade Syrian American boy and his struggles, big and small, as he navigates middle school. "The exact type of book I would've loved, and needed, as a kid." -Jasmine Warga, New...
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...
Louder than hunger
Schu, John
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book "Every so often a book comes along that is so brave and necessary, it extends a lifeline when it's needed most. This is one of those books." --Katherine Applegate, author of the Newbery Medal-winning,...
Safe harbor
Venkatraman, Padma
Paper Book
An uplifting novel in verse about an immigrant girl adjusting to life in the US through her love of nature, music, and poetry, by the award-winning author of The Bridge Home When Geetha and her mom move from India to Rhode Island after her parents' divorce, they leave...
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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