Mental Health Awareness Month: Recommended YA Fiction and Nonfiction

Updated April 28, 2026
L
Lewis and Clark Library Lewis and Clark Public Library
This is your list in printable form. Simply print this page using your browser's print command.

Mental Health Awareness Month: Recommended YA Fiction and Nonfiction

Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
I am not your perfect Mexican daughter
S anchez, Erika L.
Ebook
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A "stunning" (America Ferrera) YA novel about a teenager coming to terms with losing her sister and finding herself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. "Alive and crackling--a...
Challenger deep
Shusterman, Neal
Paper Book
National Book Award * Golden Kite Award Winner * Six Starred Reviews A captivating novel about mental illness that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman. Caden Bosch is...
The coven tendency
Mikuta, Zoe Hana
Paper Book
Zoe Hana Mikuta delivers a bloody and unrelenting fantasy about young witches dangling on the edge of love and obsession, of magic and madness, of life and death (and death and death and death). . . Just like her mother and her mother's mother, 18-year-old Vanity Adams is...
Darius the Great is not okay
Khorram, Adib
Paper Book
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this unforgettable debut introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary YA. Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award "Heartfelt, tender, and so utterly real. I'd live...
Forever is now
Lockington, Mariama
Paper Book
SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD WINNER ● A poignant and lyrical young adult novel-in-verse about a Black teen coming of age in an anxiety-inducing world, from the author of For Black Girls Like Me and In the Key of Us. I'm safe here. ...
The Golden Boy's Guide to Bipolar
Reyes, Sonora.
Paper Book
2026 Schneider Family Book Awards Honor MPIBA's Reading the West YA Longlist "This is Sonora Reyes at their absolute best." -- Aiden Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys From bestselling author Sonora Reyes comes a poignant...
Harbor me
Woodson, Jacqueline
Ebook
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Jacqueline Woodson's first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories. It all starts when six kids...
A heart in a body in the world
Caletti, Deb
Paper Book
When everything has been taken from you, what else is there to do but run? So that's what Annabelle does--she runs from Seattle to Washington, DC, through mountain passes and suburban landscapes, from long lonely roads to college towns. She's not ready to think about the why yet,...
Hello Sunshine (a Graphic Novel)
Young, Keezy
Paper Book
In this lush and romantic queer horror graphic novel, a troubled teen disappears from his small town-sending his loved ones on a paranormal journey to bring him home. Noah is heartbroken. He returns from Bible camp to find that Alex, his secret boyfriend, has had a...
I'm Here: A Peer Counseling Guide for Teens
Crist, James J.
Advice for teens wanting to help friends and peers with their mental health. Mental health problems in young people are on the rise, and teens want resources to help friends in crisis. I'm Here: A Peer Counseling Guide for Teens fills that need, discussing teens' mental...
It Won't Ever Be the Same: A Teen's Guide to Grief and Grieving
Leigh, Korie
Help young people name, express, and give shape to their grief with this book on grieving for teens. Whether teens are in the midst of their first grief experience or have experienced grief before, It Won't Ever Be the Same is designed to support them. Reflections, analogies,...
Killing the Wittigo : indigenous culture-based approaches to waking up, taking action, and doing the work of healing : a book for young adults
Methot, Suzanne
Paper Book
An unflinching reimagining of Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing for young adults Written specifically for young adults, reluctant readers, and literacy learners, Killing the Wittigo explains the traumatic effects of colonization on Indigenous people and...
Light filters in : poems
Kaufman, Caroline
Paper Book
In the vein of poetry collections like Milk and Honey and Adultolescence, this compilation of short, powerful poems from teen Instagram sensation @poeticpoison perfectly captures the human experience.  In Light Filters In, Caroline Kaufman--known as...
Little & Lion
Colbert, Brandy
Paper Book
A stunning novel on love, identity, loss, and redemption. When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she's isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (as well as her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother,...
Shout : a poetry memoir
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller and one of 2019's best-reviewed books, a poetic memoir and call to action from the award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson! Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and...
Strange bedfellows
Ries, Ariel Slamet.
Paper Book
Nebula Award for Best Comic Nominee 2026 Rainbow Book List In this stunning graphic novel by two-time Ignatz award-winning graphic novelist Ariel Slamet Ries, Oberon must choose between fantasy and reality when he develops the ability to conjure his dreams in real...
This winter
Oseman, Alice
Paper Book
A short novella based on the beloved characters from Alice Oseman's acclaimed debut novel Solitaire and graphic novel series Heartstopper - now a major Netflix series. From the author of the 2021 YA Book Prize winning Loveless. The festive season isn't always happy for Tori...
Turtles all the way down
Green, John
Paper Book
FEATURED ON 60 MINUTES and FRESH AIR "So surprising and moving and true that I became completely unstrung." - The New York Times Named a best book of the year by: The New York Times, NPR, TIME, Wall...
Find this list online

https://librarian.syndetics.com/syndeticsunbound/lp/859.1223/list/7754

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.