(2) 4-6 This semiautobiographical verse novel begins with eleven-year-old Chinese American girl Frances Chin witnessing an attack on her older sister, Clara, behind their school. (Frances herself has endured taunts centered on race: "you're SO SO ugly / open your eyes / he laughs with his fingers pulling / his eyes to make / them squinty.") But with passive bystander classmates and a mother who stresses maintaining family honor, Frances remains silent, internalizing her feelings. The one place she feels a sense of control is on the tennis court, playing with her friend Annie and eventually on the school's team ("I feel like I can / lift the world with / my racket"). After noticing some worrying behaviors (and hair loss) in her sister, she finds and ultimately reads Clara's diary, which reveals Clara's struggles with trichotillomania, also called hair-pulling disorder. In a heartfelt scene, Frances overcomes emotional barriers and silently reveals to Clara that she knows her secret. Themes of bullying, empathy, family, and identity are explored through Chang's spare prose. The author elegantly expresses Frances's complex emotions and provides an intimate portrait of immigrant lives. An appended note provides insight into Chang's experience growing up in an immigrant family "not familiar with mental health issues such as trichotillomania."

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2020

(2) 4-6 In this prequel to OCDaniel, Sara Melvern keeps a list of all the things that "normal" kids do that she can't because of the myriad disorders she experiences. Sara's parents, teachers, and therapist try to convince her that these ­disorders--bipolar disorder, depression, ­generalized ­anxiety disorder, mild schizophrenia, and selective mutism--are not her fault. She copes with attacks and triggers by ­playing "games" that unfortunately lead to her ostracism at school. Sara feels as though her disorders are exposed by joining group therapy, but she is ­pleasantly ­surprised when she is able to tick a couple of "normal" things off her list by making a friend and developing a crush on a fellow therapy seeker. As the story unfolds, Sara ­witnesses her parents' crumbling marriage and unwittingly drives a wedge between herself and her only friend. Sara also takes herself off of her medication without consulting any adults, believing it a step to becoming "normal," but the book doesn't address the ­consequences of her risky decision. More positively, by surviving heartache and a fraught friendship, Sara is emboldened to be part of a larger social circle.

Reviewer: Maija Meadows Hasegawa | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

(2) YA In this slow-burn romance novel told from alternating perspectives, McGovern (Say What You Will, rev. 7/14; A Step Toward Falling, rev. 9/15) introduces another pair of disparate teens who forge an unlikely connection, this time over a shared experience with chronic illness. Jamie, homeschooled for most of her life, feels isolated after her father's suicide and her own hospitalization for depression. Then she meets and befriends David, the senior-class president, while she is volunteering at the hospital. At school, David is a celebrity, but at the hospital, he is a cystic fibrosis patient grappling with a dire prognosis. The two divulge their nerdy interests (for Jamie, old movies; for David, ballroom dancing), exchange gently flirtatious emails, and share deep thoughts over origami. Their conversations are notably forthright; they approach difficult topics--such as the stigma of hidden illness, impossible expectations from friends and family, and the intersections of mental and physical health--from sensitive and age-appropriate perspectives. The thrill of intimacy inspires despondent David to seize control of his increasingly limited life, but when he enlists Jamie to sneak him out of the hospital, disaster ensues. The subsequent cascade of consequences veers toward melodrama (for example, David hovers over his body in a coma dream for a few chapters), but the resolution, like the teens' relationship, unfolds carefully, without sugarcoating, and feels genuinely earned.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2020

(3) YA Sixteen-year-old Melati suffers from OCD and calms her tormenting thoughts (imagining her mother's gruesome death) by tapping and counting. When race riots begin in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, violence explodes all around Melati and she's separated from her mother. With the help of a Chinese boy, Melati travels through the war-torn city in hopes of reuniting with her mother. A beautifully written, riveting novel.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(2) 4-6 Alice's storytelling dad is in a psychiatric hospital, having lost the ability to distinguish story from reality. Wild animals start appearing in town, seeking Alice to save the threatened Story Web she discovered when she was little. Blakemore skillfully uses shifting points of view in this complex and captivating tale. A realistic, honest consideration of the impact of mental illness commingles effectively with the fantastical elements.

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) YA This heartfelt biography traces Ballets Russes star/choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky's (1890–1950) trajectory from lonesome childhood through his 1909 Paris debut and ensuing mega-stardom to his diagnosis of schizophrenia and institutionalization. Curlee sensitively explores Nijinsky's contradictions, including as a magnetic performer with little social grace and as a sex symbol tormented by his own sexual desires. The beautifully designed volume includes Curlee's striking jewel-toned portraits and archival photographs. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) YA Aussie teen Biz sees and speaks to her dead father and often feels detached from her own body. On a soul-searching journey to her father's outback childhood home, she suffers a terrifying break with reality; family, friends, and mental-health workers help Biz explore her father's death, understand her anxiety and depression, and realize her sexual identity. Fox's debut is a sensitively wrought character study expressed in distinctive, intimate prose.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(1) YA Grimes reconstructs her life story from a patchwork of recollections; old photos; and a few artifacts salvaged despite her impoverished family's frequent moves and time in foster care. Mental illness, alcoholism, domestic violence, and sexual abuse made Grime's early life hazardous and traumatic; writing offered solace and confidence. Striking free-verse poems powerfully convey how her passion helped her survive and embrace her own resilience. A must-read for aspiring writers.

Reviewer: Michelle H. Martin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(3) 4-6 Gideon's unhappy that his family moved to Nevada the summer before seventh grade. He is, however, intrigued by next-door neighbor Roona, even though she sometimes wears a blanket cape and talks about magic. But Roona's life is complicated, leaving quiet, sheltered Gideon quickly out of his depth. Themes of parental mental illness and abuse are handled sensitively in this surprisingly weighty friendship story.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(4) YA After her vivacious artist mother disappears (leaving clues that suggest suicide), Minnie's grief manifests itself as monochromacy--she can only see in black and white. This is devastating for budding artist Minnie, who also can't rely on her two sisters, both of whom seem to have moved on. The resolution is perhaps too tidy, but overall this is a sensitive, vivid portrait of grief and mental illness.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(2) YA Isolated high-school junior Ellis deals with her severe anxiety by preparing for potential doomsday scenarios. She meets Hannah, who says that fate has brought them together for the end of the world. Ellis, a deeply religious Mormon, must find a way to believe that the world will continue--a type of faith more complex than believing in doomsday. A too-rare, well-rounded portrayal of a contemporary religious adolescent.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(1) 4-6 Twelve-year-old "amateur creative astronomer" Liberty Johansen thinks of her parents' separation as their family's "free fall from space." Then a meteorite does fall from space and begins communicating with her. The meteorite offers comfort, as Liberty worries about her younger sister, her own mental health, and the whole boy-girl thing. King (Me and Marvin Gardens; Dig.) is keenly attuned to her characters' humanity; her narrative voice and just-this-side-of-realism setting uniquely her own.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(2) 4-6 Sixth grader Fig feels obliged to downplay the effects of her father's bipolar disorder so that she and her dad can stay together. Neighbor Mark's help turns into a romantic relationship for Dad; the novel also includes another coming-out story--Fig has a crush on an older girl--but integrates these elements naturally. Details involving art and science lend specificity and keep the plot lines from feeling overly formulaic.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Morgan, navigating a diagnosis of clinical depression, is doing her best to be and feel like a "normal" teenager, but in her predominantly white, conservative community she sticks out like a sore thumb: she loves indie "emo" music; she has an eclectic, quirky fashion sense; and she is Black. Though most teenagers struggle to feel understood, Morgan is particularly affected as her mental health issues reverberate through her relationships with family and peers. An especially rough depressive episode over the summer lands Morgan in therapy and brings her to the realization that not even her family knows how to support her in dealing with her illness. Parker's story (loosely based on her own teen years) takes us through the realities of her protagonist's life--her ambivalence toward her therapist; her medical doctor reducing her depression to "boy trouble"; her experiences of microaggressions at her Christian high school. This sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking story explores the topic of adolescent mental health in a fresh and truthful way.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2020

(3) YA When she's first hospitalized for anorexia, twelve-year-old Riley wonders, "If I'm not skinny, who will I be?" After almost two months at the facility--where she makes friends, rediscovers a passion for art, works with a therapist, and eats--she finally acknowledges, "I am Riley." Written as journal entries, the epistolary novel believably captures Riley's disordered thinking and difficult road toward recovery.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(2) 4-6 Kit and Clem's friendship starts to unravel when acrobat Clem suffers a serious injury while on a reality TV show. Kit's reaction to this news is to morph (involuntarily and temporarily) into a naked mole rat. The off-kilter action and widespread anxieties of this novel's world includes mental illness, alopecia, and a burglar wearing a Batman mask. The story is witty and stylish with ample quirky insights, but also breathless, with italic-studded dialogue amping up the pace.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(4) YA Overachieving June hears voices; hospitalization begins a journey toward treatment. Her boyfriend, Nick--a good guy stuck in a bad job--is jailed for stealing cars. When Nick heads to the Ozarks to disappear, June follows. This star-crossed love story feels a touch overdramatic but is lifted by empathetic portrayals of mental illness, rural poverty, and the titular pair's deep mutual affection.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(3) YA In this anthology, authors reflect on their challenges involving mental health--usually their own, sometimes that of people close to them. This candid look at a range of mental health issues also offers some discussion of individuals' management. The inclusion of multiple authors with similar conditions (particularly anxiety) underscores their varying effects. Websites.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) 4-6 North Carolina twelve-year-old Della tries everything to cure her mama's schizophrenia, even asking the Bee Lady for her magic honey that supposedly cures all kinds of problems. Della slowly realizes she can't change Mama's illness, but she can change how she feels about it. The subject matter of this story is heartbreaking, but Baldwin leavens the mood with an affectionately rendered setting, strong female characters, and plenty of hope.

Reviewer: Mariko Turk

(3) YA No one can know that Jetta's necromantic power animates her family's renowned shadow-puppet shows. When she and her parents must flee--amid a rebellion--they make an unlikely ally in Leo, a young man with his own secrets. A heroine whose supernatural ability and bipolar disorder are both significant, but not defining, characteristics; a vivid world inspired by nineteenth-century South Asia; and an epistolary structure make for a particularly compelling fantasy-romance.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher