Our Favorite YA Mental Health Books

Talking about mental health is more important than ever, so we put together created a list of YA mental health books for your TBR. These characters and stories are strong, uplifting, resilient, and help fight the stigma that is too often associated with mental health topics. Whether you’re looking to feel understood or you want to increase your own awareness about mental health, these YA mental health books have your back.

10 Things I Can See From Here

10 Things I Can See From Here

Opposites attract in this contemporary YA novel. Maeve suffers from severe anxiety, which only gets worse when her mom sends her to Vancouver to live with her dad. There, Maeve meets Salix, a girl who never worries about anything. With her father’s alcohol problems, her stepmother’s upcoming home birth, and her new girlfriend, Maeve’s summer promises to be unforgettable.

Actually Super

Actually Super

A globetrotting novel that takes a determined teen from Japan to Australia and to Argentina and Mexico on a quest to prove that humanity is more good than bad from the author of Let’s Get Lost and Before Takeoff.

All the Bright Places

All the Bright Places

If you haven’t read this incredible novel yet, now is the time to do it. It’s about a boy who is obsessed with death and a girl who fights to live. While they are both dealing with their own issues, they find love, hope, and joy in each other. This book will give you all the feels—both happy and sad. If you love this heart-wrenching story, you’ll also want to watch the Netflix adaptation.

Ariel Crashes a Train

Ariel Crashes a Train

By Olivia A. Cole

Coming 04.01.25

“A gorgeously kind, wonderfully gentle, and unfailingly compassionate depiction of OCD…bursting with light.”
— Ashley Woodfolk, critically acclaimed author of NOTHING BURNS AS BRIGHT AS YOU

Exploring the harsh reality of OCD and violent intrusive thoughts in stunning, lyrical writing, this novel-in-verse conjures a haunting yet hopeful portrait of a girl on the edge. From the author of Dear Medusa, which New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed called “a fierce and brightly burning feminist roar.”

Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin delivers a gripping romance about two teens: a certified genius living with a diagnosed mental disorder and a politician’s son who is running from his own addiction and grief. Don’t miss this gut punch of a novel about mental health, loss, and discovering you are worthy of love.

Scars exist to remind us of what we’ve survived.

Diary of a Dying Girl

Diary of a Dying Girl

This collection of one girl’s real, unflinching diary entries about slowly dying of a terminal illness is an unparalleled exploration of the human spirit and what it means to truly live.

Finding Audrey

Finding Audrey

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.

Girl in Pieces Deluxe Edition

Girl in Pieces Deluxe Edition

This YA novel tackles the complexities of mental health paired with poverty. In an attempt to wash away the pain she’s experienced in her life, Charlotte harms herself. After a brief stay in a psychiatric hospital, she is released early because she can’t afford her treatment. So Charlotte strikes out across the country, looking for a place to call home. Although this story is heavy and dark in places, Charlotte manages to find brightness and hope along the way.

Home Home

Home Home

There’s nothing like changing your surroundings to shake up your world. Kayla suffers from severe depression and anxiety at home in Trinidad. After being hospitalized for depression, Kayla’s mother sends her to Canada to live with some relatives. Although she yearns for home, Kayla discovers unconditional love, acceptance, and a new beginning that she never thought possible.

How to Make Friends with the Dark

How to Make Friends with the Dark

From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a novel about love and loss and learning how to continue when it feels like you’re surrounded by darkness.

It's All Love

It's All Love

An empowering collection written by Jenna Ortega, the award-winning actress starring in the hit Netflix series Wednesday. These deeply personal stories and quotes are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that explore Jenna’s struggles with depression, experiences falling in—and out of—love, the loss of close family members, and growing up Latina in Hollywood.

Just Our Luck

Just Our Luck

This lighthearted novel is the perfect read when you need a pick-me-up. Leo suffers from anxiety and wants to spend his time knitting and taking pictures—not exactly the manly activities his father thinks he should be doing. When Leo strikes a deal with the great-great-granddaughter of the woman who cursed his family, things get complicated. You’ll love this charming novel about a boy learning to take control of his life.

The Lucky Ones

The Lucky Ones

For fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, This Is How It Ends, and All the Bright Places, comes a gripping novel about life after. How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you've lost it all?

May is a survivor. But she doesn't feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the sch...

Nick and June Were Here

Nick and June Were Here

Nick and June were best friends for years, until their relationship suddenly turned into something more. Now, June is coping with a new diagnosis of schizophrenia, a secret she asked Nick. As June deals with her diagnosis, her boyfriend Nick grapples with issues of his own. Hopelessly impoverished, he turns to crime in order to make ends meet. When circumstances threaten to separate the teens, they decide to run away together.

Point of View

Point of View

Powerful and unfiltered, this fictional account of a teenage boy’s addiction to online pornography is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful.

See You on Venus

See You on Venus

Fall in love with this runaway romance now a major motion picture on Netflix! Two star-crossed teens embark on a journey to Spain to discover the meaning of love, death and everything in between.

Scars Like Wings

Scars Like Wings

Relatable, heartbreaking, and real, this is a story of resilience—the perfect novel for readers of powerful contemporary fiction like Girl in Pieces and Every Last Word.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

Dealing with OCD is tough on the best of days. Add in divorced parents, a half sibling, and a brand-new crush, and it’s almost enough to push Adam over the edge. Adam can’t help but want to help Robyn, his new crush, who has just been released from a residential psychiatric program—the kind for the worst, most difficult-to-cure cases. But is it really Robyn who needs rescuing? And is it possible to have a normal relationship when your life is anything but?  You’ll love this suspenseful YA novel about dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder and first love.

The Weight of Zero

The Weight of Zero

If you loved All the Bright Places and Girl in Pieces, you need this book. Catherine has bipolar disorder, and more than anything else, she fears the return of her crippling depression. She stockpiles medications so she can end her life before that happens, but a new treatment, love, and her family threaten to interrupt her plans. Cath struggles with her determination to end her life and the realization that there is hope on the horizon. This is a story of loss and grief and hope, and how some of the many shapes of love—maternal, romantic, and platonic—affect a young woman’s struggle with mental illness and the stigma of treatment.

Who Put This Song On?

Who Put This Song On?

In the vein of powerful reads like The Hate U Give and The Poet X, comes poet Morgan Parker’s pitch-perfect novel about a black teenage girl searching for her identity when the world around her views her depression as a lack of faith and blackness as something to be politely ignored.

Words on Bathroom Walls

Words on Bathroom Walls

This YA novel about a teen who lives with schizophrenia is both uplifting and funny. Adam has a hard time telling the difference between what is real and what isn’t. His condition gets better when he starts taking a trial medication. He begins to see a future for himself—one that includes romance. But as the miracle drug begins to fail, how long can he keep this secret from the girl of his dreams? Told through Adam’s journal entries, this funny and relatable book will keep you captivated from the first page.

The Words We Keep

The Words We Keep

WINNER OF THE SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD FOR TEENS!

A beautifully realistic, relatable story about mental health—anxiety, perfectionism, depression—and the healing powers of art—perfect for fans of Girl in Pieces and How it Feels to Float. Whatever you struggle with, you are not alone and you are already enough—just the way you are.

You'd Be Home Now

You'd Be Home Now

From the critically acclaimed author of Girl in Pieces comes a stunning novel that Vanity Fair calls “impossibly moving” and “suffused with light”. In this raw, deeply personal story, a teenaged girl struggles to find herself amidst the fallout of her brother’s addiction in a town ravaged by the opioid crisis.

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