Mental Health matters to us here at CTCL. It is important to see mental health representation in things because it can help people going through similar things navigate through difficult times, and also to see all of the opportunities available to them. All of our collections contain such material for those old and young and in-between. Below are some of these titles, ranging from our Juvenile Collection to our Adult Collection. Read these and check-in not just during Mental Health Awareness Month, but all year long.
Please note some of these works contain discussion of very serious matters, read with your boundaries in mind!
Juvenile Collection:
Picture Books
Hazel is All That by Chad Otis
Hazel has things all figured out--she is one clever girl. So, when she encounters a snarling dog in the park, she knows that dog is mean. And as her walk continues, she identifies a sweet dog, a sad dog, a naughty dog, and many more. But then something happens that leads Hazel to experience all kinds of different reactions herself, and she takes a second look at the dogs. Soon she sees that dogs--and people!--are not just one thing. We're each our own special mix of all sorts of emotions and behaviors. We're all that--and more. And what of the snarling dog? A surprise is in store for Hazel and the reader!
Pig & Horse & the Something Scary by Zoey Abbott
Pig can't stop thinking about something that is bothering her. Try as Horse might to get her mind off of it--with bike rides, swims, and silly hats--it's no use. But maybe if Pig shares the something with her friend, they can talk about it and figure out how to face the something together.
A Shelter of Sadness by Anne Booth
A small boy creates a shelter for his sadness so that he can visit it whenever he needs to, and the two of them can cry, talk, or just sit. The boy knows that one day his sadness may come out of the shelter, and together they will look out at the world and see how beautiful it is.
Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster by Manka Kasha
Small Knight would rather go on adventures with their best friend, Tiny Bear, than learn to be a perfect princess, but worrying about telling their parents creates a dreadful monster.
Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Beth Griffin
Lily and her grandmother search for ten beautiful things as they take a long car ride to Iowa and Lily's new home with Gran. At first, Lily sees nothing beautiful in the April slush and cloudy sky. Soon though, Lily can see beauty in unexpected places, from the smell of spring mud to a cloud shaped like a swan to a dilapidated barn. A furious rainstorm mirrors Lily's anxiety, but as it clears Lily discovers the tenth beautiful thing: Lily and Gran and their love for each other.
The Worry Monster by Catherine P Cook-Cottone
Give kids tools to calm their inner worry monster with this interactive, vibrantly illustrated book! Tried-and-true methods from a child pscyhologist will have little ones mindfully breathing, practicing gratitude, and gracefully surfing their worry waves.
You Can Be a Good Friend by Taraji P Henson
Lil TJ is ready for her first day of school. But when she gets there, TJ finds that everything she does is a little different than everyone else and she's standing out in all the wrong ways. Once TJ's classmate Beau notices, he relentlessly teases her. TJ is filled with anxiety and doubt until she recalls some important words of wisdom from her Grandma Patsy. When she looks inside to her own creativity and personality, she figures out how to help herself make new friends! and helps someone else too!
Juvenile Fiction
Buster by Caleb Zane Huett
Buster's a therapy dog who needs to take matters into his own paws to help a boy understand his own anxiety . . . even if it means breaking a few rules.
Five Things about Ava Andrews by Margaret Dilloway
Eleven-year-old Ava Andrews has a Technicolor interior with a gray shell. On the inside, she bubbles with ideas and plans. On the outside, everyone except her best friend, Zelia, thinks she doesn't talk or, worse, is stuck-up. What nobody knows is Ava has invisible disabilities: anxiety and a heart condition. Ava hopes middle school will be a fresh start, but when Zelia moves across the country and Ava's Nana Linda pushes her to speak up about social issues, she withdraws further. So Ava is shocked when her writing abilities impress her classmates and they invite her to join their improv group, making up stories onstage. Determined to prove she can control her anxiety, she joins-and discovers a whole new side of herself, and what it means to be on a team. But as Ava's self-confidence blossoms, her relationship with Zelia strains, and she learns that it isn't enough to just raise your voice-it's how and why you use it that matters.
Iveliz Explains All by Andrea Beatriz Arango
Twelve-year-old Iveliz is trying to manage her mental health and advocate for the help and understanding she deserves, but in the meantime her new friend calls her crazy and her abuela Mimi dismisses the therapy and medicine Iveliz needs to feel like herself.
Louder Than Hunger by John Schu
Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He likes skating and singing, playing Bingo and Name That Tune, and reading mysteries and comics aloud to his teachers. He also likes avoiding people his own age . . . and the cruelty of mirrors . . . and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books--the weird one, the outsider--and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrink himself down to nothing. But the less he eats, the bigger he feels. How long can Jake punish himself before he truly disappears?
Not Nothing by Gayle Forman
When troubled twelve-year-old Alex is assigned to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living facility, he forms a unique bond with a Holocaust survivor and learns lessons that change the trajectory of his life.
Quagmire Tiarello Couldn't Be Better by Mylisa Larsen
Quagmire Tiarello prides himself on not needing anything from anybody. Sure, his mom is skipping work again and showing signs of going into one of her full-out spins, but it’s nothing he can’t handle. He’s used to her up-and-down moods, even if this time it feels a little different. Then his mom disappears, and Quag must find shelter with an uncle he didn't know he had. Should he come clean about his mother’s mental health challenges? Or can he use his carefully honed skills to bluff long enough to find his mom and get home? Readers will root for Quag as he finds himself rethinking his world and learning to accept help from the people who love him.
Teen Collection:
Teen Fiction
The Golden Boys Guide to Bipolar by Sonora Reys
Cesar Flores is finally ready to win back his ex-boyfriend. Since breaking up with Jamal in a last-ditch effort to stay in the closet, he's come out to Mami, his sister, Yami, and their friends, taken his meds faithfully, and gotten his therapist's blessing to reunite with Jamal. Everything would be perfect if it weren't for The Thoughts--the ones that won't let all his Catholic guilt and internalizations stay buried where he wants them. The louder they become, the more Cesar is once again convinced that he doesn't deserve someone like Jamal--or anyone really. Cesar can hide a fair amount of shame behind jokes and his "gifted" reputation, but when a manic episode makes his inner turmoil impossible to hide, he's faced with a stark choice: burn every bridge he has left or, worse--ask for help. But is the mortifying vulnerability of being loved by the people he's hurt the most a risk he's willing to take?
My Life as a Chameleon by Diana Anyakwo
As cold rain thunders on the British streets, Lily flashes back to her childhood in Lagos. The biracial daughter of a Nigerian father and an Irish mother, Lily lives a dual reality as a child, with moments of joy existing alongside her father's increasingly erratic and violent behavior, which is due to a stage illness Lily doesn't understand called schizophrenia.
Solving for the Unknown by Loan Le
Vietnamese Americans Viet and Evie juggle family expectations with their desire to forge their own path in between college classes and falling in love.
This Side of Falling by Eunice Chan
Nina guards her emotions over the death of her first love and strives to uphold her family's successful image, a pretense she successfully maintains until her sister returns from college stirring up buried memories.
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there's a hundred thousand dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett's son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
Abducted by aliens periodically throughout his youth, Henry Denton is informed by his erstwhile captors that they will end the world in 144 days unless he stops them by deciding that humanity is worth saving.
Teen Non-Fiction
Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson
Shaun David Hutchinson was nineteen. Confused. Struggling to find the vocabulary to understand and accept who he was and how he fit into a community in which he couldn't see himself. The voice of depression told him that he would never be loved or wanted, while powerful and hurtful messages from society told him that being gay meant love and happiness weren't for him. A million moments large and small over the years all came together to convince Shaun that he couldn't keep going, that he had no future. And so he followed through on trying to make that a reality. Thankfully Shaun survived, and over time, came to embrace how grateful he is and how to find self-acceptance. In this courageous and deeply honest memoir, Shaun takes readers through the journey of what brought him to the edge, and what has helped him truly believe that it does get better.
Don't Call Me Crazy by Kelly Jensen
Essays, lists, poems, and art explore the ways in which 33 contributors cope--and thrive--with mental illness including actress Kristen Bell, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, and bestselling YA authors like Libba Bray, Adam Silvera, and Victoria Schwab.
Goblin Mode by McKayla Coyle
Do you ever feel strange, gross, chaotic, underappreciated, or like you don't quite-fit in? Great news: you might be a goblin! That means your imperfections and idiosyncrasies are the most awesome things about you, and you can build a more harmonious life by accepting and honoring them-taking inspiration from the frogs, fungi, moss, rocks, and dirt that goblins love. Goblin Mode includes life advice for celebrating physical and mental diversity, rejecting prejudice, and generally hanging on to a little joy. Can a mushroom give you fashion tips? Can a snail teach you to be a happier person? You bet they can-and in this book you'll also learn to: Create a moss garden for your lair, Grow and use medicinal plants, Forage for berries (even in the city), Mend your cozy sweaters, Display your cool rock collection And more!
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about the physical manifestations of violence, grief, trauma, and abuse on his own body. He writes of his own eating disorder and gambling addiction as well as similar issues that run throughout his family. Through self-exploration, storytelling, and honest conversation with family and friends, Heavy seeks to bring what has been hidden into the light and to reckon with all of its myriad sources, from the most intimate--a mother-child relationship--to the most universal--a society that has undervalued and abused black bodies for centuries.
If My Body Could Speak by Blythe Baird
Through love, loss and the struggles of disordered eating, If My Body Could Speak uses sharp narratives and visceral imagery to get to the heart of a many-layered existence, speaking to many generations at once.
Luminary by Kate Scelsa
Self-care is not only necessary, it's magical! Your road to self-care can be a mystical journey that leaves you feeling more confident, determined and ready to accomplish all those bucket-list items and dreams you have scribbled in your journal. So why not start that journey now? Within Luminary you will find both mystical and practical tools to help deal with stress, depression, and other challenges. Gorgeously illustrated and highly designed, this guide offers different creative ways of living a heart-centered, mindful, and magical life through concrete tools for self-care and advice from a diverse group of practitioners in areas like tarot, astrology, energy work, and much more.
Lullabies for the Insomniacs by Ella Grace Foutz
A teen with bipolar disorder fights for survival in Ella Grace Foutz's memoir in verse. Foutz weaves an intimate and gripping chronicle of her experience with mental illness. Amidst the turbulence of manic and depressive episodes, often accompanied by insomnia, Foutz relentlessly pursues stability and self-understanding. She examines the struggles that come with her illness, the ways it can be managed, and the ways in which it's inextricable from her deepest self--informing how she sees the world around her and within her.
Graphic Novels and Manga
JGN, GN, and Manga
Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand
All Nitasha's parents want is for her to be the perfect Indian daughter--something she is decidedly not. Everything she does seems to disappoint them, especially her mom. They just don't get that she'll never be like her doctor older brother. To make matters worse, she's never quite felt like she belongs at school either, and lately, her best friend, Ava, and her crush, Henry, seem to be more interested in the rich new girl than in her. Alcohol takes the edge off, but when that doesn't work, Nitasha turns to self-harm. She can't stop asking herself: Will she ever be enough for her friends or her family? Or even for herself?
Growing Pangs by Katheryn Ormsbee
Katie's always felt different. She's homeschooled, she has freckles, and her teeth are really crooked. But none of these things matter to Kacey. They're best friends forever--just like their necklaces say. But when they go to summer camp, Kacey starts acting weird. What happened to the "forever"? And when Katie gets home, she can't stop worrying. About getting braces. About 6th grade. About friends. She knows tapping three times or opening and closing a drawer won't make everything better . . . but sometimes it helps stop the worrying. Is something wrong with her? And will anyone want to be friends with her if they find out?
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works
I Feel Awful, Thanks by Lara Pickle
Joana is a young witch who secured her dream job with a coven in London, her favorite city, where she can dedicate herself to creating potions, her favorite activity! However, she will soon discover the reality of city life is not so idyllic. Finding a flat is an ordeal, her "dream job" is stressful, and she's totally alone. Little by little, she makes her place, but fatigue, sadness, and doubts threaten to topple her hard-earned success, until she starts talking to a professional who helps her realize in order to take care of herself, she must know herself.
Insomniacs After School by Makato Ojiro
Unable to sleep at night, Ganta Nakami is cranky in class and unpopular with his classmates. He discovers that the school observatory, once used by the now-defunct astronomy club, may be the perfect place for a nap--but he's not along. Fellow insomniac Isaki Magari is willing to share the observatory with Nakami, and a friendship between the two begins as they bond over the most unlikely things. Dark rumors about what befell the members of the astronomy club keep people away from the school observatory, and that's what makes it the perfect sanctuary for Nakami and Magari to get some much-needed rest. Unfortunately, the school faculty can't allow its unsanctioned use. But if there were a new astronomy club, maybe these two insomniacs oculd have a place to call home!
Puzzled by Pan Cooke
Pan Cooke is ten years old when anxious thoughts begin to take over his brain like pieces of an impossible puzzle. What if he blurts out a swear word while in church? What if he accidentally writes something mean in his classmate's get-well card? What if his friend's racy photo of a supermodel ends up in his own homework and is discovered by his teacher? More and more, he becomes hijacked by fears that can only be calmed through exhausting, time-consuming rituals.
Weirdo by Tony Weaver Jr
Eleven-year-old Tony Weaver, Jr. loves comic books, anime, and video games, and idolizes the heroic, larger-than-life characters he finds there. But his new classmates all think he's a weirdo. Bullied by his peers, Tony struggles with the hurt of not being accepted and tries to conform to other people's expectations. After a traumatic event shakes him to his core, he embarks on a journey of self love that will require him to become the hero of his own story.
Adult Collection
Adult Fiction
Everything is Probably Fine by Julia London
After forty-two years, Lorna Lott is ready to learn where she's going with her life--even if it means revisiting all the places she wishes she hadn't been. It'll be fine. Probably. Maybe.
The Girls at 17 Swan Street by Yara Zgheib
Anna Roux was a professional dancer who followed the man of her dreams from Paris to Missouri. There, alone with her biggest fears - imperfection, failure, loneliness - she spirals down anorexia and depression till she weighs a mere eighty-eight pounds. Forced to seek treatment, she is admitted as a patient at 17 Swann Street, a peach pink house where pale, fragile women with life-threatening eating disorders live. Women like Emm, the veteran; quiet Valerie; Julia, always hungry. Together, they must fight their diseases and face six meals a day.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
PROBLEM:
You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes--it would all be too awkward--and you can’t say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you’ve received from around the world.
QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?
ANSWER: You accept them all.
If you are Arthur Less. Thus begins an around-the-world-in-eighty-days fantasia that will take Arthur Less to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India and Japan and put thousands of miles between him and the problems he refuses to face. What could possibly go wrong?
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Most people don't even notice them-three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There's Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there's the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came tobe. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
During the years he spends in a neural health facility, Pat Peoples formulates a theory about silver linings: he believes his life is a movie produced by God, his mission is to become physically fit and emotionally supportive, and his happy ending will be the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. When Pat goes to live with his parents, everything seems changed: no one will talk to him about Nikki; his old friends are saddled with families; the Philadelphia Eagles keep losing, making his father moody; and his new therapist seems to be recommending adultery as a form of therapy. When Pat meets the tragically widowed and clinically depressed Tiffany, she offers to act as a liaison between him and his wife, if only he will give up watching football, agree to perform in this year's Dance Away Depression competition, and promise not to tell anyone about their "contract." All the while, Pat keeps searching for his silver lining.
Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein
What would you give up for the person you love most? What would you expect in return? Mia and Cricket have always been close. The gifted daughters of a young single mother, the "Lowe girls" are well-known in the small Maine town they call home. Each sister has a role to fill: The responsible and academically minded Mia assumes the position of caregiver far too young, while Cricket, a bouncing ball of energy and talent, seems born for soccer stardom. But the cost of achieving athletic greatness comes at a steep price. As Mia and Cricket grow up, they must grapple with the legacy of their mother's secret past while navigating their own precarious future. Can Mia allow herself to fall in love at the risk of repeating a terrible history? Will Cricket's relentless chase of a lifelong goal drive her sister away? When does loyalty become self-sabotage.
Adult Non-Fiction
Birdgirl by Mya-Rose Craig
Meet Mya-Rose - otherwise known as "Birdgirl." In her words: "Birdwatching has never felt like a hobby, or a pastime I can pick up and put down, but a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven in that there's no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact." Birdgirl follows Mya-Rose and her family as they travel the world in search of rare birds and astonishing landscapes. But a shadow moves with them, too-her mother's deepening mental health crisis. In the face of this struggle, the Craigs turn to nature again and again for comfort and meaning. Joining the fight of today's young environmental activists, Mya-Rose shares her experiences to advocate for the simple, profound gift of nature, and for making it accessible to all, calling her readers to rediscover the power of our natural world. Birder, activist, daughter: this is her story.
But What Will People Say by Sahaj Kaur Kholi
A deeply personal, paradigm-shifting book from therapist, writer, and founder of @browngirltherapy that rethinks traditional therapy and self-care models, creating much-needed space for those left out of the narrative.
Healing the Modern Brain by Drew Ramsey
Healing the Modern Brain offers a new approach to revitalizing and protecting mental health and achieving Mental Fitness. Simply defined, Mental Fitness is the knowledge, patterns, habits, and skills that culminate in a more mentally healthy life: an approach to living that takes into consideration the unrealistic demands of modern living, time, choice, genetics, lifestyle, diet, habits, chemistry, movement, rest, and mindset. It is a process that will put your brain in a perpetual state of self-repair and evolution, and ensure it has the support it needs to overcome daily stress, decision-fatigue, and uncertainty.
How to Winter by Kari Leibowitz
A blend of mindset science, original research and cultural insights into cultivating a positive "wintertime mindset," to cure winter blues and learn to find joy and comfort in dark times year-round Do you dread the end of Daylight Savings each year and grouch about the long, chilly season of gray skies and ice? Do you reach for a lightbox to get you through January and February each year? What if there were a way to rethink this time of year? Psychologist and winter expert Kari Leibowitz's galvanizing HOW TO WINTER uses mindset science to help readers embrace winter as a season to be enjoyed, not endured-and in turn, learn powerful lessons that can impact our mental wellbeing throughout the year.
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor-including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother-and how she retook control of her life.
Unshrunk by Laura Delano
At age thirteen, Laura Delano's parents brought her to her first psychiatrist who quickly diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and started her on a treatment of psychiatric drugs. At school, Delano was the model student, ; at home, she unleashed all the rage she felt. Delano's initial bipolar diagnosis marked the beginning of a life-altering saga. For the next fourteen years, she sought treatment at the country's best psychiatric hospitals, collected an expanding catalog of diagnoses, and was prescribed a medication cascade of twenty-one drugs. Delano welcomed the pharmaceutical regimen in the hopes that it would bring her stability, peace, and treatment for what she'd been convinced was an incurable, lifelong disease. But as her symptoms became more severe and untenable, and eventually deemed "treatment resistant," she started to wonder if the drugs she was prescribed were contributing to her illness. After years of being an obedient patient, Delano made the radical decision to uncover her baseline--the unadulterated state-of-being where she could experience the full intensity of feelings that she'd never truly known: happiness, sadness, anger, desire, and joy. It was a decision that would require her to leave behind the diagnoses and the drugs, all she had known for the better part of her life.
Media Collection:
DVD and Blu-ray
Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
A plucky eleven-year-old named Margaret finds her life on the cusp of change as her family uproots from the heart of the city to a quiet suburban neighborhood, leaving her grandmother, her confidant, behind. Margaret must then navigate the ups and downs of adolescence, including new friends, new feelings, and, ultimately, a new sense of self.
On the heels of an emotionally damaging tour abroad, veteran Marine Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega) struggles to reintegrate into civilian life. As his mental and emotional state continues to disintegrate, he becomes increasingly unable to distinguish between reality and his harrowing war flashbacks while maintaining healthy relationships with his loved ones.
A satirical comedy about a down-on-his-luck publicist who discovers a recently released mental health patient who looks just like a misbehaving movie star. The publicist subs him into a film, creating a new star. But fame and fortune are not all they are cracked up to be.
Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions ; Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life.
This coming-of-age tale set in 2002 Sacramento centers on Christine McPherson, an eccentric teenager who prefers to go by the name "Lady Bird." Over the course of her senior year of high school, Lady Bird deals with the pangs of first love and clashes with her mother over her plans for the future.
In a bitter divorce settlement from her billionaire husband, Rupert Mannion, Rebecca Welton becomes the new owner of British football club AFC Richmond. She's assisted by her Director of Football Operations, Higgins, who formerly worked for her husband. Her first order of business is to fire the team's current manager and replace him with an idealistic all-American football coach, Theodore 'Ted' Lasso. Ted and his friend, assistant coach Beard, cross the pond to take up the management of the team's 'long, albeit modest' history. Richmond is about to change the way they're doing things, and from now on, that way is the Lasso way.