Barrie, Barbara. Adam Zigzag.
Adam, who is dyslexic and has great difficulty with his homework, struggles to find the right school, resist the lure of drugs, and endure the jealousy of his older sister Caroline.

Blume, Judy. Deenie.
A thirteen-year-old girl seemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has a deformation of the spine called scoliosis.

Bonham, Frank. Gimme an H, Gimme an E, Gimme an L, Gimme a P.
A high school boy tries to help a beautiful, suicidal cheerleader whose emotional disturbances become increasingly more evident.

Bowler, Tim. Midget.
Subject to strange fits, physically abnormal, and psychologically disturbed from the constant torment and abuse of his older brother, fifteen-year-old Midget finds himself in control of his life for the first time when he gets his own sailboat and discovers untapped mental powers.

Bridgers, Sue Ellen. Notes for Another Life: A Novel.
Tom Jackson's mental illness is difficult for his entire family, but particularly so for his sixteen-year-old son Kevin who wonders if he has the same affliction.

Ferris, Jean. Of Sound Mind.
Tired of interpreting for his deaf family and resentful of their reliance on him, high school senior Theo finds support and understanding from Ivy, a new student who also has a deaf parent.

Froese, Deborah. Out of the Fire.
Sixteen-year-old Dayle survives a tragic fire and learns that her own resources go much deeper than appearances.

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

Hesser, Terry Spencer. Kissing Doorknobs.
Fourteen-year-old Tara describes how her increasingly strange compulsions begin to take over her life and affect her relationships with her family and friends.

Jenkins, A.M. Damage.
Seventeen-year-old football hero Austin, trying to understand the inexplicable depression that has drained his interest in life, thinks that he has found relief in a girl who seems very special.

Johnston, Tim. Never So Green.
In Iowa in the 1970s, twelve-year-old Tex overcomes his self-consciousness about his deformed right hand to take baseball lessons from his stepfather and his tomboy stepsister, who harbors a dark secret.

Marsden, John. Checkers.
Speaking from a mental hospital, a teenage girl recounts the tremendous media pressure that preceded the breaking scandal of her father's unethical business dealings.

Mayne, William. Gideon Ahoy.
Twelve-year-old Eva's chaotic but cheerful family life in a small English town changes when Gideon, her brain-damaged deaf older brother, gets a job opening bridges and locks for the local canal boat.

Mikaelsen, Ben. Stranded.
Twelve-year-old Koby, who has lost a foot in an accident, sees a chance to prove her self-reliance to her parents when she tries to rescue two stranded pilot whales near her home in the Florida Keys.

Moore, Peter. Blind Sighted.
Kirk, a creative misfit who is in trouble at high school because he is bored with his classes, learns to deal with his alcoholic mother, new friends, and life with the help of a blind young woman who hires him to read to her.

Pressler, Mirjam. Halinka.
While living in a home for emotionally disturbed girls in Germany just after World War II, twelve-year-old Halinka carefully hides her thoughts, feelings, and even her hopes.

Rosenberg, Liz. Seventeen: A Novel in Prose Poems.
Seventeen-year-old Stephanie journeys from fall to spring and from childhood to womanhood as she experiences first love and deals with her fear of inheriting her mother's mental illness.

Seago, Kate. Matthew Unstrung.
A 17-year-old boy who has suffered a mental breakdown in the early 1900s is able to regain his sanity with the help of his brother.

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending.
A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

Springer, Nancy. Colt.
A young boy with a crippling disease learns, through a horseback riding program, to overcome his own anxieties and to help others in dealing with their own problems.

Striegel, Jana. Homeroom Exercise.
When eleven-year-old Regan begins to suffer from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, she must face the possibility that her dream of being a professional dancer may never come true.

Tashjian, Janet. Multiple Choice.
Monica, a fourteen-year-old perfectionist and word game expert, tries to break free from all of the suffocating rules in her life by creating a game for living called Multiple Choice.

Thesman, Jean. The Last April Dancers.
Sixteen-year-old Cat St. John tries to come to terms with the growing evidence of her father's mental illness and his eventual suicide.

Thiele, Colin. Jodie's Journey.
Jodie, disabled by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and unable to ride her beloved horse Monarch, faces a crisis when the two of them are alone at her remote Australia home and a devastating fire approaches.

Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral.
Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.

Wallace, Bill. True Friends.
The new girl in Courtney's sixth-grade class shows her a way to survive when things at school and home begin to fall apart.

Waters, Annie. Glimmer.
A college freshman slowly loses contact with reality.

Werlin, Nancy. Are You Alone on Purpose?
Autism.

Wilson, Dawn. Saint Jude.
When committed to an upscale group home outside Asheville, North Carolina, eighteen-year-old Taylor Drysdale pretends that her bipolar disorder is under control and that she will leave soon, but relationships with her fellow residents may hold the key to real recovery.

updated 1/2006