Bibliotherapy for Teens and Young Adults

Books have power. Just as literature has changed the course of history time and time again, reading has been demonstrated to have a profound effect on the thoughts and emotions of individuals. Recognizing this power, mental health professionals have adopted bibliotherapy as a means to ease suffering and aid recovery.

Bibliotherapy refers to utilizing literature as a therapeutic tool for mental and emotional healing. Bibliotherapy can help young people address issues surrounding anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment, disability, minority status, body image, gender identity, and sexuality. Literature can guide teens and young adults in navigating the turbulence of early identity exploration. Through relating to characters or situations within a story, they are able to tentatively play out different aspects of their burgeoning selves. Imaginative exploration can also be helpful for older people who are coming out. It thus safely provides a niche outlet for stifled frustrations and struggles, as well as for the celebration of life’s early milestones.

That’s why we’ve compiled a well-researched, age appropriate reference list of fictional novels and riveting memoirs covering a range of different topics (loosely categorized with a lot of overlap) to serve as a bibliotherapy resource for teens, young adults, and baby queers. The books on this list were each chosen with the goal of engaging readers in developing personal coping strategies by enlisting the imagination, stimulating discourse, and encouraging readers to feel more supported and less alone. Enjoy!

(***Note: This list contains both moderate and advanced content, thus the ability and maturity of the reader should be considered before reading.)

Depression, Anxiety, and Mental Illness

All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven

Club Meds, Katherine Hall Page

Hyacinth Girls, Lauren Frankel

I Don’t Want to Be Crazy, Samantha Schutz

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Joanne Greenberg

I Will Save You, Matt De La Peña

Rogue, Lyn Miller-Lachmann

The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides

This is How I Find Her, Sara Polsky

Grief and Loss

Boy21, Matthew Quick

Chasing Shadows, Swati Avasthi

Lessons from a Dead Girl, Jo Knowles

The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

Torch, Cheryl Strayed

White Oleander, Janet Fitch

Substance Abuse

From Binge to Blackout: A Mother and Son Struggle with Teen Drinking, Chris Volkmann and Toren Volkmann

Smashed, Koren Zailckas

Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines, Nic Sheff

Disability

Izzy, Willy Nilly, Cynthia Voigt

Mean Little Deaf Queer, by Terry Galloway

Rules, Cynthia Lord

The Running Dream, Wendelin Van Draanen

Things Not Seen, Andrew Clements

Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage 

Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood, Varsha Bajaj

Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self, Alex Tizon

BlackGirl Mansion, Angel Nafis

Kira-Kira, Cynthia Kadohata

Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat

Purple Hibiscus: A Novel, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Color of Water, James McBride

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, Wes Moore

Body Image

My Big Fat Manifesto, Susan Vaught

Star Girl, Jerry Spinelli

Skin and Bones, Sherry Shahan

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

The Skin I’m In, Sharon G. Flake

Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson

Gender and Sexuality

’89 Walls, Katie Pierson

15 &…What?!, E. McNew

Beyond the Gender Binary, Alad Vaid-Menon

Blueprints for Building Better Girls, Elissa Schappell

Every Day, David Levithan

Green Girl, Kate Zambreno

He Said, She Said: Lessons, Stories, and Mistakes from My Transgender Journey, Gigi Gorgeous

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides

Rainbow Crush: Light-Hearted LGBT Fiction for Teens, Foxglove Lee

That Birds Would Sing, Joanna Franklin Bell

The Last Time I Wore a Dress, Daphne Scholinski

Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan

Abuse

A Child Called It, Dave Peltzer

Complicit, Stephanie Kuehn

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets, Evan Roskos

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, Matthew Quick

Push: A Novel, Sapphire

Scars, Cheryl Rainfield

She’s Come Undone, Wally Lamb

Stronger Than You Know, Jolene Perry