#MHYALit Reading Lists: Anxiety, a guest post by Natalie Korsavidis

As part of our 2016 Mental Health in Young Adult Literature project, we will be posting reading lists on various mental health-related subjects. Guest blogger Natalie Korsavidis pulled together this one on anxiety. Previously, she did a list on schizophrenia and one on depression. We will mainly be focusing on books published after 2000. We encourage you to add any other titles you can think of in the comments. Interested in generating a list for us? Let us know! I’m@CiteSomething on Twitter. See all of the #MHYALit posts here. 

Anxiety in YA

Annotations for the novels were found on the Farmingdale Library catalog or NoveList

Caletti, Deb. The Nature of Jade. Simon & Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2007.

Seattle high school senior Jade’s life is defined by her anxiety disorder and dysfunctional family, until she spies a mysterious boy with a baby who seems to share her fascination with the elephants at a nearby zoo.

Colasanti, Susanne. Waiting for You. Viking Children’s Book, 2009.

Fifteen-year-old high school sophomore Marisa, who has an anxiety disorder, decides that this is the year she will get what she wants–a boyfriend and a social life–but things do not turn out exactly the way she expects them to.

Halpern, Julie. Get Well Soon. Feiwel & Friends, 2007.

When her parents confine her to a mental hospital, an overweight teenage girl, who suffers from panic attacks, describes her experiences in a series of letters to a friend.

Halpern. Julie. Have a Nice Day. Feiwel & Friends, 2012.

When Anna returns from a three-week stay in a mental hospital she struggles to resume a normal life in the face of her parents’ arguments and peers who are afraid to ask her what happened.

Jones, Patrick. Barrier. Darby Creek, 2014.

A new, alternative high school, psychotherapy, a romantic interest, and a manga club help tenth-grader Jessica cope with her social anxiety disorder.

Kaplan, Isabel. Hancock Park. HarperTeen, 2009.

While attending an exclusive prep school in Los Angeles, a smart but anxiety-ridden high school junior tries to deal with boys, popularity, and her parents’ divorce.

Kinsella, Sophie. Finding Audrey. Delacorte Press, 2015.

Fourteen-year-old Audrey is making slow but steady progress dealing with her anxiety disorder when Linus comes into the picture and her recovery gains momentum.

Lockhart, E. The Boyfriend List. Delacorte Press, 2006.

A Seattle fifteen-year-old explains some of the reasons for her recent panic attacks, including breaking up with her boyfriend, losing all her girlfriends, tensions between her performance-artist mother and her father, and more.

Martinez, Jessica. Virtuosity. Simon Pulse, 2011.

Just before the most important violin competition of her career, seventeen-year-old prodigy Carmen faces critical decisions about her anti-anxiety drug addiction, her controlling mother, and a potential romance with her most talented rival.

Reichardt, Marisa. Underwater. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2016.

Morgan hasn’t left her apartment in months, not since the terrible thing. She takes online classes, receives house calls from her therapist, gazes at the pool in her apartment complex, and tries to avoid succumbing to crushing panic. When cute Evan moves in next door, however, Morgan starts to consider stepping outside.

Sugg, Zoe. Girl Online. Keywords Press, 2014.

Penny has a secret. Under the alias GirlOnline, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life.

Wilson, Rachel M. Don’t Touch. HarperTeen, 2014.

16-year-old Caddie struggles with OCD, anxiety, and a powerful fear of touching another person’s skin, which threatens her dreams of being an actress–until the boy playing Hamlet opposite her Ophelia gives her a reason to overcome her fears.

Meet Natalie Korsavidis

Natalie Korsavidis is the Head of Young Adult at the Farmingdale Public Library. She received her MLS at CW Post University. She is currently President of the Young Adult Services Division of the Nassau County Library Association. She has spoken at New York Comic Con and the Long Island Pop Culture Convention.

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