Reviews by Tag: mental health

Teen Review

Speak: The Graphic Novel

By Laurie Anderson

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Aug 2, 2018

Everyone knows Melinda is the freshman who called the cops on that summer party. She got some people arrested that night for underage drinking. But no one knows the real reason she called 911. That night, she was raped by an upperclassman, but hasn’t been able to tell anyone for fear that they won’t believe her. And now that she is a freshman in high school, she has been relentlessly bullied and suffered in her classes. The only class she enjoys is art class, where she can learn to express herself with a semester project.

Teen Review

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful

By Eric Lindstrom

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Jul 27, 2018

Having Bipolar disorder can make life unpredictable for Mel. Especially because none of her friends know the truth. She tries to keep everyone at arm’s length so she won’t be able to hurt them. But that has become increasingly difficult as she battles her growing feelings in a new relationship. And when someone from the past shows up with no warning, her deeply buried secrets now threaten to come loose.

Teen Review

The Prisoner of Cell 25

By Richard Paul Evans

Rated by
Beth
Apr 4, 2018

So .. it's about this 15 year old boy named Michael Vey and he has electric powers,he has had it his whole life. his mom knows it too so they try to keep it hidden and that is a bit hard for him since he was born with Tourette's Syndrome, and is always picked on. one day a bunch of bullies were hitting him and he got so mad he "pulsed' them and they were terrified of him after that day, the bad thing was someone saw electricity come out of his hands when he did it. it was his crush Taylor the head cheerleader and the prettiest girl in the high school, she saw what had happened.

Staff Review

Calvin

By Martine Leavitt
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Jun 6, 2016

It's been a long time since a book has transported me so completely. Has taken me so deeply into myself that I become oblivious to the world around me and my head spins with disconnection when I try to regain awareness. Just me and the book, and nothing else. I started reading and was supposed to stop because life was still going on around me, but I didn't. I couldn't find my way back. So life moved on without me until I finished the book. Now I must figure out how to catch up, but that's okay. It was worth stopping at a special place for a while.

Staff Review

Calvin

By Martine Leavitt
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Becky C.
Apr 21, 2016

Calvin was born on the day the final Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published. His parents claim that they didn’t name him after it, that’s it’s just a fluke. They don’t understand what’s the big deal about his grandfather putting a stuffed tiger named Hobbes into baby Calvin’s crib, either. Calvin understands the significance. He is special: eternally bound to Bill Watterson, the creator of the beloved comic strip.

Then his mom accidentally washes Hobbes to death and everything changes.

Staff Review

Challenger Deep

By Neal Shusterman
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Dec 21, 2015

There are two things you know. One: You were there. Two: You couldn't have been there.

Wondering how that can be? So is Caden. Sometimes. When he stops to think about it. Often he just goes along and doesn't question things, just accepts that's the way they are. But other times he feels out of sync with his family, friends, and others around him. He feels confused.

Staff Review

I Crawl Through It

By A.S. King
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Becky C.
Nov 9, 2015

I wish Kurt Vonnegut were alive to read this masterful literary homage. I'm not the only one who sees the connection. Margaret Wappler writes in the October 23, 2015 issue of the New York Times Book Review: "King’s devotion to a passionately experimental style, in a genre often beholden to formula, is inspiring. Kurt Vonnegut might have written a book like this, if he had ever been cyber-bullied on Facebook." 

Staff Review

The Half Life of Molly Pierce

By Katrina Leno

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Jan 3, 2015

Molly is driving back, but she doesn't know from where. And she doesn't know to where.  All she knows is that she should be in school, but she's in her car instead. Suddenly she sees a motorcycle speeding up behind her. Somehow she knows that he is coming for her. She passes through the intersection as the light turns red. The motorcycle keeps coming; it runs the red light. A truck enters the intersection, catching the back tire of the motorcycle, sending is spinning.  The rider flies through the air, over Molly's car and lands on the asphalt right in front of her.

Staff Review

Courage for Beginners

By Karen Harrington

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Nov 10, 2014

Mysti Murphy is not having a good 7th grade year. Her only friend, Anibal Gomez, has developed a crush on a Cheer Squad girl and has decided to change his image in an effort to be noticed. Part of Anibal's "social experiment" is to develop a hipster persona that he thinks his new crush will admire. To see if his experiment works, he needs to ditch Mysti. Anibal decides that he and Mysti can talk and text in the evenings and on weekends, but they must have NO contact during school. Mysti has no other friends, so she now sits alone at the Loser Island in the cafeteria at lunchtime.

Staff Review

The Impossible Knife of Memory

By Laurie Halse Anderson
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Kate M.
Jan 31, 2014

When Haley calls home and no one answers the phone by the 2nd ring, she is figures her dad is sleeping. When no one picks up by the 10th ring, she hopes he is mowing the lawn. When no one picks up by the 20th, she knows something is wrong. Something is horribly wrong. She begs a ride from Finn, the editor of the school newspaper who has been nagging her to write for him. But the car is too small, Finn drives to slow, and something is wrong at home. Haley can't breathe, she can't think, she needs out!

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