If You Read

A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer

Dave and Richard Pelzer's books

A Child Called It:: One Child's Courage to
Survive
Dave Pelzer

The Lost boy : A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family 
Dave Pelzer

The Privilege of Youth : A Teenager's Story of Longing  for Acceptance and Friendship 
Dave Pelzer

A Man Named Dave : A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness
Dave Pelzer

A Brother's Journey : Surviving a Childhood of Abuse
Richard Pelzer

A Teenager's Journey : Overcoming a Childhood of Abuse
Richard Pelzer

Twisted           Laurie Halse Anderson          
17 year old Tyler enjoys his tough reputation and the attentions of a popular girl, but when life starts to go bad again, he must choose between transforming himself or giving in to his destructive thoughts.

Speak  Laurie Halse    Anderson        
Melinda stops speaking after speaking up and calling the police at a party.

Alt Ed  Catherine Atkins        
Susan and Brendan have to participate in a 12 week after-school group therapy session- or be expelled.

Candy Kevin Brooks 
Joe desperately wants to save beautiful Candy from a life of drug use and prostitution.

Smack Melvin Burgess           
Gemma and Tar run away from home, only to fall into the trap of heroin addiction.

The facts speak for themselves        Brock   Cole    
At the request of her social worker, thirteen-year-old Linda gradually reveals how her life with her unstable mother and her younger brother led to her rape and the murder she witnessed.

Just Listen      Sarah Dessen 
Annabelle's reluctance to deal with confrontation has devastating results.

Party Girl        Lynne  Ewing 
Ana and Kata have always played together, and then they partied together. What will Ana do without her?

I Am an Artichoke     Lucy    Frank 
15 year old Sarah is caught between a mother and her anorexic daughter.

Perfect            Natasha           Friend
Isabelle's need to be perfect drives her to bulimia.

Fat Kid Rules the World       K.L.     Going 
17-year old Troy gets a chance to play drums in a band with a homeless guitar genius.

Stone Cold      Pete     Hautman         Sixteen-year-old Denn finds himself alienating both friends and family when he becomes obsessed with playing high-stakes poker with adult gamblers.

Second Star to the Right       Deborah Hautzig        
Leslie can never be thin enough. Written by an author who suffered from anorexia.

Kissing Doorknobs    Terry Spencer  Hesser           
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.

Crank  Ellen    Hopkins          
Kristina, the perfect daughter, has an alter-ego she calls Bree- and Bree is into crank.

You Don't Know Me  David  Klass  
John suffers abuse from his violent step-father.

Stoner and Spaz         Ron      Koertge          
Ben and Colleen are unlikely friends.

The Loser's Club       John    LeKich
Alex has a way to deal with Jerry, the school bully.

Inexcusable    Chris   Lynch 
High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong.

RX      Tracy   Lynn   
Thyme is an honors student, popular, on student council, and a drug dealer.

Cut      Patricia           McCormick    
Callie is sent to Sea Pines, a therapy facility, to deal with her self-mutilation issues.

Anything to win          Gloria  Miklowitz       
To increase his chances of winning a college scholarship, a talented high school quarterback risks his health by taking anabolic steroids to gain weight

Past forgiving Gloria  Miklowitz       
Fifteen-year-old Alexandra finds that her boyfriend Cliff demands all her time, isolates her by his jealousy, and finally becomes physically abusive.

Bottled up : a novel    Jaye     Murray
A high school boy comes to terms with his drug addiction, life with an alcoholic father, and a younger brother who looks up to him.

The Beast       Walter Dean    Myers
A visit to his Harlem neighborhood and the discovery that the girl he loves is using drugs give sixteen-year-old Anthony Witherspoon a new perspective both on his home and on his life at a Connecticut prep school.

The Keeper    Phyllis Reynolds          Naylor
Junior high school student Nick must face the fact that his father is plunging fast into serious mental illness.

Lisa Bright and Dark John    Neufeld           
Lisa's family and teachers won't face her deep depression.

The Body of Christopher Creed        Carol   Plum-Ucci      
When Christopher Creed, class loser, disappears, why does everyone want to blame Bo Richardson?

The Night My Sister Went Missing Carol   Plum-Ucci      
Kurt doesn't understand what happened at first- but as the night goes on, horrible secrets are uncovered.

The boy from the basement   Susan   Shaw  
A twelve-year-old boy is confined to his basement without food or clothing

Project X         Jim      Shepard          
Edwin and Flake can't take any more- and they have a plan to put a stop to it.

Go Ask Alice  Beatrice           Sparks
Alice's diary describes her slide into heavy drug use.

Kim: Empty Inside     Beatrice           Sparks
Seventeen-year-old Kim, feeling the pressure of maintaining an A average to stay on her college gymnastics team, becomes obsessive about her weight and develops anorexia.

Give A Boy A Gun     Todd    Strasser          
Gary and Brendan are sick of being bullied, and they have a terrible plan to put an end to it.

Fair Game      Erika Tamar  
High school senior Laura Jean is shocked when the school jocks are accused of gang-raping a retarded girl and her boyfriend Scott appears to be involved.

The Game       Teresa Toten  
Dani and Kelly were always there for each other, like sisters should be. So why is Danni alone at Riverwood Clinic?

Inside Out       Terry  Trueman         
A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage.

The Rules of Survival            Nancy  Werlin 
Matt addresses the abuse he and his siblings suffered from their bipolar mother.

Memories of Summer            Ruth     White  
Lyric and her sister Summer have a hard time adjusting to the move from Glory Bottom, Virginia to Flint, Michigan.

NONFICTION

Please Stop Laughing at Me…
Jodee Blanco
A shocking, disturbing look at bullying and social torture, and an inspiring story of resilience and survival. J PB YA BIO B

The Basketball Diaries
Jim Carroll
The rock singer's account of losing his chances at
being a pro-basketball player because of drug use is searing. J PB YA BIO C

Stick Figure: A diary of my former self
Lori Gottlieb
Lori’s high school diary records her battles with bulimia. J PB YA BIO G

Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
Julie Gregory
Julie tells her disturbing story about growing up suffering a rare form of child abuse, and her eventual, against-all-odds recovery. J PB YA BIO G

Sybil
Flora Rheta Schrieber
Sybil is a true story based on one of the most severe cases of Multiple Personality Disorder and child abuse known. RC555 S37

Katie.com: My Story
Katherine Tarbox
Katie was 13 when she met Mark on the internet- it wasn't till they met in person that she found out that "Mark" was a pedophile in his 40s named Frank. J PB YA BIO T

More Resources

Surviving the Roller Coaster: A Teen's Guide To Coping With Moods                          
Jean Ford                                                   J  B724.3 M64 F67

Nothing to Be Ashamed Of: Growing Up With Mental Illness in Your Family
Sherry Dinner                                           J PB YA SH D

Respect: A Girl’s Guide to Getting Respect and Dealing When Your Line Is Crossed
Courtney Macavinta and Andrea Vander Pluym J PB YA NF M

The Teenage Guy's Survival Guide
Jeffrey Dandry                                                J PB YA SH D

When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide For Depressed Teens
Bev Cobain                                         J PB YA SH C

Teen Addiction
Edited by Paul Winters                                   J PH YA SH W

Booklist developed by Lexi Henshel.