Marcelo in the Real World

The Sack (Puffin Books)

Playing the Cards You're Dealt

Glitter Gets Everywhere

Mallory's Christmas Wish

Rent a Bridesmaid

Dandelion Clocks

The Willoughbys Return

16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital's mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery - and perhaps rescue some others along the way.

When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn't be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she's never had.

But Vicky's newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up, sending Vick back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. She may not have them. She doesn't know.

Inspired in part by the author's own experience with depression, The Memory of Light is the rare young adult novel that focuses not on the events leading up to a suicide attempt, but the recovery from one - about living when life doesn't seem worth it, and how we go on anyway.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Marcelo in the Real World

Francisco X. Stork, 2008

The Sack (Puffin Books)

Christobel Mattingley, Simon Kneebone, 1993

Playing the Cards You're Dealt

Varian Johnson, 2021

Glitter Gets Everywhere

Yvette Clark, 2021

Mallory's Christmas Wish

John McKinley, Abby Klein, Ann M. Martin, 2014

Rent a Bridesmaid

Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Sharratt, 2016

Dandelion Clocks

Rebecca Westcott, 2014

The Willoughbys Return

Lois Lowry, 2020