Francisco X. Stork

When Victoria Cruz wakes up in the psychiatric ward of a Texas hospital after her failed suicide attempt, she still has no desire to live, but as the weeks pass, and she meets Dr. Desai and three of the other patients, she begins to reflect on the reasons why she feels like a loser compared with the rest of her family, and to see a path ahead where she can make a life of her own.

The Memory of Light

Aprilynne Pike

Amber Benson

Kimberly McCreight

Dan Wells

Maureen Johnson

Ellen Hopkins

Amy Reed

Francesca Lia Block

Jessica Burkhart

Robison Wells

E. Kristin Anderson

Sarah Fine

Rachel M. Wilson

Kelly Fiore-Stultz

Scott Neumyer

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hannah Moskowitz

Tara Kelly

Candace Ganger

Cindy L. Rodriguez

Tom Pollock

Sara Zarr

Megan Kelley Hall

Melissa Marr

Crissa-Jean Chappell

Cynthia Hand

Cyn Balog

Wendy Toliver

Karen Mahoney

Lauren Oliver

Your favorite YA authors including Ellen Hopkins, Maureen Johnson, and more recount their own experiences with mental illness in this raw, real, and powerful collection of essays that explores everything from ADD to PTSD. Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t get out of bed? Not the occasional morning, but every day? Do you find yourself listening to a voice in your head that says “you’re not good enough,” “not good looking enough,” “not thin enough,” or “not smart enough”? Have you ever found yourself unable to do homework or pay attention in class unless everything is “just so” on your desk? Everyone has had days like that, but what if you have them every day? You’re not alone. Millions of people are going through similar things. However issues around mental health still tend to be treated as something shrouded in shame or discussed in whispers. It’s easier to have a broken bone—something tangible that can be “fixed”—than to have a mental illness, and easier to have a discussion about sex than it is to have one about mental health. Life Inside My Mind is an anthology of true-life events from writers of this generation, for this generation. These essays tackle everything from neurodiversity to addiction to OCD to PTSD and much more. The goals of this book range from providing home to those who are feeling alone, awareness to those who are witnessing a friend or family member struggle, and to open the floodgates to conversation. Participating writers include E.K. Anderson, J.L. Armentrout, Cyn Balog, Amber Benson, Francesca Lia Block, Jessica Burkhart, Crissa Chappell, Sarah Fine, Kelly Fiore, Candace Ganger, Meghan Kelley Hall, Cynthia Hand, Ellen Hopkins, Maureen Johnson, Tara Kelly, Karen Mahoney, Melissa Marr, Kim McCreight, Hannah Moskowitz, Scott Neumyer, Lauren Oliver, Aprilynne Pike, Tom Pollack, Amy Reed, Cindy Rodriquez, Francisco Stork, Wendy Tolliver, Rob Wells, Dan Wells, Rachel Wilson, and Sara Zarr.

31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles

Life Inside My Mind

Four months ago Sara Zapata's best friend, Linda, disappeared from the streets of Juarez, and ever since Sara has been using her job as a reporter to draw attention to the girls who have been kidnapped by the criminals who control the city, but now she and her family are being threatened--meanwhile her younger brother, Emiliano, is being lured into the narcotics business by the promise of big money, and soon the only way for both of them to escape is to risk the dangerous trek across the desert to the United States border.

Disappeared

Seventeen-year-old Pancho is bent on avenging the senseless death of his sister, but after he meets D.Q, who is dying of cancer, and Marisol, one of D.Q.'s caregivers, both boys find their lives changed by their interactions.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors

Kate, 18, and Mary, 16, must make some adult decisions about the course their lives should take when their loving but old-fashioned father dies suddenly, leaving them with their mother, who has been in a persistant vegetative state since an accident four years earlier.

Irises

"You think you're better than everyone else? Listen to me, I'm going to kill you." Hector has always minded his own business, working hard to make his way to a better life someday. He's the chess team champion, helps the family with his job at the grocery, and teaches his little sister to shoot hoops overhand. Until Joey singles him out. Joey, whose older brother, Chavo, is head of the Discípulos gang, tells Hector that he's going to kill him: maybe not today, or tomorrow, but someday. And Hector, frozen with fear, does nothing. From that day forward, Hector's death is hanging over his head every time he leaves the house. He tries to fade into the shadows - to drop off Joey's radar - to become no one. But when a fight between Chavo and Hector's brother Fili escalates, Hector is left with no choice but to take a stand. The violent confrontation will take Hector places he never expected, including a reform school where he has to live side-by-side with his enemy, Joey. It's up to Hector to choose whether he's going to lose himself to revenge or get back to the hard work of living.

On the Hook

Een 17-jarige jongen met een autistische stoornis moet van zijn vader een zomer lang op kantoor werken om kennis te maken met de echte wereld.

Marcelo en de echte wereld

What does it mean to be illegal in the United States? Life in Mexico is a death sentence for Emiliano and his sister Sara. To escape the violent cartel that is after them, they flee across the border, seeking a better life in the United States and hoping that they can find a way to bring their pursuers to justice. Sara turns herself over to the authorities to apply for asylum. Emiliano enters the country illegally, planning to live with their father. But now Sara is being held indefinitely in a detention facility, awaiting an asylum hearing that may never come, finding it harder every day to hold on to her faith and hope. Life for Emiliano is not easy either. Everywhere he goes, it's clear that he doesn't belong. And all the while, the cartel is closing in on them... Emiliano sets off on a tense and dangerous race to find justice, but can he expose the web of crimes from his place in the shadows? Award-winning author Francisco X. Stork's powerful follow-up to Disappeared delves with his usual sensitivity into the injustice that hides under the guise of the law in the United States. This is a timely and moving story that takes an unsparing look at the asylum process and the journey to find a new life in the US.

Illegal: A Disappeared Novel

Marcelo Sandoval, un muchacho de 17 años de edad en un alto nivel en el espectro autista, deberá superar una prueba de fuego: trabajar un verano en el despacho de su padre como chico de correo. Una aventura que le enfrentará a un inesperado dilema y que le revelará el verdadero sentido de los matices de esa realidad que a veces resulta tan irreal.

Marcelo en el mundo real

Sixteen-year-old Hector is the hope of his family, but when he seeks revenge after his brother's gang-related death and is sent to a San Antonio reform school, it takes an odd assortment of characters to help him see that hope is still alive.

Behind the Eyes

At loose ends, he decides to go back and seek out the people of his past, including his long-lost love, Armanda. He succeeds in finding her but discovers that she has lost her youthful innocence as the result of a nightmarish life of drug addiction, prostitution, and the murder of her (and Ismael's) child. Diaz's attempts to rescue Armanda finally lead him to death row. As he writes his story in prison, he also learns the "way of the jaguar" from another inmate. Partly ancient Aztec philosophy and partly an idiosyncratic, extrapolated doctrine, it entails facing down La Pelona - death itself - and accepting life.

The Way of the Jaguar

What does it mean to be illegal in the United States?

Marcelo är sjutton år och kämpar med att förstå reglerna i den verkliga världen. Han har lika svårt att läsa kartor som att tolka ansiktsuttryck, han hör musik som ingen annan hör och han har svårt att förstå vad som egentligen är skillnaden mellan vänskap och kärlek. Om man vill benämna Marcelos tillstånd så hamnar man någonstans i periferin kring Aspergers syndrom. Så ställer Marcelos far ett smärtsamt villkor - om han inte tackar ja till sommarjobbet på faderns advokatbyrå så kommer han inte att få återvända till den specialskola han trivs så bra i. Fadern vill nämligen att Marcelo ska träna på att hantera omvärldens krav och sociala sammanhang. Att han ska lära sig att överleva i vår värld, som många gånger är obarmhärtig, larmande, cynisk. Krocken blir våldsam, men Marcelo måste också förhålla sig till nya, varma och omtumlande känslor. Och vilken värld är egentligen den riktiga? På samma gång en vacker kärlekshistoria, ett mysterium, en etisk diskussion - och en hyllning till musiken som varje människa hör inom sig.

Francisco X. Stork

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