Turtles All the Way Down
John Green
Aza's spiralling OCD thoughts are rendered from the inside with the same wry honesty as Craig's anxiety, balanced by friendship, banter and a light mystery plot.
11 books to read next
Books Like It's Kind of a Funny Story
If you loved It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Readers love It's Kind of a Funny Story for the way it talks about depression honestly without becoming bleak. Craig's voice is anxious, self-aware and genuinely funny, and his stay in a psychiatric ward introduces a cast of oddballs who become unlikely friends. The pressure of a high-achieving New York school feels real, the pace is quick, and the book finds hope in small, concrete things rather than grand fixes. It's a young adult novel that takes mental health seriously while still making you laugh.
Funny books about mental health
Highly illogical behavior
John Corey Whaley
An agoraphobic teen and the girl trying to 'fix' him make for a warm, witty story that, like Vizzini's, treats mental illness with humour and empathy.
Teens in treatment
Girl, interrupted
Susanna Kaysen
A classic memoir of a young woman's stay in a psychiatric hospital, sharp and darkly funny about fellow patients in a way readers of Craig's ward days will recognise.
Challenger Deep
Neal Shusterman
A teen's descent into mental illness and hospitalisation told in an inventive, dreamlike style, offering a more intense companion to Craig's grounded experience.
Made You Up
Francesca Zappia, Amanda Ronconi
Alex, a teen with schizophrenia, narrates with humour and unreliability, giving the same mix of comedy and real struggle that makes Craig so likeable.
Outsider voices with heart
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
Charlie's letters capture loneliness, friendship and hidden pain with the tender, confessional voice that draws readers to Craig's story.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews
A self-deprecating, very funny narrator handles a heavy subject without sentimentality, perfect for readers who loved Craig's comic take on serious things.
Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell
Two misfit teens find each other amid difficult home lives, offering the same feeling of connection rescuing someone from isolation.
Go deeper
Reasons to stay alive
Matt Haig
A short, honest memoir of surviving severe depression, offering the hopeful, practical perspective on recovery that Craig's story points toward.
All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven
Two teens dealing with depression and grief meet and change each other; more emotional than Vizzini, but equally committed to taking teen mental health seriously.
Hyperbole and a Half
Allie Brosh
Brosh's illustrated essays on depression are hilarious and painfully accurate, ideal for readers who loved finding laughs inside Craig's darkest moments.
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