Books like The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon

At Culver Creek Boarding School, Miles "Pudge" Halter leaves his uneventful home life to find adventure, only to be drawn into the complex world of Alaska Young – a brilliant, enigmatic student whose presence challenges and changes him forever.

A coming‑of‑age epistolary novel that follows introverted teen Charlie through his freshman year in a 1990s Pittsburgh suburb as he navigates high school, friendship and the challenges of adolescence.

A high‑school freshman, Melinda, isolates herself after a traumatic encounter with a classmate. Through art and the courage to speak, she confronts her past and begins healing.

When Clay Jenkins discovers 13 tapes left by his classmate Hannah Baker, who recently committed suicide, he must confront the 13 reasons that drove her to end her life—one of which is him.

Go Ask Alice presents the diary of a teenage girl who falls into drug addiction, tracing her descent from a suburban family life to the streets of a city as she battles heroin, LSD, and other substances.

Three friends from divergent social circles secretly unite to seek revenge on those who have hurt them.

Multiracial fiction

Ordinary People follows a family grappling with loss, mental illness, and the struggle to rebuild after tragedy.

Alison Weaver recounts her journey from a privileged youth to a struggling addict in 1990s New York, detailing her recovery and search for identity.

Elyn R. Saks, a distinguished professor and lawyer, chronicles her lifelong battle with schizophrenia, detailing how she overcame challenges to build a respected career in law, psychology, and psychiatry.

At 6:30 on the evening of December 21, 1973, Vivienne Loomis walked into her mother's empty silversmithing studio at their home in Melrose, Massachusetts, tied a rope around her neck, and hanged herself. Vivienne was fourteen years and four months old. She was attractive, intelligent, and especially gifted at writing, yet she suffered from so intense and unutterable a despair that she was driven to take her own life. Why? *Vivienne* is a loving portrait of a troubled girl, as well as a professionally innovative examination of an alarming and mysterious epidemic: adolescent suicide. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among all Americans aged fifteen to nineteen. From the extensive material Vivienne Loomis left behind - a long diary and personal journal, a collection of searing poems and school compositions, and several letters to a beloved teacher - clinical psychiatrist John Mack and writing teacher Holly Hickler narrate the final two years of Vivienne's emotional life, using her words as much as possible. They then examine the events of those anguished last months - her personality development, family, school and social relationships - in "an effort to understand the forces that led Vivienne to her decision." Finally, they "consider her death in relation to the increasings national problem of adolescent suicide" and suggest an important new way in which to approach this frightening phenomenon. According to the authors, this book "is written with the hope that is can be meaningful to anyone close to adolescents: therapists and counselors, teachers whose daily experience must include depressed young people, families struggling with the problem of adolescent suicide. We hope, too, that Vivienne can live again in these pages as the sensitive, remarkable young girl she was." *Vivienne* is a book that is heartbreaking yet hopeful, for it offers a rare look inside - and an articulate understanding of - the too-often-secret adolescent world.

Teen suicide has long been considered one of society’s darkest secrets; the idea of troubled young people driven to take their own lives was a tragedy too horrible to contemplate, let alone talk about openly. But the fact remains that teen suicide is an issue that refuses to go away so long as young people in crisis have nowhere to turn. But now, in this age of frank discussions about bullying, peer pressure, and issues of "difference," there is a growing sense that teen suicide is no longer a taboo subject, and that talking about it can help us to identify and acknowledge the kind of problems that lead teens to make such drastic and tragic decisions. Based on interviews with teen suicide survivors, -parents, and professionals, Marion Crook sensitively explores all aspects of teen suicide, in particular the -reasons why certain young people are driven to it. The motives are far-ranging, but central to all is a sense of desperation. Despite their dire circumstances, however, many found a way out of the darkness and into adult lives of meaning and worth. Marion Crook also examines the history of teen suicide in Western and other cultures, as well as what roles parents and schools can play in suicide prevention, and coping strategies for teens in crisis. Out of the Darkness is a book for both teens and adults that breaks the silence surrounding teen suicide, offering hope for those who think there is none.

A practical guide that explores the challenges faced by American adolescent boys and offers parents and mentors strategies for supporting their development from ages ten to twenty.