(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices

I was given a copy of this book by Algonquin Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.

Today's post is on (Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices edited by Kelly Jensen. It is 240 pages long and is published by Algonquin Young Readers. The cover is dark blue with the title in yellow. The intended reader is someone who is interested is learning about mental health. There is mild foul language, no sex and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Who’s Crazy?
What does it mean to be crazy? Is using the word crazy offensive? What happens when such a label gets attached to your everyday experiences?
In order to understand mental health, we need to talk openly about it. Because there’s no single definition of crazy, there’s no single experience that embodies it, and the word itself means different things—wild? extreme? disturbed? passionate?—to different people.
(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is a conversation starter and guide to better understanding how our mental health affects us every day. Thirty-three writers, athletes, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and do not talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person’s brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone crazy.
If you’ve ever struggled with your mental health, or know someone who has, come on in, turn the pages, and let’s get talking.

Review- With many different pieces about different kinds of mental health issues this book is a useful way to start a conversation about mental health and its concerns. Ranging in topics from PTSD to depression to eating disorders, the book covers honestly and openly about the topic, how the author(s) handles them, and where the teen could look to for help themselves. The pieces are all written differently from poems to lists and even as a script between the author and her anxiety. This book is written in a way that both teenagers and adults can engage with and think about. If you want or need to have a conversation with a teenage in your life about mental health, in general or for someone in particular, then I think this book is a good place to start.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars.