Turtles All the Way Down

Turtles All the Way Down
By John Green

From the author of A Fault in Our Stars, another heartbreaking story; this one about a teen with a mental health illness. But this book is both a romance and a mystery!
This review is from Publishers Weekly Annex:

Like many of Green's characters, Aza Holmes is whip smart, articulate, and tortured by worry. When she was eight, her father succumbed to a heart attack while mowing the lawn. Now 16, Aza takes meds (irregularly) to treat anxiety, which is manifesting in increasingly self-destructive ways. Her problems amplify when she reconnects with Davis, a boy she met years earlier at "Sad Camp," where both had gone to grieve their recently deceased parents. Now Davis's billionaire father is missing, running from a warrant for his arrest. Aza's best friend Daisy, in a classic sidekick role, pressures Aza to contact Davis, hoping they'll learn something about the disappearance-and maybe get a cut of the $100,000 reward. The reunion leads to romance, until Aza's anxiety won't allow it...

Mockingbird

Mockingbird
By Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin has Asperger's syndrome.
Along with her grieving dad, she is trying to make sense of her older brother's death in a senseless and tragic school shooting.
When she learns about the word "closure" and looks it up in the dictionary (Caitlin loves words, and dictionaries) she realizes this is what she and her dad need to help them feel better.
With the support of an understanding school counselor, Caitlin works to overcome some of her fears and challenges so she and her dad can move forward after the tragedy they have experienced.
Mockingbird, like Out of My Mind, is a beautiful story that allows the reader to really step into the shoes of someone who may be experiencing life in a very different way.  

Firegirl

Firegirl
By Tony Abbott

Tom, an introverted 7th grader, is challenged by some difficult feelings and decisions when a new girl joins his class for a brief period of time. His classmates ruthlessly tease Jessica, who has been horribly burned in an accidental fire and receives treatments at a nearby hospital. Tom befriends Jessica, despite his fear of her, and this is ultimately an action that changes his life and forces him to rethink what friendship means.

Out of my Mind

Out of My Mind

By Sharon M. Draper

This is a stunning book.
Like R.J. Palacio's novel Wonder, this story is told from a perspective most of us will never experience or fully understand.
Melody Brooks is 11 years old, smart as anything (with a photographic memory to boot), and she has cerebral palsy. She is unable to walk, control her body, eat by herself, or talk.
And she really has things to say.
A special computer she names Elvira finally enables Melody to communicate with the people around her--her loving family, her teachers, and the kids at school. She becomes a member of the school's Whiz Kids quiz team, but never feels exactly like one of the team...
READ THIS BOOK. Seriously.

I forgot to add: Out of My Mind won the 2013 California Young Reader Medal for the Middle School category last May!

Wonder

Wonder
By R.J. Palacio

Now this is truly a fabulous book. An important book, too, about a 5th grade boy (just starting middle school) with a severe facial deformity who steps into a brand-new school...Auggie is a perfectly normal kid, except for his face, but most of his classmates--not to mention the rest of the world--treat him as if he's a freak.
Wonder is a story told by different people; Auggie himself, his older sister Olivia, her boyfriend Justin, and Auggie's two friends Summer and Jack. Each of them offers their own perspective of what it is like to live as or near someone who is often stared at, ignored, and bullied.
Luckily, Auggie has a loving and understanding family, and with their support he is brave enough to make it through his first year of middle school.
I laughed, I cried...I think this book is absolutely wonderful.