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Paperboy is only one character’s experience of stuttering, but it’s an honest one. And in a world where so often these stories aren’t told, that comes across like a breath of fresh air.

Despite their proclamations to the contrary — “don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease” — the characters are shown to have nothing in their lives that isn’t about their cancer.

A nuanced, natural depiction of disability, realistic in both its physical presentation and the character’s emotional reactions.

The Islands at the End of the World excels on many levels — but from a purely disability perspective, it fall short of its mark.

This is a fast-paced, easy read that would appeal to crime lovers of any age. However, I had a hard time reading this story, primarily because Penelope’s ITP is exaggerated and sensationalized.

Despite noticing some minor inaccuracies and overlooked details, I’m very impressed with the effort the author put into creating an accurate portrayal of the autoimmune condition ITP.

After the first two books in Jackie Morse Kessler’s Riders of the Apocalypse series — Hunger, about a girl with anorexia, and Rage, about a girl with depression — were so positively reviewed on the blog, we were incredibly excited to invite the author over for a joint interview.

I highly recommend Rage for anyone with depression, who wants to learn about depression, or anyone who just enjoys a good story. It’s moving, it’s clever, and despite its fantasy elements it’s incredibly realistic.

Hunger sings with authenticity. Lisabeth’s anorexia is visceral, bordering on uncomfortable, exactly as it should.

Romanticization is a common element of mental illness narratives, including many in the YA category; what kind of message does that send?

A Q&A with author Corey Ann Haydu about the origins of OCD Love Story and the many and varied ways anxiety can manifest.

Some people call OCD a doubting disease. Corey Ann Haydu infuses her story with the back-and-forth, pulsing presence of this doubt, resulting in a first-person, insider’s account of what the condition feels like for many.

Many characters who may be mentally ill reject treatment out of hand, considering therapy a waste of time and suspecting medication will turn them into a zombie. Why are these narratives so popular? What are the alternatives?

After our rave review of Cindy Rodriguez’s debut When Reason Breaks — about two very different girls who are both dealing with depression — we were excited to invite both reviewer and author to the website this week to discuss the book further.

I Was Here is full of wasted potential; Meg is as much of a prop to the story as Mr. Body is to Clue.

Writing about characters with mental illness can be challenging in various ways. How do you accurately convey a character’s state of mind, without compromising on clarity or excitement? How do you show a character’s skewed perceptions of the world?

What about readers like me, who never see their own illnesses depicted? To see story after story where depression draws a straight line to suicide is, for better or for worse, expressing that depression only functions in one way.

A girl who didn’t want to survive in the regular world is one of a few survivors of the zombie apocalypse, trapped with classmates in their school. But the warped perspective that Sloane’s depression gives to her situation is what makes this book special.

Stranger represents a case where verisimilitude — the appearance of plausibility — succeeds where a more realistic representation of disability might have failed.

We’re wrapping up Autism on the Page, and announcing our next exciting event — a week of posts focusing on representation of mental illness.

“I learned absolutely nothing from Rachel’s leukemia,” this book’s protagonist starts off in its in-universe foreword, and I grinned and said, “YES! This is going to be good.”

Although Kurt’s character seems to largely exist to serve the central romance, I was pleasantly surprised by how many pitfalls Perkins avoided in a wonderfully understated manner. Various assumptions and tropes were casually turned over with a single line here or there.

It’s a rare occurrence when an author can update an already published book, and even more rare when that update includes a huge overhaul of the portrayal of an autistic character. Alyssa Hillary takes a look at both the original and updated version in this review.

We’re happy to have a chance to chat with Marieke Nijkamp — WNDB VP of finance, autistic author, and previous Disability in Kidlit contributor — about her work and autism in literature.