Top Ten Books That Deal With Tough Issues

Hosted by The Broke & The Bookish

So it's a freebie week according to The Broke & The Bookish!  I chose to go back in their archives and take a topic I missed a long time ago because I wasn't blogging back then!

Top Ten Books That Deal With Tough Issues

1.  It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini - This is the first book I ever got out of my high school library and actually liked.  The main character depressed and anxious and attempts suicide.  He goes to a mental hospital and the map on the head is symbolic about how he sees people and himself.

2.  The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Set back when women were consiered to be hysterical and locked away when they exibited signs of mental illness.  The "cure" actually makes the main character quite mad.

3.  When Jeff Comes Home by Catherine Atkins - The main character was abducted at a highway reststop when he was young.  He was inexplicably returned by his captor years later, but the captor doesn't leave.  Jeff has a pretty strong case of stockholm syndrome.

4.  Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - Over the course of ninteen minutes, and this book, we follow several chacters through a school shooting as well as the aftermath.

5.  Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott - This author though, I love her.  Alice lives with her captor for years, learns to bend to his will.  Stockholm syndrome at its finest.  I wish I could add more, but it's been forever since I read this.

6.  Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas - The main character lives in a physically abusive home, but her father doesn't hit her, only her siblings.  Anke is ignored, she doesn't exist.  But eventually she finds her voice.

7.  Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - Hannah commits suicide and leaves casset recordings of the 13 reasons why she did.  These recordings go to the people who contributed to her decision, especially Clay.

8.  George by Alex Gino - Transgender elementary (or middle, I can't remember) school kid.  George wants to be a girl, but no one except his new best friend will listen to him.  He's even banned from being the main character in the school play, Charlotte's Web.

9.  Room by Emma Donoghue - Main character was born to a woman who was abducted by his father years ago.  He has only ever known the "room" (shed they live in).  Eventually though they escape and the real world is revealed.

10.  grl2grl by Julie Anne Peters - A collection of short stories about girls in "non-traditional" lives.  Covers the LGBT community mostly.  Some stories are more interesting than others.