Mental Health Representations for Young Readers
Little, Brown for Young Readers have recently announced that they will publish the title You Will Be Found in March 2020. It will be a short, illustrated gift book showcasing the lyrics from the song from the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen. This musical follows the life of Evan Hansen as he struggles with anxiety and sees him find comfort in the grieving family of Connor Murphy. The themes of mental health and dysfunctional family life in this musical bring up the question of whether these are “appropriate and acceptable in children’s literature” (Wescott, 2014). One of the writers has explained that he wants this book to “address the lyrics’ complexity and darkness” (Paul, 2019), something that many books for younger readers will shy away from.
Many people argue that children and people may be vulnerable to these ‘adult’ topics, but as Wahl pointed out in his 2003 paper, the few representations in children’s media of mental health are portraying it in a negative light, which could be even more detrimental. “Children are significant consumers of mass media” (Wahl, 2003), and therefore it becomes essential that they are receiving information that will raise them to be educated and respectful people. The representations of mental health issues being undesirable and alienating only serves to teach young people the “avoidance, and disrespect that are central to continued stigma and discrimination toward people with mental illnesses” (Wahl, 2003). This cynical view of such themes is why it has become so much of a taboo topic in the realms of children’s publishing. However, this leads to not only the question of whether mental illness should be represented in children’s books, but what kind of representation of mental illness should be put into children’s literature. Surely it would make sense to show to young readers that our mental health makes us human, rather than continue to allow them to see characters left out and belittled for their struggles. Books such as You Will Be Found could execute this perfectly, showing children and teenagers that the darkness they may experience is only temporary and they should not be ashamed.
In her article, Wescott brings up the important point that “all books are not suitable for all readers” (Wescott, 2014), and that children are surprisingly good at tailoring their reading so as to keep the content to subject matter that they are comfortable with handling. By treating children and young people as intuitive readers, it becomes clear that it should not be a case of excluding issues surrounding mental health from children’s books, but a case of ensuring the representations are constructive and can offer support to the readers. This discussion has been burning for many years, and there seems to be no end in sight. Of course, there is also the inclusion of YA in the branch of children’s publishing, within which it is even more vital to tackle these topics as the number of teenagers struggling with their mental health is on the rise.
Clearly people will continue to argue the pros and cons, but at the end of the day, the discussion would be far more constructive to focus on the content being educational and safe for young readers.
Lodge, S. (2019) ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Song Moves from Stage to Page [Online] Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/81337-dear-evan-hansen-song-moves-from-stage-to-page.html [Accessed on 13/10/2019]
Wahl, O. (2003) Depictions of Mental Illness in Children’s Media [Online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232092981_Depictions_of_Mental_Illness_in_Children's_Media [Accessed on 13/10/2019]
Wescott, R.(2014) How dark is too dark in children’s books? [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/sep/02/dark-childrens-books-censorship-rebecca-westcott-discussion [Accessed on 17/10/2019]
