Books & Authors

Facing Fear Through Fiction: How young adult and middle-grade authors are exploring anxiety and building empathy in books for teen and tween readers

Saturday, June 25, 2022

9:00am – 10:00am

Location: Washington Convention Center, 146A

Anxiety among teens and tweens has more than doubled since 2020, according to the American Medical Association. But these young people don’t have to go through it alone. Books that offer accurate and empathetic anxiety rep can teach your readers not only how to confront their own struggles, but also help them empathize with peers battling mental health issues.

Hear YA and MG authors of 2021/2022 releases discuss how teens and tweens benefit from seeing anxiety explored on the page, how librarians can use these books to help teens live with their anxiety, and why the authors chose to tell these stories. Authors on the panel include Nicole D. Collier (Just Right Jillian, Versify Books), Amalie Jahn (Phoebe Unfired, Bermlord), Kara McDowell (This Might Get Awkward, Scholastic), Jordan Sonnenblick (The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell, Scholastic), Phil Stamper (As Far As You’ll Take Me, Bloomsbury), Erin Stewart (The Words We Keep, Random House) and Jazz Taylor (Meow or Never, Scholastic). From social anxiety to anxiety over sexual identity to clinical disorders like OCD and germaphobia, this panel offers a well-rounded view of the books available for your teen and tween readers, as well as tools on how to use fiction to address these real-world issues.

Learning Objectives:

Construct inclusive book lists that can provide “windows and mirrors” (Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop) to address anxiety, support social emotional learning and build empathy.
Discover ways to use fictional characters and stories to start conversations about real-life anxiety.
Increase the number of titles with anxiety representation they can recommend to teen and tween patrons and identify books that may assist readers struggling with anxiety.

Main Contact(s)

Erin Stewart

Author
Penguin Random House

Speaker(s)

Erin Stewart

Author
Penguin Random House

Moderator(s)

RB

Rose Brock

Librarian, educator, author, ALA member
Sam Houston State University, American Library Association, North Texas Teen Book Festival

Speaker(s)

Kara McDowell

author
Scholastic
Phil Stamper

Author
HarperCollins & Bloomsbury
Jordan Sonnenblick

author
Scholastic
Nicole D. Collier

Author
HarperCollins/Versify
JL

Jessica Lewis

author
Scholastic
Amalie Jahn

Author