Everything you need to understand or teach If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin.
Nowlin’s young adult novel tells the story of Finny and Autumn’s friendship from freshman to senior year of high school. It is told through first-person narration, from Autumn’s point of view. The novel takes place in St. Louis, U.S.A. Nowlin tackles, among others, themes of first love, friendship, and mental illness.