Young adult novels about mental illness can deliver a powerful message to teenagers struggling to understand their confusion. Teenagers can relate to Carrie's fears and insecurities because they travel the same road. All of us battle with conflicting emotions and all of us feel overwhelmed at times by the changes that occur during adolescence. Oneal treats the problems of adolescence sensitively, in large part with her detailed analysis of Carrie. We understand Carrie to be a strong intelligent young woman, and Oneal ensures that we feel hopeful of her story's outcome and confident in her ability to get better.

Though most teenagers have not experienced the feeling of "going crazy," many find mental illness a fascinating subject.

Books about mental illness became popular in the sixties and seventies with the publication of J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You a...