I recently had a chance to review a copy of Susan L. Read’s debut novel Mermaid Tears. The book aims to help young readers understand struggles with their mental health.
The book follows Sarah, a hard-working student, who is creative, friendly, and kind. But it seems that maintaining her grades and friendships are getting harder, and activities don't seem to bring her joy. As middle school starts, Sarah spirals downward, lost in her emotions, wishing she could be a mermaid herself, to slip away and swim in the ocean forever. Fortunately, she is able to get help, with a trusted teacher, family, and mental health professionals. She learns tools to cope and to thrive, and understands her condition and how to find the support she needs.
I thought the book was well-written, and covers and important topic for any tween or teen - whether or not they're dealing with mental health struggles. For those who are struggling, it can help them see that there is a ray of hope. For those who aren't, it can help ease the stigma or curiosity if they know someone who is struggling.
I had a chance to interview the author to learn more.
Why did you write this book?
The very famous children’s author Beverley Cleary, who wrote many of our childhood favorites, has been quoted as saying, “If you don’t see the book you want on the shelf, write it.” As a teenager I did not see the books I wanted to read on the shelves of my school library or bookstores. I did not see young people like me; young people who were struggling with schoolwork, with relationships, with being bullied, and with their mental health. I thought that meant it was just me who was like this. It was just me who found it difficult to be a good student, a good friend, and a good daughter. I thought it was just me who saw school, and life in general as a very difficult challenge. The Michaels Middle School series is my way of telling today’s students that none of these things are true.
How can books be instrumental in helping adolescents and teens explore mental health issues?
Mermaid Tears is the first in a series of middle grade novels set in the fictional Michaels Middle School in Massachusetts. Fiction books can draw the reader into their world. Readers come to identify with the characters and their struggles and adventures. For this reason, books in a series are particularly popular with adolescents and teens. Anyone who has read a good book has, I am sure, experienced the disappointment of turning the final page, knowing there is no more. Many of the popular authors for middle grade readers today are writing often lengthy series for this reason. It doesn’t matter to the reader that the characters and the world they inhabit are fictional. There is always something to learn from the events in their lives. With each book read, some readers will be looking through windows, enabling them to look out at something which is not a part of their life experience. Other readers will be looking into a mirror, reflecting to them an aspect of their own life. Either way, there is something to learn about real life.
How can families help break the stigma that often surrounds mental health issues?
In Mermaid Tears the beginning of a positive change in Sarah’s life is the decision she made to speak out. She asks a trusted adult for help. This leads to a lot of talking with Sarah and with her family. I believe that the more mental health issues are discussed, as openly as possible, within the family and beyond, the more the stigma surrounding these issues will be broken. Mental health issues need to be seen as being no different from any other health issues. If we can break through this stigma, and make it okay for people to speak up and ask for help when they need it I am sure there will be far fewer people who struggle for far too long in their lives. One way to open up the discussion within the family is by reading, and talking about together, books such as Mermaid Tears and others which deal with these issues.
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