Is mental health a difficult topic to discuss in children's literature, even if targeted towards middle grade?

[Michael Angelo Go]

So I have been spending a couple of years writing this comic inspired by my own mental health journey. Since I am working on my portfolio again, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone, and draw illustrations of this story for my website, as I develop it.

But if any of you have known my history I have a bad habit of diving too deep into dark topics that aren't the most appropriate for younger readers.

To summarize my story: I am writing about a friend group of teenagers who develop superpowers that are symbolize their inner most feelings, thoughts, and memories. I.e. we a girl character suffering from depression. When she feels unseen, she becomes invisible. When she feels unheard, she becomes intangible. She creates force fields to cut herself off from the world. So on...

The best existing properties I could best compare this story to is X-Men Evolution and Teen Titans.

How do you feel about children's books tackling mental health. Where do we draw a line on what is not and what is too graphic or unsettling to tread when discussing these types of topics?

Is it okay to talk about trauma, as long as it's done with care and subtlety? Can we discuss what healthy relationships look like to our kids and what does not constitute as healthy? Is the topic of mental health too divisive to be worth discussing?

[Robyn Hepburn]

@Michael-Angelo-Go Hi! This sounds really interesting. And if it's a comic about teens and aimed at teens then I think tackling mental health issues is great! Especially if it provides hope and help (without being didactic/preachy). I'm not sure how dark you should go - I remember quite a lot of teen books being way too dark for me when I was that age, but I've always preferred light-hearted stuff - maybe you could ask some teenagers you know "how dark is too dark, how serious is too serious?" from what they've read or seen in movies. Get the opinions of your target market, since at that age they're more likely to be choosing their own books, rather than the parents.
As a parent and someone who used to be a teenager (I remember as if it was yesterday ), I would say there's a point where the dark or traumatic stuff becomes unhelpful and gratuitous instead, but that line is probably different for everyone.

Of course, if you're putting your portfolio together in the hope that people will hire you for children's books, maybe the comic work should be in a separate section under a different heading.

I hope that is of some help to you!

[NessIllustration]

@Michael-Angelo-Go With children and teens, almost no topic is off-limit. It's not so much the topic, it's about tackling it in an age appropriate way. Too much or too graphic may be disturbing for kids obviously, but even teens.

I think using powers as a metaphor and to show how mental health can manifest and permeate our lives in surprising ways if we don't deal with it is a neat idea, very clever and sounds age appropriate too! But I would make sure that you have a positive message come through the story and make really sure none of your messages are toxic. Your idea is a good way to show that mental health is important to deal with and doing so makes us stronger. Also, that our issues or diagnoses don't define us. It would be easy to refer to that character as the invisible girl, but although she struggles with that, turning invisible is not all that she is or even the most important part

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@Michael-Angelo-Go Hi! I think @Robyn-Hepburn and @NessIllustration made good points. Here’s my 2 cents. If you’re writing a story about teens, why are you targeting the middle grade market? You should go for the YA market instead. You’ll have more freedom to talk about darker subjects there too.