Mental Health Month

May is Mental Health Month, so I do want to talk about this a little bit. Although I'm hesitant to discuss my own mental health here, ensuring that good role models exist in the forefront and reducing the stigma is really important to me. There need to be resources for people to go to understand their own mental health, the mental health of others, and to feel less alone in their struggles.

Today I want to highlight some books and movies that feature different mental health situations that will resonate with a variety of groups. I'm only including pieces that I have read or watched, because I don't like to comment too often on things that I'm not familiar with. If you have any of your own pieces that you think people will want to experience, please don't hesitate to mention them in the comments. There are some great pieces out there that I won't have seen yet!

Books
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Speak
The Bell Jar
Rebecca
Mockingjay
Just Listen
Green Angel
Go Ask Alice
A Monster Calls
New Moon
Thirteen Reasons Why
Hamlet

St. Patrick's Day: Books with Redheads

Something you don't see as much is books featuring main characters with red hair. Even when you have them set in Ireland or Scotland, the choice is often made to give them black hair and blue eyes. So, in honour of St. Patrick's Day, I want to pay homage to some books where one of the main characters has red hair!

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Character: Sophie Hatter

The Princess Pawn by Maggie L. Wood
Character: Willow Kingswell

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Character: Anne Shirley

Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
Characters: Jamie Fraser, Brianna Fraser

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Character: Meghann (Meggie) Cleary

Poldark series by Winston Graham
Character: Demelza Carne

Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Characters: Ron Weasley and family