Here I Am, I Am Me : An Illustrated Guide to Mental Health

This colorful graphic novel adventure through the brain demystifies and destigmatizes emotional and mental health for children through accessible language and lessons.

Join author-illustrator Cara Bean in Here I Am, I Am Me, as she takes readers on an illustrated journey to the center of the brain. Each of the 9 chapters explores a different aspect of mental health, from the brain and the mind, to feelings and emotions.  By portraying complex neuroscience concepts with a cast of illustrated characters (that represent parts of the brain), the book explains what is really going on in the reader’s head in an accessible, approachable way that ultimately serves to empower the reader.

Each chapter includes a “question map” that gives context to and helps frame the pages that follow as well as a “Bean Memory,” which shares a first-person true story that illustrates the chapter’s subject matter as it has played out in the author’s life.

The book doesn’t talk down to its readers, and it doesn’t pretend that teens are immune to mental health struggles: Cara Bean masterfully discusses crucial topics like depression, substance use and addiction, and suicide, all while equipping readers with mindfulness tips, specific resources, and empathetic affirmations. Readers will learn to destigmatize the conversation around mental health by reframing their thinking, learning how to use conscious language, and helping themselves and others through mental health dilemmas. 

Cara Bean is a cartoonist and art educator living in Massachusetts with her husband and their dog, Raisin. She is the author of Draw 500 Funny Faces and Features. Here I Am, I Am Me is her first book for adolescents.