The book I have recently read was called, It’s Kind of a Funny Story written by Ned Vizzini. Ned wrote this book after he got out of five days of being in Adult Psychiatric in Methodist Hospital, Park Slope, Brooklyn. But the book was published in 2006. Ned now speaks to students and teachers at school about mental health. It was a very inspirational read and I think many students can relate.

The novel actually isn’t all that funny. I would say it’s the opposite of funny. It’s about a boy named Craig who went to a mental hospital because he couldn’t handle the stress from his school and ended up depressed. The school he goes to is for young teens who are incredibly smart called Executive Pre-Professional High School where they are suppose to create the leaders of tomorrow. Craig spent 3 hours everyday for a year studying for that test.

When the test results came back, he found out he got a flawless score and got accepted into the school. He called up his friend, Aaron, who was also trying to get into the school, and asked him how he did and he also got a perfect test. The only difference was that he didn’t study at all. After that day of receiving the acceptance letter, everything went downhill for Craig. At least three quarters of the way through the school year, Craig thought he was failing terribly with an average of 93. He developed an eating disorder because he couldn’t hold the food down from all the stress. He called the build up of things he had to do “tentacles”. But instead of “cutting off” the tentacles he would hang with his friends and smoke weed which made everything worse. Craig decided to start going to a therapist to help his depression. He was put on the medication and soon he felt great. A little too good though. Craig thought he didn’t need the medication anymore so he went off of it without a doctor telling him too. A month later, he decided he was going to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. But he got scared and called a suicide hotline and they sent him to a hospital where he was admitted into a mental health ward. Throughout the rest of the novel, he is in the hospital finding different ways he can get better.
I learned from this book that if you are a student who is not doing well in school, just know that even the smartest people in the world can be depressed and stressed over school. Not everyone is perfect in school or in general. And if you think something is too hard for you, help is always offered to those who need it. I would give It’s Kind of a Funny Story five stars out of five because its really an enjoyable read and tells a great story.