An early example of both a young adult novel and also one dealing with young people with a mental illness The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear is set in the nineteen-sixties. It revolves around Roger, who is experiencing what was referred to at that time as "schizophrenic withdrawal"; severe situational depression after his parents divorce. Young adult readers will be interested in the depiction of sixties-era therapies and approaches to mental illness. Roger finds he needs to reach out to a stranger - his speech therapist - for support, at the same time as drawing on his own reserve of courage to successfully find ways to cope with his changed existence. Despite the age of the novel, the fraught relationships between Roger and his parents are as difficult and relevant as any today.
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