A shelf for a family where one of the grown-ups is unwell. You pick the one that fits your child's age and the thing that's actually happening at your house. Up and Down Mum is a good place to start if you're not sure, it's the youngest and the warmest and it says the word bipolar out loud. But if the parent is a dad, or if it's the drinking, or if your child has quietly started doing the looking-after, there's a different book here for each of those. None of these books cure anybody. If you are the parent this shelf is about, it was made with you in the room, and it does not think you have failed your child.
You choose by your child's age and by which part is hurting. Up and Down Mum is a good place to start: it's the youngest, it's told in a child's own voice, and it's the only one that shows both ends of bipolar disorder, the brilliant days and the flat ones, which is the bit that actually confuses a small child. The Color Thief is here for one specific reason, it's the only book about a dad, and it's built entirely around the question a child asks and asks and asks, which is whether they caused it. The Science of Breakable Things is for the child who has a plan to fix you, and it's the kindest of the six about the parent. Where the Watermelons Grow is the one that names schizophrenia and shows an episode as it happens, so it's for the child who has already gone watchful. See You in the Cosmos is for the older child who has been doing the caring and doesn't know that's unusual, and it's funny, which is why it gets through. Rules for Stealing Stars is about the drinking and about escaping into somewhere better than downstairs. Read the one that's theirs. Finishing the shelf was never the point.