The book What Made Maddy Run is a good read for anyone, especially young people. It is heartbreaking but informative. It is about a college athlete, Maddy Holleran, who is struggling with mental health in her freshman year of college. Author Kate Fagan wrote the book in 2017.  I recommend this book to read because it brings up mental health issues that many young people face silently. 

Maddy was recruited to run at the University of Pennsylvania. She was excited to attend an Ivy League school because she was an All-American athlete and student in high school. While in college, she began to struggle with depression from stress and pressure of being a high-level athlete and student. She knew the feeling she had was not normal, but she didn’t know what to do to get help. She considered transferring or quitting track to make herself happy, but she did not want to disappoint her family, friends, coaches, and teammates. Instead, she tragically ended her life by committing suicide.

Kate Fagan tells the story of Maddy using her own experiences that she went through as a collegiate athlete who also suffered from depression and wanted to quit basketball, just as Maddy wanted to quit track. Kate got help from a counselor. Maddy also tried to reach out and talk to people, but in the end, she took her life.

This book raises the question of whether or not schools are equipped with mental health resources. The author wants to change the narrative of how mental health is looked at as a weakness. making it so that young people are not embarrassed or don’t feel weak by getting help or talking to someone if they are feeling depressed.  

I recommend this book to anyone. It raises awareness of the struggles that students and athletes face when transitioning from high school to college, as well as the pressure they put on themselves to be perfect.  It made me rethink how people might be battling issues silently who need help. Some people who appear to have it all may be struggling. The book helps educate readers on mental health and how it is important to get help when needed so they do not go through what Maddy went through.