Synesthesia is one of those interesting phenomena that crops up every now and again in fiction for kids and teens. In medical terms, synesthesia is “a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.” It’s the word for when someone says they can feel sounds or taste colors. The most common form is colored hearing: perceiving sounds as colors.

The first encounter I had with it was in R. J. Anderson’s Ultraviolet, which I read a few years ago. I was fascinated by it. I think it’s a difficult condition to understand for those of us who don’t have it, since it deals with the way we perceive the world around us. According to this article from the American Psychological Association, most people who have synesthesia wouldn’t choose to give it up, even though it may cause them some strife. I expect it’s equally strange for synesthetes to consider perceiving the world like I do as it is for me to consider perceiving the world as they do.

For many kids and teens, the path to understanding lies in fiction, so here are a few middle grade and YA titles featuring people with synesthesia. Descriptions are from Worldcat and links go to Goodreads. Do you know of any others? Let me know in the comments.

Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson
Almost seventeen-year-old Alison, who has synesthesia, finds herself in a
psychiatric facility accused of killing a classmate whose body cannot
be found.

One + One = Blue by M. J. Auch
Branded the class loser, twelve-year-old Basil reluctantly becomes
friends with a bossy new girl who, like Basil, has synesthesia and comes
to Basil’s aid when his estranged mother returns and turns his life
upside down.

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
Two eleven-year-old misfits try to solve the mystery of a dead magician
and stop the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais, who are searching for the
secret of immortality.

Starseeker by Tim Bowler
Still troubled by the death of his father two years before, Luke, a
virtuoso pianist, falls in with a local gang who persuade him to burgle
the house of a rich widow–an act that draws him into a mystery that
changes his life forever.

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special
color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until
she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss
of something important to her.

Mondays are Red by Nicola Morgan
When he wakes up from a coma after having meningitis, fourteen-year-old
Luke finds that he has lost control of his senses and his thoughts and
he must fight an inner demon in order to return to his former life.