Books in cool unique settings always capture my interest. And books set in the brain sure make for a fascinating peek into the most mysterious “landscape” we know: the human mind. Today, I bring you a list of books that use the brain not just as a topic—but as a setting.

🧠 Why the Brain?

Because today, July 22nd, happens to be World Brain Day! And since this year’s theme is Brain Health for All Ages, the list includes books across different age groups.

As for me, the brain is one of the most fascinating things ever. Just last week, my DH asked,

“What would you say is more difficult—being a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon?”

My answer? Brain surgeon, hands down! I’ve always wondered what it would be like to step inside someone’s mind—well, even my own, so as not to be too intrusive! What would it feel like to walk through memories? Or to visit someone’s emotional control center – and I feel the need even more so after having parented two kids through those teenage years (well, my younger is still 19, so I am not over that yet!)? Well, in today’s listed books, we get to do just that—literally.

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Books Set in the Brain or Mind, Literally!

1. Inside Out

by Disney/Pixar
(Picture Book / Early Reader | Ages 4+)
🎭 Emotions run the show from inside Riley’s mind — memory orbs, imagination land, and dream productions galore.
My one-word review: Brillimaginative!

2. The Memory Bank

by Carolyn Coman and illustrated by Rob Shepperson
(Children’s Fiction | 8–12 years, and up)
🧾 Hope must find her sister after she’s banished—before the memory fades. But first, she’s drawn into the puzzling World Wide Memory Bank.
My one-word review: Unforgettable!

3. Your Fantastic Elastic Brain

by JoAnn Deak and illustrated by Sarah Ackerley
(Picture Book / Nonfiction | Ages 5–10)
🧠 An engaging, colorful tour of brain anatomy and function — told like a journey through a real (and stretchy) brain.
One-word review: Empowering

4. The Little Voice: A Rebellious Novel

by Joss Sheldon
(Teen and YA Fiction | 15+)
🔊 Set entirely in the narrator’s mind, where internal voices and psyche-parts rebel and redefine control.
My one-word first though (just started reading): Provocative

5. Me and My Fear

by Francesca Sanna
(Picture Book / Fiction | Ages 4–8)
👧 Fear is a living, growing being inside the narrator’s emotional world — eventually overcome through empathy and connection.
My one-word review: Therapeutic

6. How to Train Your Amygdala

by Anna Housley Juster and illustrated by Cynthia Cliff
(Picture Book / SEL | Ages 5–10)
🧘‍♀️ Visualizes the emotional brain (amygdala) as a creature kids can understand, talk to, and train — set in the internal world.
My one-word review: Calming

7. Brain Camp

by Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks
(Graphic Novel | Ages 10–14)
🧬 A creepy camp rewires kids’ minds for academic perfection — literally a brain-based horror comedy.
Filed Under the Yet-to-read List of: Spooktacular

8. The Dream Jumper’s Promise

by Kim Hornsby
(YA / Adult | 13+)
🌙 A man enters the dreams of others, revealing secrets buried in the subconscious — suspenseful and emotionally layered.
Filed Under: I know it will be… haunting

9. What’s Going On Inside My Head?

by Molly Potter and illustrated by Sarah Jennings
(Picture Book / Nonfiction | Ages 5–9)
🧩 Visually and verbally takes readers inside the mind to explore emotions, stress, and thought patterns.
One-word review: Insightful

10. The Lathe of Heaven

by Ursula K. Le Guin
(Adult Fiction / Sci-Fi Classic | 15+)
🛌 A dreamer whose subconscious rewrites reality — at times transporting readers into surreal, mind-generated settings.
Filed Under: Dreamy, Mind-Bending Must-Reads

➕ Bonus Reads: Just as Brainy!

Bonus 1. Inception: The Shooting Script

by Christopher Nolan
(Screenplay / Adult Fiction | 16+)
🌀 Have you watched the movie? This is the script, as the book says, and pretty cool to read too. The movie is certainly one of my most favorites ever! And one of the closest things to a brain setting! This one is for readers who enjoy scripts and metafiction: entire heists happen within layers of a person’s mind.
One-word review: Layered

Bonus 2. Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes
(Adult Fiction / Psychological Classic | 15+)
💡 A read that never fails to reduce me to tears.
One-word review: Heartrending

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you read any of these books? If so, your thoughts on them please. If not, which ones would you pick first to read or to give a loved one? Any similar recommendations for me? Do tell…