Alyson Stoner ‘Never Needed Help Escaping Reality — I Needed Help Surviving It.’ These Nonfiction Books Can Help

Alyson Stoner is crediting nonfiction books for helping them survive reality as “a lifelong actor.”

While speaking to Page Six, the former Disney star, 32 — who recently released their debut memoir Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything — revealed their top six must-read book recommendations, listing their own as one of them.

“As a lifelong actor, I never needed help escaping reality — I needed help surviving it. That’s why I read nonfiction,” Stoner told the outlet.

The Dear Hollywood podcast host added, “I’m admittedly the person in the corner thumbing through an anthology on late-stage capitalism. Tell me how things work. Tell me what literally happened. Help me make sense of this world.”

“As you start seeing things for what they really are — systems, stories, patterns — you pierce through the illusions driving society (not to mention the illusions within your own mind … eep!). This clarity enables you to move beyond being a consumer of others’ ideas to being a co-creator of new realities. And that, my friends, is the conscious agency you deserve,” Stoner told the outlet of their love of nonfiction.

If they had to pick six of their favorite releases, the Movement Genius co-founder would opt for the following:

Stoner told Page Six of the latter, “If ‘semi-well-adjusted despite literally everything’ isn’t the unofficial mood of 2025, I don’t know what is.”

“In my debut memoir, I peel back the curtain on the entertainment industry,” they explain. “But why stop there? I also unpack everything from mental health, to navigating identity and privacy in a digital world, to major life transitions (queerness? religion? new careers?), to what it means to be ‘well-adjusted’ in a dysfunctional society.”

“Come for the childhood chaos. Stay for the cultural critique. And yes, I name names,” Stoner added.

The Camp Rock actor told the outlet that their six must-read book recommendations “aided my critical examination of life, purpose and healing.”

“These authors have helped me reimagine how I move through the world,” Stoner shared. “I hope they inspire you on your path toward becoming more informed, more intentional, and more whole.”

The former child star — whose breakthrough arrived when they were age 9 and featured in Missy Elliott’s iconic 2002 “Work It” music video — recently spoke to PEOPLE about their new memoir, insisting, “Contrary to public knowledge, dance is not my strongest form of communication.”

“Writing is my first and preferred form of processing. Even when I’m thinking through thoughts, I’m writing them out in my head. So this was actually a joy, while challenging, to be able to lean on my preferred mode of communication, finally,” they added.

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Stoner — who has starred on shows including Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh, as well as film franchises like Step Up and Cheaper by the Dozen through the years — opened up about their experiences in the industry in the candid release, including dealing with stalkers, and suffering an eating disorder that led to a stint in rehab in 2011.

They also wrote about feeling like a “commodity” to the adults on set and in their professional orbit, who often “didn’t receive any preparatory training on how to work with kids.”

“What people may find compelling is not just what happened circumstantially on the set, but what it was like in a prepubescent or pubescent body, to experience these situations,” Stoner shared.

“I’ve been contemplating the reality of being this honest and sharing this much information about my childhood, both on camera and behind the scenes,” they explained, adding that the book “represents a culmination of everything I’ve experienced, as well as all of the training and professional skill-building I’ve accumulated in this first portion of my life.”

Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything is now available from St. Martin’s Press, wherever books are sold.