Dr. Annie's Bookshelf

A child psychologist's book recommendations for growth and healing

My Wandering Dreaming Mind

Written by Merriam Sarcia Saunders
Illustrated by Tammie Lyon
Age range: Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Recommended for: This book is an excellent read for children who struggle with inattention, whether in the context of ADHD or otherwise, and who will benefit from a reminder that their minds are “amazing.” Sadie is a daydreamer, and she expresses frustration that she can’t get her mind to “stay put.” Her parents remind her that her inattention comes along with many positive qualities, including being imaginative, creative, and kind.
Evidence-Based Practices: Specific Praise
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Duck! Rabbit!

Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Age range: Preschool through 3rd grade. It comes in a board book as well as hard- and softcover, but the cognitive skill required to really appreciate this book doesn’t develop for most children until around age 4.
Recommended for: This simple, yet profound story based on the classic rabbit-duck illusion introduces the idea that two different perspectives can both be true at the same time. It’s great for children who tend to get stuck in arguments about the “correct” perspective (e.g., whether a sibling was being annoying or not) or opinion (e.g., which is the best food, sport, music, etc.).
Evidence-Based Practices: Cognitive Restructuring
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The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream

Written and illustrated by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain
Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.
Recommended for: This vintage Berenstain Bears book explains what nightmares are to children–that they are not real and that they are often a jumbled up collection of things the child was thinking about or feeling throughout the day. This explanation could be really useful to a child who has been having nightmares. It demystifies a nightmare and although it won’t prevent a bad dream, it could help a child to calm down more quickly once they are awake and to fall back asleep more quickly.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation
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They All Saw a Cat

Written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel
Age range: Late preschool through 2nd grade.
Recommended for: This book is, at face value, about how different animals see things (i.e., a cat) differently, but it also teaches the concept of different perspectives. It’s a beautiful and clever introduction to the social skill of perspective taking.
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Step Back from Frustration

Written by Gill Hassan
Illustrated by Sarah Jennings
Age range: 1st grade through 4th grade.
Recommended for: This is a good introduction to the feeling of frustration and how to manage it. It is applicable to children who blow up when they’re frustrated (e.g. kids who will smash apart a Lego creation if they’re struggling to get something right), as well as kids who are more inclined to quickly give up and avoid a frustrating situation.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation, Emotional Literacy, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Emotion Regulation
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Tiger Vs. Nightmare

Written and illustrated by Emily Tetri
Age range: Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Recommended for: Written in comic book style, this book teaches children that they can stand up to a nightmare and dispel it by reminding themselves that the nightmare isn’t real. It’s best for a kid who enjoys some action, as the scenes depicting Tiger and her friend Monster battling the nightmare are a bit scary.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation, Visualization
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What To Do When Fear Interferes

A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Phobias

Written by Claire A. B. Freeland, Ph.D. and Jacqueline B. Toner, Ph.D.
Illustrated by Janet McDonnell
Age range: 1st grade through 5th grade.
Recommended for: This workbook is a must-read for any child and their caregiver who are looking for relief from phobia(s). It’s an interactive book that teaches children gold-standard cognitive-behavioral strategies to reduce their fears, and it’s applicable to any and all phobias, including fears related to animals (e.g., dogs, spiders, bees, sharks), nature (e.g., heights, thunderstorms), injuries (e.g., blood, shots), small spaces (e.g., airplanes, elevators), and/or anything else (e.g., clowns, balloons, vomiting).
Evidence-Based Practices: Exposure, Cognitive Restructuring, Diaphragmatic Breathing
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My Whirling, Twirling Motor

Written by Merriam Sarcia Saunders
Illustrated by Tammie Lyon
Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.
Recommended for: This book is an excellent read for kids with hyperactivity and/or impulse control challenges (including kids with an ADHD diagnosis) who need a reminder that they’re “wonderful.” It prompts caregivers to remember to point out a child’s strengths and positive behaviors, which is both necessary for kids’ self-esteem and a very effective strategy for supporting positive behavior change.
Evidence-Based Practices: Specific Praise
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Tic Talk: Living with Tourette Syndrome

A 9-year-old boy’s story in his own words

Written by Dylan Peters
Illustrated by Zachary Wendland and Kris Taft Miller
Age range: 2nd grade through 5th grade.
Recommended for: This book is great for a child who has recently been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome and/or who is considering whether and how to share about their diagnosis with friends and classmates. Written by a 9-year-old boy with Tourette Syndrome, it normalizes and validates many experiences common to kids with tics. It provides hope that others will accept them and that Tourette Syndrome will not hold them back from pursuing their dreams (make sure to read the foreword and afterword!).
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation, Medication
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How I Learn

A Kid’s Guide to Learning Disability

Written by Brenda S. Miles
Illustrated by Jane Heinrichs
Age range: 1st grade through 3rd grade.
Recommended for: This book features three children with learning disabilities in reading, writing, and math. It explains the concept of a learning disability and instills hope that with the right accommodations and lots of practice, a child “can do anything.” This book is a good read for a child who has recently been diagnosed with a learning disability and who will benefit from normalization and hope that accommodations will help them to learn.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation
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What Happens When Dads Divorce/ Moms Divorce/ Parents Get Divorced

Written and illustrated by Sarah Olsher
Age range: Preschool through 3rd grade.
Recommended for: These books are an excellent first introduction to the many changes that come with divorce, and they gently scaffold early conversations about a child’s fears and feelings about these changes while introducing a visual calendar to help a child track when they will be at each parent’s home. The books come in three nearly-identical versions featuring two moms, two dads, and a mom and a dad. The books are best for a child who will be spending time with both of their parents, but they don’t assume 50/50 shared custody.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation
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A Kids Book About Autism

Written by Justin Flood and David Flood
Age range: 2nd grade through 6th grade.
Recommended for: This book is written by an autistic young adult and his father and describes the challenges of autism, as well as what they love about it. It is a good read for the allistic (i.e., non-autistic) siblings or friends of autistic children, as well as for autistic children who might relate to Justin (i.e., shared challenges, shared interests). It validates the challenges of autism but ultimately ends on a positive, inclusive note.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation
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The End Is Just the Beginning

Written by Mike Bender
Illustrated by Diana Mayo
Age range: Kindergarten through 4th grade.
Recommended for: This book will likely resonate best with a verbally-oriented child who will understand and connect with the book’s message that all endings are the beginning of something new. This message is actually quite profound and may be reassuring to a child who struggles with endings and transitions (e.g., leaving a playdate, getting a new teacher).
Evidence-Based Practices: Cognitive Restructuring
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Kevin the Unicorn

It’s Not All Rainbows

Written and illustrated by Jessika von Innerebner
Age range: Preschool through 3rd grade.
Recommended for: This is a silly, sparkly book about Kevin the Unicorn who wakes up to a bad day, and by the end of the book realizes that “it’s okay to not feel okay.” The book is great for a kid who is reluctant to share when they’re feeling down or having a bad day due to a sense that they’re supposed to be/ act happy all the time. It normalizes bad days and highlights how problematic it is to pretend to be happy when one’s “insides [don’t] feel smiley at all.”
Evidence-Based Practices: Emotional Processing
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What To Do When It’s Not Fair

A Kid’s Guide to Handling Envy and Jealousy

Written by Jacqueline B. Toner, Ph.D. and Claire A. B. Freeland, Ph.D.
Illustrated by David Thompson
Age range: 1st grade through 5th grade.
Recommended for: This interactive workbook based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques helps children to learn cognitive restructuring and relaxation strategies to manage envy when something is “not fair.” It includes techniques to navigate situations when “someone else has something you think is better than what you have, or does something better than you, or gets more attention than you do.” This book is best for a child who has some insight into their thoughts (i.e., can name their thoughts about specific situations).
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation, Cognitive Restructuring, Relaxation, Diaphragmatic Breathing
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Zach Gets Frustrated

The Kite Fight

Written by William Mulcahy
Illustrated by Darren McKee
Age range: Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Recommended for: This book teaches the “Name It, Tame It, Reframe It” strategy of emotion regulation (i.e., name the feeling, use a relaxation skill like deep breathing, and then shift one’s thinking to be more helpful), which is useful for a child who has explosive reactions when something goes wrong or doesn’t go their way. It’s an effective trifecta of strategies, and it’s a moderately fun way to introduce this concept.
Evidence-Based Practices: Emotional Literacy, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Mindfulness, Cognitive Restructuring
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It Hurts When I Poop!

A Story for Children Who Are Scared to Use the Potty

Written by Howard J. Bennett, MD
Illustrated by M.S. Weber
Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.
Recommended for: This story is for children who withhold their poop due to a fear that it will hurt to let it out. It teaches about the importance of poop and how a child’s diet can soften a poop to make it come out more easily.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation
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Raj’s Rule

(For the Bathroom at School)

Written by Lana Button
Illustrated by Hatem Aly
Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.
Recommended for: This book addresses a common cause of accidents– a fear or reluctance to use the bathroom at school. In rhyming verse, Raj spells out all of the “rules” he has in order to make it through the day without using the bathroom (e.g., no juice, no cartwheels, no laughing). When he ends up having to use the bathroom at school, he realizes that it’s not so bad and that it allows him to have a lot more fun at school. This book could motivate a child to brave the school bathroom and be a start to conversations about bathroom-related exposures .
Evidence-Based Practices: Exposure
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What To Do When Your Temper Flares

A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems with Anger

Written by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D.
Illustrated by Bonnie Matthews
Age range: 1st grade through 5th grade.
Recommended for: This excellent interactive workbook empowers children to learn strategies to calm their temper. It reviews cognitive strategies (e.g., “cool thoughts”) and behavioral strategies (e.g., deep breaths, squeezing a pillow), and it touches on problem solving, compromise, flexible thinking, and avoiding “payback” escalation. It’s best for a child who is able to articulate their thoughts to some extent, but if a child isn’t yet able to do this, many of the other chapters on “anger-dousing” strategies will still be applicable and helpful. This workbook is great for a child who is ready to learn some strategies as well as a kid who is ambivalent about managing their anger or who doesn’t yet feel that it’s possible.
Evidence-Based Practices: Psychoeducation, Cognitive Restructuring, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Relaxation
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What To Do When Bad Habits Take Hold

A Kids Guide to Overcoming Nail Biting and More

Written by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D.
Illustrated by Bonnie Matthews
Age range: 1st grade through 5th grade.
Recommended for: This interactive workbook is a must-read for a child who is struggling with a body-focused repetitive behavior such as nail-biting, hair-pulling, skin-picking, lip-chewing, nose-picking, or thumb-sucking and who wants to stop. Children often develop shame about these behaviors and can’t stop despite caregivers’ frequent urging. This workbook is super destigmatizing–in fact, it explains to children why it makes sense that they feel the urge to do these things. It then presents five “keys”–very doable, evidence-based behaviors–that children can use to start new habits that will make the old ones obsolete. This book can be used in therapy sessions, as therapy “homework” between sessions, or at home with a caregiver.
Evidence-Based Practices: Behavior Therapy
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