Age range: 2nd grade through 5th grade.

Recommended for: This book is ideal for an older, verbally-oriented child who is scared of their anger and/or feels embarrassed or ashamed by their behavior when they’re angry. The book destigmatizes anger by presenting it as a valuable feeling that shows us when we’ve been hurt or that something is unfair. It teaches children strategies for managing the feeling in healthy ways (e.g. deep breaths, talking about it with someone they trust) so that they can use their anger to motivate positive change.

Age range: 1st grade through 3rd grade.

Recommended for: This book destigmatizes the “wiggle fidgets” (recognizable as ADHD, but no diagnostic labels are used in the story), celebrates kids’ creativity, and empowers kids to brainstorm accommodations that might help them to better manage their symptoms. It’s a great read prior to a conversation with a child about school accommodations such as movement breaks and using a fidget toy.

Age range: 1st grade through 5th grade.

Recommended for: This story teaches children that they can practice flexible thinking to make it less likely that their days are ruined when something goes wrong (e.g., a rained out baseball game, a fire drill during freetime). It’s an empowering message, and it’s provided by a relatable protagonist. Kids whose days are easily ruined by small setbacks will likely feel understood by Braden and comforted by the idea that they might not need things to go perfectly in order to feel okay.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: This book is a really great introduction to anger management and would probably be best received by a child who has expressed some interest in getting a better handle on their anger (maybe they want to get in trouble less, or they’ve expressed sadness about hurting someone’s feelings while they were angry). Importantly, it teaches children to listen to their anger (e.g., maybe a child needs a rest or someone needs to stop being unfair) as well as to calm down using a handful of impactful coping strategies (e.g., taking a break, deep breaths, exercise, talking with a trusted person).

Age range: Preschool through 4th grade.

Recommended for: This book walks children through a relaxing yoga routine to help them settle their bodies prior to going to sleep. For a child who often has the wiggles or feels uncomfortable when they get in bed at night, this book could be really helpful. The visualizations that accompany the yoga poses (e.g., picturing birds settling in a tree at night) could also help a child to settle their minds before sleep. This book is also available in Spanish and German.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: Children who are perfectionistic about their artwork (or other types of activities) will benefit from this book’s fun, concrete introduction to the idea that mistakes can be great opportunities for creativity. It leads well into doing an art project of turning one’s own artistic blemishes (e.g., tears, smudges) into beautiful creations.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: This book could open up some important conversations about fears and bravery with children who are holding beliefs that they shouldn’t be scared or that others will judge them if they are. It is also an extremely sweet book about a boy overcoming his fear of dogs to comfort a dog when she is scared. I would not recommend this book for a child who isn’t expressing some embarrassment/shame/denial of their anxiety, as this could introduce the idea that someone might make fun of them for their fear (it’s not that this book is endorsing this, but it’s part of the plot).

Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.

Recommended for: This book helps to destigmatize Selective Mutism (SM) and to provide hope that it won’t last forever. Could be a good read for caregivers and their child with SM, or to read to a classroom to help other students understand and accept a child who isn’t speaking yet (but maybe leave out the page where a classmate pinches Maya because they know she won’t tell the teacher). This book is best for a child who won’t be turned off by Maya’s traditionally feminine interests (pink, princesses, playing house) and the description of her voice as “sweet.”

Age range: Preschool through Kindergarten.

Recommended for: Young children who are anticipating missing a caregiver or who are currently missing a caregiver will benefit from the validation this book provides as well as the gentle suggestions for ways to soothe the ache of missing a loved one. This would be a great read prior to a first day of school or to a caregiver going on a trip, or before a child is left with a babysitter. Anyone who ever watches a child while they’re separated from a parent/ caregiver (e.g., relatives, teachers, babysitters) may want to have this book on hand for moments of missing mom or dad (or any other important caregiver). Although divorce isn’t specifically addressed in this book, a child with separated parents might also benefit from reading this book when they are staying with one parent and missing the other.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: This book is a fun read for a child who is shy and/or quiet, and needs a reminder that others will appreciate them for their strengths and passions, just as they are, if they can be brave, be themselves, and let others get to know them! Available in English and Spanish.

Age range: Kindergarten through 2nd grade, maybe 3rd.

Recommended for: A child with a lot of safety-oriented worries who is at all interested in knights or medieval lore. This story destigmatizes anxiety (knights are inherently cool and brave, right?) and presents the value of exposure (i.e., doing things they care about even if they’re scary) and expectancy violations (i.e., bad outcomes happen, and they’re not nearly as bad as the knight expected). Different coping strategies are briefly shared by the knight’s classmates (also knights), which might give these techniques a bit of extra credibility! The knight is particularly anxious about participating in jousting practice in front of his classmates; this will likely resonate with children who experience significant anxiety in performance situations (e.g., sporting events, recitals, etc.).

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade

Recommended for: A child with lots of worries will feel seen by this story and will likely feel reassured that despite their worries, they can still make friends and have fun. It’s ideal for children who have been criticized for worrying and/or who have started to criticize themselves for it and who need a reminder that this isn’t helpful or deserved. It’s also a great starter to a conversation between a child and their caregivers about what their caregivers can do to be helpful when the child is feeling worried (e.g., helping them to engage in something fun even if they’re worried!) instead of simply imploring the child not to worry.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: Young children who have a parent with Bipolar I Disorder who need reassurance that they are not alone in their experience. The book is probably more reassuring to parents reading it than the children intended to be the audience, but it can be used to open conversations about how a child feels when a parent acts erratically, is unavailable, or is in the hospital, as well as conversations about emergency planning (e.g., who they can contact if they’re worried about their parent or themselves and who will take care of them if a parent is unable to). It’s not a great book, but there’s not much better out there.

Age range: Preschool all the way through elementary school.

Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.

Recommended for: This book is a calm, normalizing introduction to divorce and separation, and it provides recommendations for coping with upcoming changes. The illustrations include families of color and queer parents, so it is particularly well-suited for families looking for a book with representation beyond White, heterosexual parents. No specific custody arrangements are mentioned in the book.

Age range: Best for 1st through 5th grade. It’s a bit long and wordy for younger kids.

Age range: This book is short with simple language–preschoolers through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: This book is great to read with children who seem to be carrying heavy feelings around with them and not sharing them. Kids with worries and/or mood symptoms would likely benefit from reading this book–the message that one can feel better by connecting with others and sharing one’s feelings is quite applicable to both depression symptoms as well as worries. For therapists, this book could be helpful as a read early in therapy with a child who isn’t sure talking about their feelings will help at all.

Age range: 1st grade through 3rd grade.

Recommended for: This book is a great story, which happens to be co-written by California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, about a boy with dyslexia who loves baseball (loosely based on Newsom’s own experience as a child with dyslexia). It is also a story about having more in common with others than we realize and about never giving up. It’s a wonderful book for kids who think they are the only ones struggling to read (there’s a surprise twist in the story that disproves this), and it celebrates kids’ strengths. The publisher states that the book was written in a font specifically designed to be easier to read for people with dyslexia.