Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.

Recommended for: A sweet read for children who feel shy in situations where they’re expected to make new friends. Provides the perspective that there are probably lots of other children out there who feel the same way as the child reading the book and who would love to play if the child were willing to take a risk and ask.

Age range: Preschool through kindergarten.

Recommended for: This story teaches the worry management strategy of creating a worry box (i.e., writing down one’s worries and putting them in a box) through a sweet and reassuring story of a bear with a lot of worries who visits a waterfall with his older sister and makes a new friend. Worry boxes can help children build awareness of their worry thoughts. They can also help to contain worry time to certain designated moments (e.g., a therapy session, after school) when the child’s worries can be discussed with a trusted adult.

Age range: Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Recommended for: This book is well-suited for a child whose parent or loved one is experiencing a depressive episode and is beginning or going through treatment. It describes the emotions that often accompany having a parent with a mood disorder, and it provides hope that a parent’s treatment will help the color return to their world. Includes hospitalization as a component of the father’s treatment.

Age range: 2nd through 5th, or even 6th grade.

Recommended for: This book is best for a more mature, verbal child who has some insight into their thoughts and feelings. It takes seriously the intensity of children’s feelings of shame and helps kids to recognize and name the feeling, as well as to share about what is causing them to feel shame. This book is appropriate for a child who has experienced trauma or abuse and is subsequently feeling shame, as well as a child who struggles more generally with feelings of inadequacy or negative self-talk. (It makes a nod to shame sometimes being the result of “something we did or didn’t do,” as well as “something done to us.”)

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: This story is applicable to a child who gets anxious when they aren’t able to follow a routine, whether in the context of anxiety, OCD, autism, or anything else. It’s a really fun, adorable story with a lot of heart and a very sweet ending. The ultimate message is that although it can be scary to break out of a routine, sometimes doing things differently can present new possibilities (like discovering a new favorite food, fun experience, or good friend).

Age range: 1st grade through 4th grade.

Recommended for: This book is excellent for a child who is hurt and angry about their parents’ divorce and who feels invalidated by books that imply that there might be good things about it (e.g., all of the books that include a line like, now you’ll have twice as many toys!). This book validates a child’s pain, reminds them that it isn’t their fault, and encourages them to express their feelings. It is a great book for a therapist or counselor to use prior to introducing a relevant therapy activity (e.g., writing out a child’s worries on strips of paper; making a collage of their feelings) and as a way to communicate that in therapy a child doesn’t have to act like everything is okay. Parents may find this book painful, as it is a reminder of how difficult divorce can be for children, but for many kids, it could be a relief to see that their parent recognizes and accepts their feelings about the divorce. The parents in this book are never pictured, so it works for divorcing parents of all genders.

Age range: Kindergarten through 2nd grade.

Recommended for: Children who have a hard time with change will relate to Camilla who initially struggles to adjust to a beaver dam turning her forest’s creek into a pond. With time and participation in preparing the forest community for the change, Camilla ultimately concludes that “there’s lots to like about a pond.” This story is particularly relevant to kids who love maps, as Camilla is a cartographer and maps play a big role in her adjustment to the change.

Age range: Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Recommended for: This book is best for a child who is ambivalent about controlling their temper and reluctant to use anger management strategies. Perhaps they feel empowered by their temper, or it gets them what they want sometimes. This story uses the metaphor of a pet Temper to show how Temper can be fun and useful until it starts to really get in the way. It presents anger management strategies (e.g., counting to 10, deep breaths) as a way to increase a child’s power and control, rather than Temper being in charge.

Age range: Toddler through 1st grade.

Recommended for: Young children who like dogs will enjoy this very adorable book about a dog who isn’t sleepy even though it’s bedtime. This book will help a non-sleepy child feel understood, and it encourages a child to get snug in their bed and think about the highlights of their day and what they’re looking forward to tomorrow. This book is also available in Spanish.

Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade

Recommended for: For a child struggling with perfectionism in the context of group projects or collaborative activities with friends (perhaps they are getting mad at other kids for not doing things “right,” or maybe they feel like they always need to be in charge), this book is both validating and thought-provoking. It aligns itself with a perfectionistic child and presents the possibility that sometimes letting things be less-than-perfect ultimately results in a more perfect experience: “The decorations were wonky…and the cake was stale…It was not at all what Beaver had planned, but it was the best birthday he ever had. It was, in fact, perfect.”

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Age range: Preschool through 1st grade.

Age range: Preschool through 2nd grade.

Age range: Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Age range: Preschool through Kindergarten.

Recommended for: This book is a good introduction to anger management strategies for young children. An older brother helps his younger sister to calm down from a tantrum by coaching her through different coping skills. The book doesn’t ask that a child be able to identify their thoughts or feelings or what triggered the anger outburst; rather it non-judgmentally walks a child through a series of concrete skills to use to get back to feeling like themselves (e.g., squeezing a stuffed animal, pretending to blow out candles, counting backwards from 10).

Age range: 1st grade through 3rd grade.

Recommended for: Children who get stuck in perfectionism will likely benefit from this book’s reminder that imperfection, although scary at first, can be freeing. Kids with super high standards for themselves or who get anxious when things don’t go according to plan may find relief in the balance Penelope strikes when she lets herself “just be Penelope” rather than Penelope Perfect.