Therapeutic Children’s Book Options:

 

Anxiety:

  • Ages 3-8
  • Helps: describes anxiety and how it can grow, teaches how to take charge of anxiety
  • Ages 4-8
  • Helps: illustrates how worry can impact daily life function and how to change this “little by little”
  • Ages 3-6
  • Helps: identify a worry and where it might come from, as well as provides them with helpful tools to reduce and cope with worries.
  • Ages 6-10
  • Helps: “cognitive behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of anxiety. A resource for educating, motivating and empowering kids to overcome their overgrown worries”

Autism:

  • Ages 6-10
  • Helps: Describes day-to-day experience of high-functioning children with ASD
  • Ages 8-12
  • Helps: Per Child Mind Institute-not a book that is obviously about autism.

Bullying:

  • Ages 6-9
  • Helps: distinguish between teasing and bullying
  • Ages 5-10
  • Helps: distinguish between teasing and bullying and teach strategies for responding to both good-natured teasing and bullying.
  • Ages 8-12
  • Helps: Discusses bullying, relatable story for kids who feel like outsider

Consent/Body Autonomy:

  • Ages 5-10
  • Comic book style book about consent and holding/respecting boundaries

  • Ages 4-8
  • Helps: understand boundaries, uses “red flag” and “green flag” language

Dyslexia:

  • Ages 4-8
  • Helps: explains dyslexia and models how to ask for help
  • Ages 8-12
  • Helps: explains dyslexia, models how to ask for help and captures how can impact self-esteem

Feelings:

  • Ages 3-6
  • Helps: describes each emotion
  • Ages 4-8
  • Book about overcoming fears, how does Humpty Dumpty get back up again?
  • Ages 3-8
  • Book to help explore feelings

Friendship:

  • Ages 8+
  • Helps: describe changes in friendship, bullying, childhood anxiety

Grief and Loss:

  • Ages 4-8
  • Helps: explains why people die and how hard it can be to say goodbye
  • Ages 4-8
  • Helps: show change from struggling to recovery and emphasizes using support networks
  • Ages 3-5
  • Helps: describe feelings around loss, does not describe death

Identity:

  • Ages 5-10
  • Helps: describes labeling
  • Ages 4-8
  • Picture book for children about non-binary gender identities
  • Ages 4-8
  • Short, subtle but lovely and sweet picture book about a child who is non-gender conforming
  • Ages 4-8
  • Picture book about diversity and difference

Mindfulness:

  • Helps: explains simple mindfulness techniques

Neglect:

  • Ages 6-12
  • Helps: explain how neglect can feel and describes how social worker and therapist may intervene

     -“You Weren’t With Me” by Chandra Ghosh Ippen

  • Ages 3-12
  • Helps parents and children talk about difficult separations to help them reconnect and how they can find their way back to each other.

OCD:

  • Ages 9-14
  • Helps: describe OCD tendencies and how support could be provided
  • Ages 7-12
  • Helps: describe OCD tendencies and how support could be provided

Puberty/Development:

  • Ages 8-11,
  • Body positive, empowering book for girls that informs about puberty, emotions and relationships

Responsibility:

  • Ages 5-8
  • Helps: accepting responsibility for own behavior

Self-Esteem:

  • Ages 3-7
  • Helps: describe diversity and differences
  • Helps: describe differences, compassion and supporting those with differences

Selective Mutism:

  • Ages 5-8
  • Helps: describes how kids can be verbal at home but not in public

Sensory Processing:

  • Ages 8-12
  • Helps: explain how sensory sensitivities and anxiety can impact daily life function

Tourette’s Syndrome:

  • Ages 8-12
  • Helps: explains tourette’s syndrome and how it can impact self esteem
  • Ages 12+
  • Helps: give insight into living with disability, discusses syndrome and types of treatments

Trauma:

  • Ages 5-9
  • Helps: discusses trauma and the importance of talking about traumatic things

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