Below is a selection of children’s books which deal with issues around
mental health and well-being. They are an excellent starting point for conversations with your child as well as being a really good read. As with any book you read with your child, we always advocate getting to know the book yourself first.
Teaching children that it’s okay to make mistakes is so important in encouraging them to try and give things a go. You can do just that with this colourful and interactive book, containing pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, smudges, holes, tears and all manner of wonderful ‘imperfections’, which demonstrates the beauty in an ‘oops’!
Most of the time, Ravi can control his temper but, one day, he lets out the tiger within. Being a tiger is great fun at first – tigers can do ANYTHING they want! But who wants to play with a growling, roaring, noisy, wild tiger who won’t share or play nicely? Ravi is about to discover something very important about expressing his feelings and making amends.
One day, Colour Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad and scared all at once! To help him, a little girl shows him what each feeling means through colour. What is the Colour Monster feeling? And you can help him feel a little less mixed up? A gentle exploration of feelings for young and old alike.
It’s a beautiful day and Worrysaurus has planned a special picnic. But it isn’t long
Before a small butterfly of worry starts fluttering in his tummy…
What if he hasn’t brought enough to eat?
What if he gets lost in the jungle?
What if he trips and falls?
What if it rains? Can Worrysaurus find a way to chase his fears away and have
fun? The perfect book to help every anxious little dinosaur let go of their fears and feel happy in the moment.
When a child awakens with dark leaves drifting into her bedroom, she feels that sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to, and things go from bad to worse. Feelings too complex for words are rendered into an imaginary
landscape where the child wanders, oblivious to the glimmer of promise in the shape of a tiny red leaf. Everything seems hopeless until the child returns to her room and sees the red tree. At that perfect moment of beauty and purity, the
child smiles and her world stirs anew.
Harry Christmas and Angie Moon are best friends and almost-twins. Ever since they were born two days apart they’ve been partners in cloud-spotting, sweet-eating and treehouse-building. But when Harry is taken to hospital for headaches that won’t go away, he needs Angie more than ever. Because when things fall apart, only a best friend can stitch them back together. Told through Angie’s lively diary, this is a bittersweet story about friendship and growing up for older children.
Billy misses his mummy very much. She lives in the clouds. Some days the sun is shining and Mummy’s clouds are nowhere to be seen. Those are Billy’s favourite days. He and Daddy would play in the garden all day long, and Billy knows that Mummy is letting the sun shine for them. But not all days are like that. Sometimes Mummy’s clouds are dark, and Billy feels sad and alone. This moving and sensitively-written picture book gently explores grief and teaches children how to deal with their emotions surrounding the death of a loved one.
This collection of 50 poems will inspire confidence and courage, help children to overcome worries and spread kindness. Beautifully illustrated, it is filled with poems for children to read alone or enjoy with the whole family. With themes of friendship, self-belief, embracing change and celebrating people’s differences, it’s the perfect book for children to treasure.