Bibliotherapy: Wellness in Picture Books

I am Human. But being human means I am not perfect. I make mistakes. Being human means we are full of possibility. We learn, we dream, we wonder at the world around us. But we also make mistakes and can feel fearful or sad. We can make good choices by acting with compassion and having empathy for others and ourselves. When we find common ground, we can feel connected to the great world around us and mindfully strive to be our best selves.

When something sad happens to Taylor, all the animals think they know how to help. One by one they come, but nothing they say makes Taylor feel better. Until the rabbit arrives...and the rabbit knows just what to do.

Everybody loves Leopold the giraffe! He inspires awe and wonder! His adoring fans gaze and cheer! Best of all, they feed him lots of deeeeelicious snacks! Until one day, a shiny, grinning rival comes bobbing along and ruins everything...Just how far will Leopold go to prove that he's the star of the zoo?

We are all here for a purpose. We are more than enough. We just need to believe it.

Celebrate liking yourself! Through alternating points of view, a girl and a boy learn to like themselves every single day, no matter what.

High on energy and imagination, this ode to self-esteem encourages kids to appreciate everything about themselves -- inside and out. Messy hair? Beaver breath? So what! Here's a little girl who knows what really matters.

Even when the class bully at her new school makes fun of her, Molly remembers what her grandmother told her and feels good about herself.

My heart is a window. My heart is a slide. My heart can be closed...or opened up wide. From moments of great joy and exuberance to necessary times of quiet contemplation, your heart is your guide.

Fun-loving, mischievous Fox wishes he were a tiger. Tigers are big and fast and sneaky. So he decides to become one! Soon Turtle and Rabbit are joining in the fun. But will Fox want to be a tiger forever? In Fox the Tiger, this winning trickster character and his animal friends learn that the best thing to be is yourself.

When Ramon loses confidence in his ability to draw, his sister gives him a new perspective on things.

Gerald the giraffe longs to dance, but his legs are too skinny and his neck is too long. His knees buckle whenever he tries to twirl. At the Jungle Dance, the warthogs waltz, the chimps cha-cha, and the lions tango. "Giraffes don't dance," they all jeer when it's Gerald's turn to prance. Fortunately, there is one little creature who believes in Gerald. "Everything makes music...if you really want it to." So Gerald starts swaying to his own sweet tune.

Lola has really really REALLY big hair, much bigger than the other kids at her school, but that doesn't stop her from telling anyone who will listen just how much she LOVES her hair!

This is Luca. He looks like a fox. He has a pointy nose and ginger fur and a brushy tail. But he acts like a dog. He chases cats and yips at mailmen and sniffs other dogs you-know-where. So which is he -- fox or dog, dog or fox -- and where does he belong?

There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are lots of reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from. Maybe it's what you eat or something just as random. Whatever it is, it's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody knows you, but somehow you do it.

While the world tells us to sit still, to follow the rules, and to color inside the lines, Happy Dreamer celebrates all those moments in between when the mind and spirit soar and we are free to become our own true dreamer maximus!

When little dinosaurs get angry, they sometimes misbehave. But after the dinosaur storms around the house, it's time to calm down. That's when a dinosaur knows to count to ten, take a deep breath, clean up the mess...and give huge hugs! Mama and Papa don't like temper tantrums, but they always love their children. Everybody gets mad sometimes. Parents, teachers, and children can talk about it. There are lots of different things we can do to handle anger.

When Anh becomes angry and says hurtful things, his grandfather tells him to go to his room and sit with his anger, which allows Anh to feel better. Based on teachings about mindfulness and Buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh.

His big sister didn't mean to bump him and send all his toys flying, but Andrew got angry anyway. And before he knew it, he shouted the ugliest bunch of angry words anyone has ever heard -- straight at his sister. He was instantly sorry, but before he could do anything, Marion shouted the angry words over the telephone to Ted. Andrew jumped up and took off for Ted's house -- but he was too late. Ted had already passed them along, and the angry words were loose in the world. Andrew kept chasing, but the words passed from poet to princess to fisherman, and it looked like they would roll on and on, causing trouble for everyone forever. Fortunately, a very smart lady proved that those words were not so powerful after all, and she stopped them cold. Andrew was glad, but what about all the damage his angry words had done? With the help of a remarkable gift, Andrew retraces his steps, and everyone ends up even happier than they had been before.

After the loss of her beloved grandmother, Mina finds solace in stories told by family and friends, but her grief is turned into joy when she surprises everyone with Grandma's famous French toast.

When Emily was two, her grandpa sang songs to her. When she was four, he read her stories. When Emily is five, her beloved grandfather dies. Her family decides to remember him in two ways: with a Christian funeral and a Jewish service. Both ways are beautiful. But Emily finds a way of remembering her grandpa that is just as beautiful and meaningful...and that's all her own.

Once there was a girl whose life was filled with all the wonder of the world around her. Then one day something occurred that caused the girl to take her heart and put it in a safe place. However, after that it seemed that more things were empty than before. Would she know when and how to get her heart back?

"Some time ago, we said good-bye to Mommy. I am not sure where she has gone." Honest and straightforward, this touching story explores the many emotions a bereaved child may experience, from anger and guilt to sadness and bewilderment. Ultimately, Missing Mommy focuses on the positive -- the recognition that the child is not alone but still part of a family that loves and supports him.

Grieving over the death of a special person, a young child creates a memory box to keep mementos and written memories of the loved one.

As his family reminisces after his beloved grandfather's death, a boy realizes that his grandfather is still with him in all the special places they shared.

Now that Grandpa is gone, Sarah tries to remember what he always used to say about the garden. Like us, he would tell her, a part of it never dies. Everything and everyone goes on and on. But Sarah feels very sad and alone, even though Grandma all the relatives are with her, sharing stories and hugs. How can life go on without Grandpa? As summer slips into fall, Grandma and Sarah share a rich garden harvest -- and their sweet, sweet memories of Grandpa. The stories and memories of loved ones, Sarah learns, are what keep everything and everyone going on and on.

A refugee from Cambodia, Dara's beloved grandmother is grief-stricken when she learns her brother has died, and it is up to Dara to try and heal her.

Arthur's dog Daisy is very old, and one night after going to sleep as usual, she wakes up in heaven. Because Daisy knows that Arthur is sad, she finds a way to let him know she is very happy, the first step toward making him happy again, too.

No one knows exactly what kind of dog Corky is, but if you ask his owner, Mike, the answer is simple: "He's my dog." Mike and Corky are best friends; they do everything together. In fact they even make a plan. Mike tells Corky that they will always do everything together -- forever. It is their Forever Plan. And it works well. From one year to the next Corky is right there with Mike. Until one day, when Mike comes home from school and Corky isn't there...

Rudi is my best friend. He and I made a feeder for hummingbirds out of a bottle and a straw. "They'll come for sure," Rudi says. "If I was a bird, I'd come." But Rudi is sick, and Mom says he is sinking. Sinking is hard to understand. It is terrible when Rudi dies. Everyone in school wants to create something wonderful so we can remember him. We decide to build a pond next to the big knobby oak in the schoolyard. The feeder Rudi and I made hangs from the oak, and one day a special hummingbird arrives...

It's his first day at a new school, and Stevie has never felt so nervous. Who will he talk to at lunchtime? But his teacher smiles and says, "It is my fondest wish that you join me for lunch today, Stevie." And with that, a bad day becomes a great one. Miss Perry has a fondest wish for every day -- something new to read, sing, celebrate. But when news arrives that Miss Perry has died in a car accident, everything is suddenly strange and sad. With encouragement, though, Stevie and his classmates see that the joy their teacher brought is not lost. To feel it, they need to look no further than their own memories.

As Mom goes through treatment for cancer, her family supports her with what cancer hates most: Love.

When Marcus's mother has chemotherapy for her cancer and loses her hair, he tries to find new hair for her to make her well again.

A mother who has cancer gently informs her child of what the effects will be and reminds her little one of all the special times they have shared and will continue to share, even while she undergoes treatment.

When cancer comes calling, Janie and her family grow hope in a very special garden.

A young girl experiences a range of emotions when her mother undergoes treatment for cancer. Though Mom can't promise she'll never get sick again, there are other promises she can make.

James has a lot of balloons. They're where he keeps his memories. Grandpa has a lot of balloons. Birthdays and long-ago summers, weddings and special camping trips -- Grandpa's balloons hold so many great stories. James loves to hear them all. But when Grandpa's balloons start drifting away, James wants to catch them. He can't. James now has to be the one to share stories -- to share his balloons with Grandpa.

Margaret's grandma is the special kind. They go for walks, sing songs together, and gather apples to make Grandma's special mile-high apple pie. But more and more, Grandma can't remember. She forgets the way home, and sometimes she doesn't even know Margaret. "She still loves you," says Margaret's mother, "even if she can't remember your name."

What is a family? When a teacher asks the children in her class to think about what makes their families special, the answers are all different in many ways -- but the same in the one way that matters most of all.

A young girl who lives with her grandparents experiences warmth, love, and closeness, even when she wonders why her parents are not raising her.

Elmore Green starts life as an only child, as many children do. He has a room to himself, where he can line up his precious things and nobody will move them one inch but one day, everything changes. When the new small person comes along, it seems that everybody might like it a bit more than they like Elmore Green. Elmore's parents say that he can't be angry because the small person is only small. Elmore wants the small person to go back to wherever it came from. Then, one night, everything changes...

While his life seems perfectly good as it is, Cardell, a young coyote, learns to tolerate -- and even like -- the coyote that is courting his mother.

When a brother and sister are taken to stay with their mother's sister because their mother neglects them, they wonder if they will ever see their mother again.

It's bad enough that Xavier's new stepbrother, Chris, has moved into Xavier's room, but now it looks like he's also trying to steal Mami by being the perfect kid. Chris's "Mr. Perfect" act may fool grown-ups, but Xavier can see right through it. He promises himself that he'll never become real brothers with such a fake. No brothers allowed. Ever. Right...?

Every morning, I play a game with my father. He goes knock knock on my door, and I pretend to be asleep till he gets right next to the bed. And my papa, he tells me, "I love you." But what happens when, one day, that "knock knock" doesn't come? This powerful and inspiring book shows the love that an absent parent can leave behind, and the strength that children find in themselves as they grow up and follow their dreams.

Once upon a time, a Mommy Bear and a Daddy Bear told their three little cubs that they were the best baby bears in the whole wide world. But the time came when each of the siblings began to wonder. They couldn't all be the best. They couldn't all be favorites. Or could they?

Henry Cooper and his dog Pomegranate have two houses. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other weekend, they live with Mama in her new apartment, but on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other weekend, they live with Papa in his new house. Henry and Pomegranate are happy as they dance with Mama and sing with Papa, but Henry knows that sometimes Pomegranate gets confused and just wants to go...home.

A young girl named Nina recounts her feelings about her parents' divorce and describes what it's like to live in two homes.

Emily wants to be an artist. She likes painting and loves the way artists like Pablo Picasso mixed things up. Emily's life is a little mixed up right now. Her dad doesn't live at home anymore, and it feels like everything around her is changing. "When Picasso was very sad," says Emily, "he only painted in shades of blue. And now I am in my blue period." It might last quite some time.

Separation and divorce are difficult for everyone. Young children often blame themselves or are unsure of their place in the family when these events occur. This book was designed to empower parents/caregivers to start conversations with young ones about separation and divorce in a reassuring and straightforward way.

Leaving her best friend is difficult for a young hedgehog whose family is moving, but everyone assures her that things will be alright.

Almost everything Callie's family owns is spread out in their front yard -- their furniture, their potted flowers, even Callie's bike. They can't stay in this house, so they're moving to an apartment. The new place is nice, but it's kind of small and everything won't fit, so today they are having a yard sale. It's kind of a hard thing to watch people buy your stuff, even if you understand why it has to happen. But a home isn't about what you have but rather, who you hold close.

At the new house, there were movers and shouting and boxes and blankets. There were chairs where chairs did not go and sofas where sofas could not stay. There were many places a girl like Mabel and a boy like Sam could be tripped over or smooshed or trod upon. There was one safe place where they would not. And that is how Mabel became a Sea Captain.

The little girl in this story lives with her family in a trailer in northeastern Saskatchewan, where her father is building a dam. She knows everything about the place -- her road, her school, the forest where she plays hide-and-seek and where the wolf howls at night, the hill where she goes tobogganing in winter...But the dam is nearly finished, and when summer comes the family will move to Toronto -- a place marked by a big red star on the map at school. "Have people in Toronto seen what I've seen?" the little girl asks. And with her teacher's help she finds a way to keep everything she loves about home.

The narrator of this story idolizes his older brother. But when big brother leaves for the army, the narrator tries his best to fill big brother's shoes for his younger brother.

9-year-old Lizzie writes to her mother, who is deployed overseas during wartime, and includes maps that show her mother what Lizzie has been thinking and doing.

Emily's dad is in the Navy and sometimes he has to leave for months at a time. Emily knows her dad's job is important, but she doesn't want him to leave! Her dad makes her a paper chain to count down the days of his trip.

When someone I love is far away, I have to be brave. I miss them. I know they miss me, too. We talk. We write letters. We keep each other in our hearts. I stay busy. I try to do lots of things that make me happy. And I count down the days until they come home.