Bibliotherapy: Wellness in Picture Books

Working up the courage to take a big, important leap is hard, but Jabari is almost absolutely ready to make a giant splash. He's finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, and he's a great jumper, so he's not scared at all. "Looks easy," says Jabari, watching the other kids take their turns. But when his dad squeezes his hand, Jabari squeezes back.

Master Willow's School for Ninjas is a place where junior ninjas must learn many skills: how to make themselves invisible, how to fight skillfully, how to sit patiently, and -- most important -- how to be brave and discover their own secret talents. But what if Ruby's no good at being a ninja, or too afraid to conquer her fears and find her special talent? Can Ruby really graduate from ninja school?

Hoot loves adventures. Olive does not. But as long as they're together, they can accomplish anything.

Lou and her friends run FASTER than airplanes. They build MIGHTY fortresses. They rescue WILD animals. Lou is brave enough for anything! That is, until her friends decide to climb a tree. Lou has never climbed a tree before. She doesn't think she can do it. She likes her adventures to be DOWN, not UP. But when the excuses run out, it's time to face the facts: this adventure looks like FUN! If only Lou could climb trees! Is she brave enough to TRY?

A black dog comes to visit the Hope family, and it's big -- as big as a tiger, no, an elephant. Wait, the dog is as big as a T. rex! The terrified Hopes try to hide, but there's no stopping the littlest family member, Small Hope, from marching right outside to confront the beast. This is a story about being afraid. It's also a story about not being afraid. It all depends on how you see things.

When Jackie Robinson moves his family from New York City to Connecticut, the beautiful lake on their property, is the center of everyone's fun. The neighborhood children join the Robinson kids for swimming and boating. But oddly, Jackie never goes near the water. In a dramatic episode that first winter, Jackie is called upon to test the ice to make sure it's safe for ice-skating.

A curious little girl watches the man who guards the last castle in town. Every time she passes by him, she tries to catch his eye. While the other townspeople fear what may be locked up inside the mysterious castle, the girl finally gets up the courage to knock on the door and find out what's really behind the gate. A story about overcoming fear of the unknown, trying new things, and reaching out to make new friends, The Very Last Castle shows that bravery comes in packages both big and small.

A boy visits his Nana at her new home in the city. The city is busy and loud and filled with scary things. But a special gift from Nana makes the boy feel brave and transforms the city into something...extraordinary.

Ruby's morning walk with her mom is far from ordinary. With a tiger on the prowl and mighty beasts that loom and lurk, getting to school seems an impossible task. Will Ruby find the courage to reach her classroom?

Just behind an ordinary house filled with too little fun, Ernest D. decides that today will be the day he explores the depths of his pond. Beyond the pond, he discovers a not-so-ordinary world that will change him forever.

TODAY this little girl is stuck being a kid, but that doesn't stop her from wishing for SOMEDAY, and she knows that when that day arrives, it's going to be sensational. She'll swim with dolphins, she'll dig for dinosaur bones, or she'll explore the South Pole -- the possibilities are endless!

Jack describes the kind of car he would build -- one with amazing accessories and with the capability of traveling on land, in the air, and on and under the sea.

What if...one day my pencil disappeared? This is a girl determined to express herself -- no matter what! If she can't draw, she'll sculpt or build, carve or collage. If she can't do that, she'll turn her world into a canvas. And if everything around her is taken away, she'll sing...dance...and dream...

A young boy follows his imagination -- from the pyramids of Egypt to a dusty footprint on the moon -- and then back out again to the wonderful world right in front of him. From a lost balloon to an endless road, there are stories to discover, to dream about, and to share.

All summer, Pearl has been trying to build the perfect sandcastle, but out-of-control Frisbees and mischievous puppies keep getting in the way! Pearl and her robot friend Pascal have one last chance, and this time, they're going to use CODE to get the job done. Using fundamental computer coding concepts like sequences and loops, Pearl and Pascal are able to break down their sandcastle problem into small, manageable steps. If they can create working code, this could turn out to be the best beach day ever!

Ada Twist's head is full of questions, but when her fact-finding missions and elaborate scientific experiments go too far, her frazzled parents banish her to the Thinking Chair. Will at that thinking change Ada's mind?

Melia is SCIENTIFIC and loves to create things in her backyard laboratory, but something is missing. Her inventions just aren't quite right. Enter Jo, her new friend with an ARTISTIC spirit. When you blend the arts and science, something magical happens! The STEAM dream team!

Sophie is discouraged because she always struggles with math and puzzles -- until her teacher shows her the hidden value of "try" and "yet".

Getting frustrated is a part of life! And, whether Kiki is working on squeezing toothpaste right onto her toothbrush, getting the zipper to slide all the way up her jacket, or spreading cream cheese on a bagel, she learns to just take a deep breath, say "No Biggy!," and try again -- after all, things don't always go exactly as expected on the first try!

Where some people see rubbish, Rosie Revere sees inspiration. Alone in her room at night, shy Rosie constructs great inventions from odds and ends. Hot dog dispensers, helium pants, python-repelling cheese hats: Rosie's gizmos would astound -- if she ever let anyone see them. Afraid of failure, she hides them away under her bed until a fateful visit from her great-great-aunt Rose shows her that a first flop isn't something to fear -- it's something to celebrate.

My name is Humpty Dumpty. I'm famous for falling off a wall. (You may have heard about it.) But that's only half the story...Because I decided to get back up. And when I did, something amazing happened. This story is about my life...after the fall.

One day, a little girl has a wonderful idea. With the help of her canine assistant, she is going to make THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING! She knows just how it will look. She knows just how it will work. Easy-peasy! But making the most magnificent thing turns out to be harder than she thinks. She measures, hammers, fastens and adjusts again and again, but the thing just keeps turning out wrong. If only the thing WOULD JUST WORK!

Rescue thought he'd grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog -- it's the family business, after all. But when he gets the news that he's better suited to being a service dog, he's worried that he's not up to the task. Then he meets Jessica, a girl whose life turned out differently from the way she'd imagined it, too. Now Jessica needs Rescue by her side to help her accomplish everyday things. And it turns out that Rescue can help Jessica see after all: a way forward, together -- one step at a time.

Growing up isn't always easy...sometimes you have to try many times before you fly!

Young Trisha is devastated when she finds out her class at her new school is known as "the junkyard." It is a special class, and she had moved from where she used to live so she wouldn't be in a special class anymore! But then she meets her teacher, the amazing, Mrs. Peterson, and her classmates, an oddly brilliant group of misfit kids, whom the other kids in school call the junkyard kids. And, much to her own surprise, it is here in the junkyard that Trisha discovers the true meaning of genius, and that this group of misfits are, in fact, Junkyard Wonders, each and every one of them.

Marta Enos has been working hard on her homework and is hungry for a taste of Grandmother's big moon tortillas, "the best in the world." But as she rushes out to the cookhouse, disasters happen. Her homework blows out the window and is ruined by dogs. She drops her glasses and breaks them. Grandmother comforts her brokenhearted granddaughter with the wisdom of an old healing song: "When we have a problem, we must choose what we shall be." Marta chooses to fly high and laugh at her problems, like the eagle.

A boy rides a bicycle down a dusty road. But in his mind, he envisions himself traveling at a speed beyond imagining, on a beam of light. This brilliant mind will one day offer up some of the most revolutionary ideas ever conceived. From a boy endlessly fascinated by the wonders around him, Albert Einstein ultimately grows into a man of genius recognized the world over for profoundly illuminating our understanding of the universe.

When Malala was a child in Pakistan, she wished for a magic pencil. She would use it to draw a lock on her door to keep her brothers out, stop time so she could sleep an extra hour every morning, and erase the smell of trash dump near her home. But, as Malala grew, her world changed and so did her wishes. Her right to attend school was threatened -- just because she's a girl. Instead of a magic pencil, Malala now picked up a real one. She wrote alone in her room about the challenges she faced, but people from all over read her words, and her wishes started to come true.

There once was a boy named Paul who loved math. He spent his days calculating, counting, and thinking about numbers. He couldn't tie his shoes or butter his own toast -- sometimes the world just didn't seem like it was made for a boy who only thought about math all day long. This is the story of how Paul found his own way in the world by making friends and sharing his ideas, and how he grew to become one of the world's most famous and beloved mathematicians.

Before Jacques Cousteau became an internationally known oceanographer and champion of the seas, he was a curious little boy. In this lovely biography, poetic text and gorgeous paintings combine to create a portrait of Jacques Cousteau that is as magical as it is inspiring.

In Ghana, West Africa, a baby boy was born: Two bright eyes blinked in the light, two tiny fists opened and closed, but only one strong leg kicked. Here is the inspiring true story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, who cycled an incredible four hundred miles across Ghana -- with only one strong leg -- to spread his powerful message: disability does not mean inability.

Born into slavery, young Booker T. Washington could only dream of learning to read and write. After emancipation, Booker began a five-hundred-mile journey, mostly on foot, to Hampton Institute, taking his first of many steps towards a college degree. When he arrived, he had just fifty cents in his pocket and a dream about to come true. The young slave who once waited outside of the schoolhouse would one day become a legendary educator of freedmen.

Meet Dr. Temple Grandin -- one of the world's quirkiest science heroes! When young Temple was diagnosed with autism, no one expected her to talk, let alone become one of the most powerful voices in modern science. Yet, the determined visual thinker did just that. Her unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe.

Spring after spring, year after year, a young girl watched and listened. Rachel Carson lived her life by the rhythms of the natural world. She heard when the birds started their songs and when the insects joined in. She saw the days grow short and the geese fly south. And so it was Rachel who noticed when the birds stopped singing and the spring went silent. It was Rachel who could see how the music of nature had been disrupted and who was to blame. And what she saw and heard scared her. This is the story of how a life of observation and bravery changed the course of environmental science and continues to inspire the young naturalists of today.

Vasya Kandinsky was a proper little boy: he studied bookfuls of math and history, he practiced the piano, he sat up straight and was perfectly polite. And when his family sent him to art classes, they expected him to paint pretty houses and flowers -- like a proper artist. But as Vasya opened his paint box and began mixing the reds, the yellows, the blues, he heard a strange sound -- the swirling colors trilled like an orchestra tuning up for a symphony! And as he grew older, he continued to hear brilliant colors singing and see vibrant sounds dancing. But was Vasya brave enough to put aside his proper still lifes and portraits and paint...music?