Picture books about racecar drivers, ballerinas, dinosaurs, kids with dogs and cats, kids being brave, or being great adventurers are pretty common. Middle-grade books for readers who want to want to solve a mystery, being a supernatural being, be the cool kid in school (or not-so-cool-kid) are also easy to find.
But books for kids or tweens that talk about dealing with BIG feelings or emotions such as anger, frustration, over-excitement, anxiety, and other mental health issues? Not so much.
Becky from Franticmommy has a great list of 12 Books about BIG Feelings for Kids and Tweens that include new titles along with some familiar ones.
Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought it would be a good idea to share a booklist that helps Littles understand the BIG feelings of adults. Svenja from Colours of Us shares an excellent booklist for kids that all have a mental health theme. There are not a lot of multicultural picture books about mental illness available so if you know of any not on this list, share in the comments!
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population.
Anxiety and big emotions are such a large part of our children’s lives these days. Our hunch is that this “invisible disability” has been present for many years; it’s just finally getting recognized and acknowledged. There are also many things teachers and parents can do to assist our Littles in better navigating anxiousness and fear including. Bottom line, anxiety in kids is a thing. Check out this great list of 9 Diverse Books for Anxious Kids from Multicultural Children's Book Day.
Bonus Tip: There are many activities that children can do to help them calm down when they feel anxious. They can breathe, chant, meditate, move, or any combination of these items. The simplest of these is breathing. Teaching children to take big belly breaths can be very powerful. Ask the child to breathe and push their belly out as far as it can go. Then watch it deflate as they breathe out. Let them do this a few more times. This causes them to focus on the breath instead of the source of the anxiety and causes them to calm down.
Yoga Instructor and author of, Yoga with Aunty Mo, Monetta “Mo” Wilson share her expertise and simple exercises that anxious kids can do in this great guest post on the Multicultural Children's Book Day blog HERE.
Rebecca “Becky” Flansburg is an author, freelance writer, and project manager for the non-profit online children’s literacy initiative, Multicultural Children’s Book Day/ #ReadYourWorld. Join the celebration! Our 9th annual celebration will take place on January 28, 2022. For more information, visit Multicultural Children’s Book Day on the web.
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