Emotional Literacy – books to help children deal with emotions and feelings
Bookseller, Deborah from Kenilworth Books shares a selection of books that are written specifically for children who might find expressing their feelings a little tricky. With the new term starting, many children are exploring new classrooms, teachers, and friends. Chosen especially for their value in dealing with mental health issues, feelings and emotions, the books on this list can be used with children to start conversations that enable them to begin to make sense of their own feelings and understand ways to manage and deal with their emotions.
Find your HAPPY by Emily Coxhead ISBN 9781529501476
A joyful and imaginative book of feelings from the creator of The Happy News, feeling happy is a wonderful thing! But do you ever feel sad or angry, frightened, or shy? Everyone does sometimes, but with a little help from Sloth and the people you love, there is always a way to FIND YOUR HAPPY!
The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas ISBN 9781783704231
A picture book follow-up to The Colour Monster, Anna Llenas’s jaw-dropping pop-up book. 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 can you help him feel a little less mixed up?
When Cucumber Lost His Cool by Michelle Robinson ISBN 9780702305986
You wanna be cool? Then repeat after me: I am a cucumber, cool as can be!” But when Kevin starts to feel like his friends are leaving him out, something happens that has never happened before: KEVIN. LOSES. HIS. COOL! Will Kevin’s friends be there for him when he needs them most?
When I See Red by Britta Teckentrup ISBN 9783791374949
The heroine of this beautifully illustrated story feels her anger like a storm in a dark forest. It sweeps her away, and she thunders and howls. She pours down her emotions like sheets of rain; rage surges like a wind whipping angry waves. Her anger takes her on a wild ride. Appropriate for a wide variety of ages, this book illustrates many aspects of anger that are often hard to articulate – how overwhelming it is, how isolating, even scary. But it also shows anger to be a source of power and an agent for change.
The Hugasaurus by Rachel Bright ISBN 9781408356159
One sunny morning, a happy little Hugasaurus waves goodbye to her Pappysaur and sets off into the world on her own for the very first time. When she finds a playground, some new friends welcome her to their games. But it isn’t long before the other little dinosaurs start to squabble. Can Hugasaurus bring her new friends back together using the magical power of kindness?
The Invisible String by Patrice Karst ISBN 9780316486231
The Invisible String is the perfect tool for coping with all kinds of separation anxiety, loss, and grief. In this relatable and reassuring contemporary classic, a mother tells her two children that they’re all connected by an invisible string. “That’s impossible!” the children insist, but still they want to know more: “What kind of string?” The answer is the simple truth that binds us all: An Invisible String made of love.
