7 Books to Start Conversations with Young People
Many of us struggle to talk about big feelings. Children especially need support in learning to name and express their emotions. World Mental Health Day was created to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and encourage conversations about mental health. Within education, it’s important to create a safe space in which children can learn to express and manage their emotions where talking about feelings is welcomed and encouraged.
Note from Nic: “Children can often find it difficult to talk about their feelings. For World Mental Health Day we wanted to curate a selection of books from our KnowHow archive that can help students and families understand and discuss the ups and the downs that can impact their mental health, setting a strong foundation for better resilience and emotional intelligence in later life.”
KnowHow to help children start conversations about their feelings
Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival
Ruby loves being Ruby. Until, one day, she finds a worry.
At first, it's not such a big worry, and that's all right, but then it starts to grow. It gets bigger and bigger every day and it makes Ruby sad. How can Ruby get rid of it and feel like herself again? A perceptive and poignant story that is a must-have for all children's bookshelves.
Tough Guys Have Feelings Too by Keith Negley
Did you know Wrestlers have feelings? Even superheroes feel sad sometimes. In fact, everyone has feelings even Dads who love their children! Children will love to recognize the feelings in Keith Negley's bold illustrations which accompany a fun-to-read aloud narrative. Parents can enjoy and engage with children in a light-hearted discussion about emotions and how they affect us all.
Hey Warrior by Karen Young
Kids can do amazing things with the right information. This book helps by understanding why anxiety feels the way it does and where the physical symptoms come from. It is a powerful step in turning anxiety around. Anxiety explained, kids empowered.
A kids book about failure by Dr Laymon Hicks
Failure is something that everyone encounters at some point in their lives, no matter how much you try to avoid it. Whether that’s in school, in a friendship, or even playing your favourite sport, success is not a 100% certainty.
Grownups, it’s up to you to teach kids how to embrace it. This book doesn’t paint a pretty face on failure. Instead, it rethinks what it means, and shows kids aged 5-9 how to live their lives not trying to avoid it
Hey There! What’s your super power? by Jayneen Sanders
Follow Becky’s journey as she tries lots of exciting new things to find her amazing superpowers! This engaging and interactive children’s book provides a number of simple and very achievable ‘tasks’ to help kids to develop a growth mindset of resilience, persistence, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-esteem.
The aim of this book is to encourage kids to believe in themselves and to develop a self-confidence ‘foundation’ - especially those children who lack self-belief and can often lose their will to even try.
The Anxious Avocado by Kris Taft Miller
Join the Anxious Avocado as he visits his various friends, from the Concerned Cookie, the Worried Waffle to the Panicked Peach and more! Each one offers him advice on how to help deal with his anxiety about starting at a new school. In this book each friend describes a memory of a time when they had anxiety about something and a technique they used to help them deal with their feelings and calm down.
All about feelings by Felicity Brooks and Frankie Allen
How are you feeling today? This lively and engaging exploration of emotions helps young children learn to answer this important question. Topics covered include learning to describe feelings, how your feelings can change, and being kind to yourself. There are helpful notes for grown-ups at the back of this book too and links to websites for more advice.
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