Following on from the previous post about the role libraries play in supporting mental health, I have curated a list of picture books that explore difficult emotions, such as sadness, fear, anxiety and anger. These can be used to help children to cope with these feelings, as well as developing an empathy for what others might be experiencing.
My Heart
Written and illustrated by Corinna Luyken
Tiny can grow and broken can mend
and a heart that is closed can still open again.
This is a stunning book, in terms of both words and pictures. Using monochrome images with flashes of yellow, it explores different ways of understanding our hearts; how they can be open and closed; how they can break and mend; how they can be “a fence between me and the world”. It ends with the simple, but profound statement: “Closed or open… I get to decide”. The theme of choice is one that runs through this book and many of the others on this list. It isn’t easy deciding how to respond to the world, but it can be empowering when dealing with difficult emotions or situations.
Corinna Luyken has also written and illustrated The Book of Mistakes, and has worked on two other picture books: Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse with Marcy Campbell and Weird Little Robots with Carolyn Crimi.
When Sadness Comes to Call
Written and illustrated by Eva Eland
Sadness comes to visit unexpectedly. But when you let sadness in, you’ll discover this strange guest is not what it seems…
“The first in a series of picture books that tackle big emotions” (Penguin Books Australia, n.d.), When Sadness Comes to Call is another beautiful book. Sadness is personified as a blue-green creature. It follows the child around, sitting too close and making it hard for them to breathe. It changes how they see themselves: “It feels like you’ve become Sadness yourself”. The child’s advice is to talk to it: “Ask where it comes from and what it needs.” They do things together, such as drawing and going for a walk. The embracing of Sadness is a very Buddhist approach to the emotion and is echoed in the words of the book: “Maybe all it wants to know is that it is welcome”. I love the gentleness of the words, especially “And to sleep, knowing it is not alone.” The endpapers reflect this transformation of the way in which this emotion is viewed. The front ones show people alone and sad, separated from their Sadness, whilst on the back ones, they are engaging with their Sadness, doing things together.
The second book in the series by Eva Eland, Where Happiness Begins, will be published next year. I shall certainly be adding that to my reading list!
Mr Huff
Written and illustrated by Anna Walker
Bill is having a bad day.
Mr Huff is following him around and making everything seem difficult.
Bill tries to get rid of him, but Huff just gets bigger and bigger!
Then they both stop, and a surprising thing happens…
This book, which won the CBCA Book of the Year: Early Childhood in 2016, explores many of the same issues as When Sadness Comes to Call. Bill wakes up and it is “cloudy, with a chance of rain”. His day gets off to a bad start and slowly, above his head, a grey cloud begins to form. This grows and takes the shape of Mr Huff, who follows him around at school and then at home. Bill ignores him, wishes he would go away and tries fighting him. He “wondered if it would be like this forever”. When he can take it no longer, he shouts at Mr Huff, who starts to cry. Bill reaches up and hugs him, and then takes his hand. Heading home, things look and feel different. Mr Huff gets smaller and smaller. The next day, when Bill wakes up, it is “cloudy, with a chance of sunshine”. Like When Sadness Comes to Call, this story suggests accepting the feeling of sadness rather than trying to make it go away. It also helps children to realise that feelings do pass, sometimes as quickly as they come.
Anna Walker has written and illustrated a number of picture books, including Florette, which was shortlisted for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year in 2018. She has also collaborated with Jane Godwin on a number of books, such as Starting School, All Through the Year and Go Go and the Silver Shoes.
Me and My Fear
Written and illustrated by Francesca Sanna
When a young girl has to move countries and start a new school, her fear tells her to be alone and afraid. How can she hope to make friends if she doesn’t understand anyone? Surely no one else feels the same way…
From the award-winning author and illustrator of The Journey, this insightful and delicately told story shows that we can all find friendship and comfort when we share our fears.
From the author of The Journey comes a book about living with fear. In this story, Fear is represented as a tiny friend, who “has always looked after me and kept me safe”. However, the child in the story has moved to a new country and Fear has grown and grown. She stops the child from doing anything: exploring her neighbourhood, joining in at school and making friends. Fear keeps her awake at night. But one day, the girl gets to know a boy in her class and discovers that he has his own Fear. Now the child no longer feels alone and, as Fear gets smaller, she realises that “everyone else has a fear too”. As with the books about sadness, the personification of fear helps to make it easier for children to relate to the emotion and to explore how to deal with it.
I really like Francesca Sanna’s work, both the words and images. Her website is fabulous and well worth a look.
Thank Goodness For Bob
Written by Matthew Morgan and illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo
Max worried. A lot.
He worried about being bitten by spiders…
abducted by aliens…
or sometimes just that people didn’t like him enough.Thank goodness for Bob the dog, who shows Max that the best way to deal with worries is to share them with a friend.
This book is about anxiety and a dog named Bob. What’s not to like about that! Max is a worrier, unlike Bob, “who didn’t worry at all”. The many things that Max worries about range from not having friends to being abducted by aliens to getting sucked down the plughole whilst taking a bath! “Max had so many worries that they filled his head, making him feel dizzy and numb”. He couldn’t talk to his family or teacher, but he could talk to Bob. Talking makes his fears disappear, because “out in the open, Max’s worries seemed very different” and they become less intrusive. Max hasn’t stopped being anxious, but now he has a strategy for dealing with his worries: talking about them. As a fully fledged worrier, this is the book I needed when I was younger!
Gabriel Alborozo has been drawing pictures for over thirty years and has worked with a number of different authors. He has also written and illustrated his own picture books, including The Colour Thief, Let’s Paint! and The Mouse and the Moon.
Fergal is Fuming!
Written and illustrated by Robert Starling
Fergal is a nice chap, but when someone tells him what to do, Fergal gets very… very… angry.
This is Robert Starling’s first picture book and was shortlisted for the 2018 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Fergal the dragon gets angry when someone tells him what to do. Unfortunately when that happens, he sets fire to things and the situation ends up much worse. After this occurs once too often, “his friends had had enough” and start to ignore him. Fergal and his mum take a walk in the woods and she offers him some advice. Her strategy when she gets mad is to count to ten. The next day, Fergal remembers this when he loses a game. And it works! Then he realises that the other animals have “their own way to cool down”: Crow talks to his friends, Fox watches the sunset and Wolf howls at the moon. Now Fergal uses his fire for other things. I like the way the book offers different strategies for dealing with angry feelings. It’s all about finding out what works for you.
A second Fergal book, Fergal in a Fix!, was published earlier this month, whilst Super Sloth was released in April. Both look like lots of fun!
The Big Angry Roar
Written and illustrated by Jonny Lambert
Cub is angry, so he STOMPS and SMASHES and ROARS!
But now he just feels worse! Maybe his friends can help?
Like Fergal, Cub gets angry after he gets told off for squabbling with his sister. He storms off and encounters several animals, who all offer advice when they find out he is in a bad mood. Gnu and Zebra “tramp and stamp and stomp!”. Rhino and Hippo “bash and crash, splatter and splash!”. These don’t work for Cub and he is not happy when he meets Elephant. They toot and roar at each other and cause a stampede! Taking refuge on a rock, Cub is given this advice by Baboon: “First, breathe deeply in and out, and slowly count to ten. Pull lots of funny faces, then start all over again!”. Cub finds his anger has gone and he is able to make things right with his sister by saying sorry. This is another great book for exploring the feeling of anger and the way in which it can be managed.
Another prolific illustrator, Jonny Lambert has “over 300 titles to his name” (Plum Pudding Illustration Agency, n.d.), including Jonny Lambert’s Animal ABC, Tiger Tiger and Look Out, It’s a Dragon. I really like his work, especially his images, with its focus on animals and wildlife. I also discovered that he has worked on the fabulous reading scheme, Oxford Reading Tree.
I hope you enjoy sharing these with the little ones in your life. See if you can find them at your local library in time for World Mental Health Day on October 10th!
Click on the book cover image to link to the source. Quotes taken from the blurb and content of the books.
Tales From The Children's Library 