Know a kid who has a fear? Or a human who doesn’t?!
I talked to a soon to be fifth grader recently who had one. Or a whole constellation of them, for good reason. She was about to start school in a new country where she didn’t know the school, the place, or any of the kids. Pretty scary. I told her I was confident she’d do just fine. Because I am confident she’ll do just fine.
But she got me thinking about the fears that accompany this time of year, the beginning of school, and how the fears really don’t stop coming.
Picture books are such a comfort to fears (especially if someone comforting is reading them aloud). Like all books, they let us know there are other people who feel the way we do. Who face what we face. Who do just fine.
Here are 20 picture book prescriptions that help address a number of different kinds of fears should they come in handy this year. They aren’t necessarily about fear, but they address specific fears in one way or another. They comfort. And they’re all really good books.
Silly Billy by Anothony Browne.
Uncle Peter’s Amazing Chinese Wedding (Anne Schwartz Books) written by Lenore Look, illustrations by Yumi Heo.
Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt.
The Ok Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld.
There Are No Scary Wolves by Hyewon Yum.
Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Scott Magoon.
Brave Ben by Mathilde Stein, illustrated by Mies Van Hout.
Pecan Pie Baby by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
The Sea Serpent and Me by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Catia Chien.
Edda: A Little Valkyrie’s First Day of School by Adam Auerbach.
I’m Here by Peter H. Reynolds.
Jibberwillies at Night by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Yumi Heo.
Garmann’s Summer by Stian Hole.
The Little Matador by Julian Hector.
My Name Is Yoon by Helen Recorvits, pictures by Gabi Swiatkowska.
Meena by Sine van Mol, illustrated by Cariane Wijffels.
Shrinking Violet by Cari Best, illustrated by Giselle Potter.
Your turn. Do you have any recommendations of picture books that address a certain fear? Tell us about it!
Bookmarking this for use for students. I’m sure I’ll need to reference “being different” and “fitting in” books as ESL teacher. Bonus: I already have the “Monsterly” book in English/Spanish from a Cheerios book!
That makes me very happy! I DO hope they come in handy. Best of luck with the school year! 🙂
FANTASTIC LIST!!! Such a great range of fears covered. To this wonderful list I might add Emily Gravett’s LITTLE MOUSE’S BIG BOOK OF FEARS.
Thanks for weighing in, Tanya! I’ve never read that one by Gravett! Sounds perfect.
SOLID.
Thanks, Gurrrlll.
Impressive list! Thanks for the resource. And yes, check out Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears. It’s so clever.
Ooh–some favorites, some I HAVE to check out. Love Emily Gravett’s WOLVES too (made my nephew smile & shiver, tres theatrically), and so many Steig classics. ROTTEN ISLAND is a must.
Great recommendations! Maggie’s not scared of much, but we’re always looking for new books. She LOVES Extra Yarn. 🙂
Haha! I’m glad (but not surprised) to hear Maggie’s not full of fears! She’s kind of my hero! 🙂
Nice work! Bookmarking this for future reference.
I love Scaredy Squirrel because he only overcomes his fears enough to accomplish one thing, then he goes back to being his loveable, neurotic self. This is much more realistic than the usual story where a character undergoes a complete personality transformation, a process that actually makes a character less sympathetic and harder to relate to.
And thanks for including the OK book!
Yes! That’s such a good point. And, my pleasure!
My all time fave book on fear would have to be A BAD CASE OF STRIPES by David Shannon – it’s about a kid called Camilla Cream who is very, very worried about what other kids think of her. She avoids the terrors of the first day at a new school by breaking out in a bad case of stripes – just like the mumps only much more colourful! The vibrant pictures in this book bedazzle the eye – and we feel such sympathy for poor, timid Camilla, who seems doomed to a life of meek mouseyness – there’s a child like this in every classroom, isn’t there? But suddenly, thanks to the kind advice of a mysterious old lady called Mrs Strawberry, Camilla decides to believe in herself – and we see how the miraculous power of SELF CONFIDENCE banishes the tyranny of fear forever. A brilliant picture book, humming with that rarest combination of
talents – because the writer is also the illustrator!
Toodlepip! from Deirdre O’Sullivan
Melbourne, Australia.
Deirdre, oh yes! That’s a great one and I’d totally forgotten that it, too, is about fear. Thanks for adding and singing its praises here!
What a fantastic post! I’m eager to check these out, and I see a couple that may be helpful to a certain little one I know.
Thanks, Erin! Glad you found some books to pass along!
Wow nice list – thanks for sharing! I’ve reviewed some books that will fit in nicely with the theme – Bear Under the Stairs by Helen Cooper (fear of the dark/ bears/ scary creatures), Owl Babies by Martin Waddell (separation anxiety), The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers (fear of shadows), Kindergarten Diary by Antoinette Portis (fear of starting kindergarten), Roly Poly Pangolin by Anna Dewdney (fear of new experiences), Boom, Boom, Boom! by Jamie A Swenson (fear of thunder) and The Little Bit Scary People by Emily Jenkins (fear of people). Hope it helps!
Goodness, Eileen, great additions! Thank you. A few are new to me, which I’ll check out. And THE BLACK RABBIT is a stellar book!
This is such a clever list…Maddie (my niece) has been having meltdowns about having to start preschool. I am definitely going to check out a few of these titles for her….thanks for the suggestions Danielle!! 😉
Awww. Poor Maddie! I’m confident she’ll be just fine! I’d love it if one of these books was of help to her. 🙂