12 May Booklist: Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Here is a booklist featuring a variety of books for children about mental health and coping tools! Books marked with an asterisk (*) are available from another library through the Evergreen system.
Nonfiction
Mindfulness and Meditation: Handling Life with a Calm and Focused Mind by Whitney Stewart *
It’s OK to not be OK: A Guide to Well-being by Tina Rae *
A Mind Like Mine: 21 Famous People and Their Mental Health by Rachael Davis *
Talking about Mental Health by Louise Spilsbury *
Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, and More by Mallika Chopra *
Picture books and board books
The ABCs of Calm: Discover Mindfulness from A-Z by Rose Rossner *
There was a Hole by Adam Lehrhaupt
Mama Moon: A Story of Love and Mental Health by Noah Grigni *
Olive All at Once by Miriam Gates *
My Monster and Me by Nadiya Hussain
Chapter books
Quagmire Tiarella Couldn’t be Better by Mylisa Larsen
What About Will by Ellen Hopkins
Somebody’s Someone by Linda Oatman High *
How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby
Graphic Novels
Sink or Swim by Lee Durfey-Lavoie
How to Talk to your Succulent by Zoe Persico
All Are Welcome: A Cat’s Cafe Collection by Gwen Tarpley
These books offer tips, representation, and explanation of different mental health issues. Even if your child isn’t experiencing these struggles, learning about them and having open conversations about mental health can help them understand others and open the door for them to talk to you if they start to struggle with their mental health.
Written by Hope M., Youth Services Librarian
