This post contains affiliate links.
Whether we like it or not, anxiety is part of life. We all have seasons of life and incidents that occur that cause us to feel anxious or worried. It can be pretty common to view this as more of an adult or grown-up emotion, but I’m here to remind us that kids experience anxiety, too. You may have students in your classroom or on your caseload who are commonly feeling anxious, and may even have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. Whether it’s every now and then, or pervasive, these 5 picture books about anxiety will help normalize worries and anxiety for your students while giving them helpful and compassionate strategies.
Just a Thought by Jason Gruehl
While this book doesn’t explicitly discuss anxiety, it does dig into thought patterns. This simple and creative book teaches how thoughts are just that, thoughts! They can be weird, silly, worry-filled, or happy. They are just thoughts. I love how this book tackles recurring thought patterns and addresses self awareness in noticing those!
Catching Thoughts by Bonnie Clark
This is one of my absolute favorite picture books about anxiety. It’s so thoughtfully and gently written to give children strategies on what they can do when a pervasive sad or anxious thought gets stuck in your head. The character is plagued by a consistent negative thought and finally just addresses that thought with compassion. She then mindfully pushes it away and replaces it with a more positive thought. This is a high level strategy that is made very tangible in this sweet and helpful book.
Wilma Jean the Worry Machine by Julia Cook
This book is a silly and fun way to address a big and often very serious topic. Wilma is a big worrier, if big issues and small ones she can’t control. This picture book about anxiety starts to address the idea of the “circle of control” and that there are some things we often worry about, like the weather, that are outside of our realm of control. I love how this book offers strategies for readers and is a helpful way to normalize anxiety and worry.
When Worry Takes Hold by Liz Haske
This book shows worry as a visual, a black cloud that hovers over the main character, Maya’s, head. Since this is how worry can feel at times, I love this visual representation this book offers. Maya also meets courage, who helps blow worry away by teaching Maya how to use calming breaths to ease her worries.
The Whatifs by Emily Kilgore
This has got to be my favorite picture book about anxiety because it’s so relatable! Often anxiety shows up in us thinking, “What if _____ happens?” Anyone else notice that in themselves and their students, too? The “whatifs” are visual representations of the worry questions the character asks. This is the most relatable book I have read regarding childhood worry and anxiety!
What books would you add to this list?
