Childhood Anxiety – 7 Super Books to Read Together

Some form of childhood anxiety is a given! The reason? Your child’s wise-owl brain is still underdeveloped. They can’t think into the future and assess things like we can.

This means their immature brains are constantly under assault from things like fear, panic, uncertainty and feeling unsafe. 

Not surprising that the pandemic grew this perfectly natural state of affairs into something bigger than many of them can handle!

Of course, they mature gradually under normal circumstances. They slowly “get it” with respect to life and what life’s all about. Just that we threw a lot of things at them in the last couple of years. And now there’s a very long waiting list in the UK if any of them need mental health help.

So having books around the house is a wonderful way to allow them to slip into a state of 

  • being somewhere else
  • seeing life through different eyes
  • side-stepping away enough to feel emotions at one remove
  • finding  a glimmer of how they might cope and survive.

Obviously, if we’ve already set up their reading habit as parents, that’s brilliant. They'll have favourite series, favourite times to read, and likely give their brain a rest regularly.

How can we encourage reading?

Mostly, it’s osmosis! It percolates out of us and into them – like the odour of ground coffee heating in the machine reaches across the room and makes us want to drink it! They see us reading, hear us reading to them and find they love reading. 

So, if you’re lucky enough to still have a local library, use it! Or ferret among the shelves of cheap books at the charity shop. 

Even when they can read by themselves, it’s good to still read to them books that are slightly too hard but which they'll understand (via your dramatic reading skills!) and revel in.

And these books? How do  they help with childhood anxiety?

If you have a reading habit in the family, then these seven books will slot in just fine when you need a story on a particular subject your child could find useful.

They’re all suitable for reading together. They weave a plot and some magic. And they show a world where reality is recognised but a solution or way through is seen to work by the end. 

Give them a go?

1 Childhood anxiety about separation

Cover of The Invisible String about childhood anxiety at separation

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff (and published by Little, Brown Young Readers), shows how love binds us. When we truly understand this, we’re free to wander away from caregivers more peacefully without the anguish that separation can bring.

It’s really hard to walk away from a child who is terrified of being left without you. So this is a good book to have “in the library” so to speak before this particular childhood anxiety ever arises.

2 Anxiety causing panic or palpitations

Cover of The Panicosaurus story for when palpitations and panic show up in childhood anxiety

The Panicosaurus by K I Al-Ghani (and illustrated by her son Haitham) is published by Jessica Kingsley. I’ve found it very useful for childhood anxiety over the years. Smartosaurus has to come to the rescue when Panicosaurus’s brain tricks it into panicked reactions!

3 Childhood anxiety fuelled by low self-esteem

Ruby and the Rubbish Bin is an old and reliable favourite for helping children see they can stand up for themselves. However young or old your child, there’s something wonderfully inventive and fulfilling about Ruby’s solution when she takes action! Margot Sunderland has a record of getting her stories just right for children. It’s illustrated by Nicky Armstrong.

4 Change an anxious mood or think more positively

Keeping a record of things that go well, or that we’re grateful for, is a good way to slowly lift mood and change direction with our thoughts and feelings. This doesn’t mean denying your child’s feelings, but just making sure there’s a balance in what they focus on in life!

One excellent book for gaining this balance is Today is Great by Vicky Perreault, published by Rockridge Press. 

It has beautiful, simple spaces for your child to write things in – one for each day, set out in weeks, but with extra fun ideas mixed in. Getting life's balance right is really helpful in managing and easing childhood anxiety.

The bonus? Helping them by reading and considering things together adds a “special time with you” to the mix!

5 Childhood anxiety when a sibling dies

Cover of Benny's Hat for childhood anxiety when a sibling dies

There have been so many deaths during the pandemic, and life has an awful habit of taking away someone a child loves.

The first of three stories about death to read together is Benny’s Hat – written by Juliet Clare Bell and illustrated by Dave Gray. Friz’s big brother Benny gets sick and dies. The story deals with sibling death and parental grief in a lovely gentle way. It’s published by Pomolo Pip.

6 When grandparents are dying

Cover of Cry heart But Never Break to read when grandparents are dying and there's childhood anxiety

Cry, Heart, But Never Break is extraordinary in its treatment of death.

The grandchildren try to keep the cloaked figure (who we recognise as the Grim Reaper) occupied so that Gran will not die, but eventually she must. In between, they learn so much, so gently, and come to accept it.

Written by Glenn Ringtved and illustrated by Charlotte Pardi, it’s published by Enchanted Lion Books.

Childhood anxiety often breaks out when a grandparent is about to die.

So this is one to have in the house before and after anyone dies or is even likely to die. And return to when the worst happens. 

7 Coping with difficult feelings when a parent dies

Cover of Sky of Diamonds, a book to read when childhood anxiety arises after a parent dies

In Sky of Diamonds, written and illustrated by Camille Gibbs, Mia learns that her mother has died, and all the colour in her world turns grey.

She feels guilty, angry, sad and lost (sometimes all at once!), and she doesn't know what to do to feel better.

Her dad helps her cope with her feelings in various creative ways until Mia finds her own special way of coping – looking up at the stars.

Why three books about death in my seven choices?

Because death is one of the only two certainties in life. And if we shy away from it until the day it bursts into our child’s life, we’re going to have an even harder job helping them cope than if we have books and stories around that are loved and can be referred to again.

Modern life has led us to expect to live nearly forever. In therapy rooms around the country, we talk about death with children who come for help. In ways they feel safe to do so, and when they're ready.

But parents are best placed to start these discussions, and can help by being open about death themselves. And stories are the perfect way to let the topic arise!

Which other stories?

You'll gradually find your own that help in your child's situation.

But if you want to help your children love stories and tell their own, you might like to have a look at this strategy.

Playing a game like this with them, you’ll find out what they're concerned about, what's uppermost in their mind, and then can find a story book of your own that will help. My seven choices here don’t have a monopoly on good stories!

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