10 Best Books for Child Anxiety
At Washington Psychological Wellness, a psychotherapy center in Gaithersburg, MD, we get asked the question all the time. What are the best books for child anxiety? Well, we asked our mental health clinicians and put together this list of recommended readings!
Want more recommended mental health book options? Check out our Books We Love section to discover a list of hand-picked resources!
Don’t Feed The WorryBug
By Andi Green
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
2019 Child Mind Institute Pick for Best Children’s Books About Mental Health
Say hello to Wince, one of the biggest worriers you will ever meet. From cookies to homework to the weather, Wince worries about everything. And when Wince starts to worry, his WorryBug appears. At first the WorryBug is small and non-threatening, but the more Wince Worries the more his WorryBug grows. Don’t Feed The WorryBug is great story to start the conversation on worry and anxiety. We all worry, it happens, but the key is to not let those worries aka the WorryBug grow to the point that it ruins your day.
What To Do When You Worry Too Much
By Dawn Huebner
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
Did you know that worries are like tomatoes? No, you can’t eat them, but you can make them grow, simply by paying attention to them. If your worries have grown so big that they bother you almost every day, this book is for you.
What to Do When You Worry Too Much guides children and parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of anxiety. Lively metaphors and humorous illustrations make the concepts and strategies easy to understand, while clear how-to steps and prompts to draw and write help children to master new skills related to reducing anxiety. This interactive self-help book is the complete resource for educating, motivating, and empowering kids to overcoming their overgrown worries.
Engaging, encouraging, and easy to follow, this book educates, motivates, and empowers children to work towards change. Includes a note to parents by psychologist and author Dawn Huebner, PhD.
Guts
By Raina Telgemeier
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
A true story from Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of Smile, Sisters, Drama, and Ghosts!
Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one, too, so it’s probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school, where she’s dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends, not-friends, and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session. It soon becomes clear that Raina’s tummy trouble isn’t going away… and it coincides with her worries about food, school, and changing friendships. What’s going on?Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face — and conquer — her fears.
Jabari Jumps
By Gaia Cornwall
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
Jabari is definitely ready to jump off the diving board. He’s finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, and he’s a great jumper, so he’s not scared at all. “Looks easy,” says Jabari, watching the other kids take their turns. But when his dad squeezes his hand, Jabari squeezes back. He needs to figure out what kind of special jump to do anyway, and he should probably do some stretches before climbing up onto the diving board. In a sweetly appealing tale of overcoming your fears, Gaia Cornwall captures a moment between a patient and encouraging father and a determined little boy you can’t help but root for.
Beautiful Oops
By Barney Saltzberg
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
A spill. A smear. A smudge. A tear. When you think you have made a mistake, think of it as an opportunity to make something beautiful!
A life lesson that all parents want their children to learn: It’s OK to make a mistake. In fact, hooray for mistakes! A mistake is an adventure in creativity, a portal of discovery. A spill doesn’t ruin a drawing—not when it becomes the shape of a goofy animal. And an accidental tear in your paper? Don’t be upset about it when you can turn it into the roaring mouth of an alligator.
An award winning, best-selling, one-of-a-kind interactive book, Beautiful Oops! shows young readers how every mistake is an opportunity to make something beautiful. A singular work of imagination, creativity, and paper engineering, Beautiful Oops! is filled with pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, tears, holes, overlays, bends, smudges, and even an accordion “telescope”—each demonstrating the magical transformation from blunder to wonder.
Wilma Jean the Worry Machine
By Julia Cook
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
My stomach feels like it’s tied up in a knot.
My knees lock up, and my face feels hot.
You know what I mean?
I’m Wilma Jean,
The Worry Machine.
Anxiety is a subjective sense of worry, apprehension, and/or fear. It is considered to be the number one health problem in America. Although quite common, anxiety disorders in children are often misdiagnosed and overlooked. Everyone feels fear, worry and apprehension from time to time, but when these feelings prevent a person from doing what he/she wants and/or needs to do, anxiety becomes a disability.
This fun and humorous book addresses the problem of anxiety in a way that relates to children of all ages. It offers creative strategies for parents and teachers to use that can lessen the severity of anxiety. The goal of the book is to give children the tools needed to feel more in control of their anxiety. For those worries that are not in anyone’s control (i.e. the weather) a worry hat is introduced. A fun read for Wilmas of all ages!
Find Your Calm
By Gabi Garcia
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
“Anxiety can feel big and powerful. It can show up suddenly, without warning.”
For many kids, it can be overwhelming.
Anxiety is not just a cognitive experience. When children feel anxious, their bodies respond physically to a perceived threat. They need to feel a sense of safety before being able to figure out what to do next.
Your child can follow along and learn as the young narrator practices strategies that keep the anxiety from taking over.
Find Your Calm is a wonderfully accessible book that teaches children how to tap into their sense of safety when anxiety sends a false alarm, so they can find their calm. It includes simple grounding activities and coping tools for them to practice.
Ruby Finds A Worry
By Tom Percival
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
Meet Ruby–a happy, curious, imaginative girl. But one day, she finds something unexpected: a Worry.
It’s not such a big Worry, at first. But every day, it grows a little bigger . . . And a little bigger . . . Until eventually, the Worry is ENORMOUS and is all she can think about.
But when Ruby befriends a young boy, she discovers that everyone has worries, and not only that, there’s a great way to get rid of them too . . .
This perceptive and poignant story is the perfect springboard for talking to children about emotional intelligence and sharing hidden anxieties.
The Big Bright Feelings picture books provide kid-friendly entry points into emotional intelligence topics–from being true to yourself, to worrying, to anger management, to making friends. These topics can be difficult to talk about. But these books act as sensitive and reassuring springboards for conversations about mental and emotional health, positive self-image, building self-confidence, and managing feelings.
Sometimes I’m Anxious
By Poppy O’Neill
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
Does your son or daughter worry too much? Have frequent stomach aches? Become irritable, tearful, angry, or withdrawn? Have problems concentrating? Show a loss of enthusiasm for his or her usual interests? These are signs your child is struggling with anxiety.
This practical guide combines proven cognitive-behavioral therapy methods used by child psychologists in schools with simple activities to help your child overcome anxiety. It’s perfect for children ages 8 to 12 because a lot happens in these years that can impact a child’s emotional well-being, not just now but for years to come.
Your child will be guided, with the help of Fiz—a friendly and supportive character they can identify with—through fun and engaging activities interspersed with useful tips, inspirational statements, and practical information for parents.
Anxiety Relief for Kids
By Bridget Flynn Walker
Best Books For Child Anxiety
Summary
If you have a child with anxiety, you need quick, in-the-moment solutions you can easily use now to help your child face their fears and worries. Written by a psychologist and expert in childhood anxiety, this easy-to-use guide offers proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure skills you can use at home, in social settings, or anywhere anxiety takes hold.
Anxiety Relief for Kids provides quick solutions based in evidence-based CBT and exposure therapy—two of the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders. You’ll find a background and explanation of the different types of anxiety disorders, in case you aren’t sure whether or not your child has one. You’ll also learn to identify your child’s avoidant and safety behaviors—the strategies your child uses to cope with their anxiety, such as repeatedly checking their homework or asking the same questions repeatedly—as well as anxiety triggers that set your child off.
With this book, you’ll find a wealth of information regarding your child’s specific anxiety disorder and how to respond to it. For example, if your child has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), the skills you use to help them are different than other anxiety disorders. No matter your child’s specific symptoms or diagnosis, you’ll discover tailored interventions you can use now to help your child thrive.
If your child has an anxiety disorder, simple, everyday activities can be a real challenge. The practical solutions in this book will help you deal with your child’s anxiety when it happens and restore balance and order to both your lives.
About Washington Psychological Wellness
At Washington Psychological Wellness, our therapists have extensive training, experience, and insights in treating child anxiety. Our therapists treat child anxiety related to separation anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobias, sports anxiety, academic/achievement anxiety and can help you and your child overcome most any anxiety-related difficulty or concern.
Child anxiety therapy at Washington Psychological Wellness can include treatment modalities such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, exposure-based therapy, or mindfulness-based meditation and therapy. As therapists for child anxiety and other disorders, the treatment team at Washington Psychological Wellness will find a way to help your child overcome anxiety and regain their quality of life and health.
Ready to seek child anxiety counseling?
Contact us now to schedule your complimentary 15-minute initial consultation.
Telehealth (online) therapy options are available.
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