It’s been a full year since the pandemic started. COVID-19 meant big changes to all our lives. It has been overwhelming for all of us but young children have many challenges when it comes to feeling emotions. Children are just learning to express and manage their feelings. Big emotions such as anxiety and fear can be particularly difficult for children to process. Picturebooks can help children sort out what they are feeling by providing relatable emotional experiences within the context of a story.

The Worrysaurus by Rachel Bright

Worrysaurus has a busy brain. He ponders a lot about what might go wrong. He thinks and thinks about all the bad things that could happen and he gets really scared. But then he takes out his bag of happy things and they help push the worries out of his head.

It’s Not All Rainbows by Jessika von Innerebner

Unicorns sparkle. Unicorns shine. Every day for a unicorn is a sparkly, shiny day. That is of course until Kevin the Unicorn has a totally not awesome and not sparkly day. There was no more Glitter Soda, he ran out of rainbow gas, and was chased by seagulls. Kevin learns that even unicorns have bad days.

The Snurtch by Sean Ferrell

Ruthie has a Snurtch. The Snurtch is mean and nasty and rude. The Snurtch waits for the right time to leap out and throw pencils. But Ruthie is not alone. The other kids in her class all have Snurtches too and they learn that being kind helps to keeps the Snurtches at bay.

Puppy in My Head by Elise Gravel

You might not know it, but there is a puppy that lives inside your head. We all have one. Sometimes when it’s scared it barks and barks so loud that you can’t think about anything else. We can learn to put a leash on the puppy by taking deep breaths to calm it down.

Big Breath by William Meyer

We all have big feelings that weigh us down but we can make that weight a little lighter by taking the time to focus and breath. Children who learn the basics of meditation are shown to have improved sleep and better behavior overall.

WPL staff are always happy to recommend books that will help children cope with challenging situations. Visit us at the children’s desk or email us at askus@wpl.ca

— Lesley L.