Emotions can be a complex and often daunting subject to teach children about. Luckily, many great children’s books now exist to help parents (and other caregivers) develop children’s emotional intelligence and shape their emotional reactivity.
Why should I read books about feelings to my child?
As adults, we know how to clearly convey our feelings to those around us. However, young children do not yet possess those tools. They may not understand what they are feeling, or they may not know how to accurately explain just what they are feeling. Emotional literacy, also called emotional intelligence, helps us understand our feelings, listen to others, empathize with others’ feelings, and express our own emotions productively. One of the best ways to help develop these skills with your child is by reading books to them that contain emotions.
Therefore, we’ve compiled a list of 10 of the best children’s books about feelings. These books range in age appropriateness for toddlers to teens, and cover the whole gamut of emotions from sadness to excitement. Check out our list!
Making Faces: A First Book of Emotions by Abrams Appleseed
Best For Ages: 1-3
Lexile Level:
Length: 14 Pages
Focus Topic: Facial Expressions
Formats Available: Print, eBook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Google Play Books, Books-A-Million
“Look at the happy baby. Can you make a happy face? Find the happy baby!”
This delightful board book introduces babies and toddlers to five essential emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and silliness. It uses pictures of actual baby faces, and the words encourage young children to mimic the faces. The end of the book not only reviews each emotion, but provides a mirror for your babies to observe themselves as they try each expression.
Teaching emotions and building tools of expression is a vital part of child development, which makes adding this one to your early library a no brainer.
My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
Best For Ages: 2-5
Lexile Level: AD190L
Length: 16 Pages (Quick Read)
Focus Topic: Colors & Emotions
Formats Available: Print
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Penguin Random House, IndieBound
Known for his clever rhymes and silly stories, Dr. Seuss also created a colorful concept book for the youngest readers!
My Many Colored Days helps young toddlers identify colors and feelings, plus connect the two concepts. It’s a great way to introduce both topics to your youngsters, while also allowing you to later connect the author name to other great stories.
One of the best early children’s books about feelings, this one is available in multiple printed formats.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Best For Ages: 3-6
Lexile Level: AD840L
Length: 32 Pages (Quick Read)
Focus Topic: Anger
Formats Available: Print, eBook, Audiobook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, Audible, Scholastic
From waking up with gum in his hair to eating lima beans for dinner, Alexander is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, indeed!
This hilarious, yet endearing classic follows a young child through a day filled with his least favorite things and many other disappointments. Though he threatens to move “down under,” by the end of the day, Alexander learns that “some days are just like that… even in Austrailia.” This book shows anger and negative experiences in a funny and relatable way, making it great for helping young children see that you can experience tough days and live to tell the tale.
This one will see lots of love in every home!
Me And My Fear by Francesca Sanna
Best For Ages: 3-7
Lexile Level: 0520
Length: 40 Pages (Quick Read)
Focus Topic: Fear
Formats Available: Print
Available From: Amazon, Penguin Random House, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound
New experiences can terrify even the youngest of people, so why not explore fear with your children through reading stories about fear?
Me and My Fear follows a young immigrant girl through the experiences of moving to a new country and starting at a new school. Fear accompanies her, and grows daily by filling her mind with whispers and questions. Sanna shows us that we are all stronger than our fears and we can always overcome anxiety. After all, everyone carries their own little Fear with them, even if he just stays in our pocket.
If you love this great children’s book about feelings, consider checking out Sanna’s other best-selling book, The Journey.
Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud
Best For Ages: 4-8
Lexile Level:
Length: 32 Pages (Quick Read)
Focus Topic: Self-Awareness
Formats Available: Print, eBook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, Scholastic, IndieBound
We all have an invisible bucket to hold our positive thoughts that keep us feeling happy throughout the day.
By using a simple metaphor, author Carol McCloud illustrates that kindness not only fills the buckets of those around us, but it fills our own buckets, too! Inversely, when we treat others cruelty, we dip into everyone’s buckets and empty them. This 32-page children’s book about feelings is the perfect way to encourage kindness in your home or classroom environment.
For additional bucket filling resources to accompany this book, check out bucketfillers101.com.
When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry… by Molly Bang
Best For Ages: 4-6
Lexile Level: 340LL
Length: 40 (Quick Read)
Focus Topic: Anger
Formats Available: Print, eBook, Audiobook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, Audible, Scholastic
Everyone feels angry sometimes. So, how do we teach children to deal with these intense emotions?
In this Caldecott Honor book, kids will see what Sophie does when she gets angry. Although Sophie’s coping skills may not work for everyone, this book helps parents and other caregivers discuss anger with young children in a way that makes sense to them. This book helps demonstrate that instead of throwing tantrums, we can all use our senses and our body’s natural distress tolerance skills to ease the turmoil inside.
If Sophie strikes gold at your house, consider checking out the other books in the series.
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett & Gary Rubinstein
Best For Ages: 5-8
Lexile Level: AD520L
Length: 32 Pages (Quick Read)
Focus Topic: Embarrassment & Growth Mindset
Formats Available: Print, eBook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound
Beatrice Bottomwell has never made a mistake! But what happens when she finally does?
In The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes, we learn along with Beatrice that sometimes our best moments can blossom from our biggest blunders. This book helps kids see that sometimes laughter is the best medicine, and learning to let go of those perfectionistic tendencies can help us all feel less embarrassed when inevitable mistakes occur.
Growth mindset is becoming a major buzzword in the world of education, and this book is a great addition to a home or classroom library to help explore that topic.
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Best For Ages: 8-12
Lexile Level: 670
Length: 384 Pages (Chapter Book)
Focus Topic: Self-Esteem
Formats Available: Print, eBook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, IndieBound
From the color of her skin to her father’s gambling addiction, there are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself. She knows because she keeps a list.
When Genesis and her mother must move in with her grandmother, she finds herself in the middle of a whole new world. Luckily, she actually likes her new school. Her choir teacher says that Genesis has real talent, and encourages her to audition for the school talent show. But can Genesis really believe this teacher when her dad says the complete opposite? This powerful novel by Alicia D. Williams explores how even a child who experiences internalized racism and verbally abusive parents can overcome it all and learn to love herself.
This is a great book to help tweens and teens explore self-esteem and overcoming negative self-talk, both of which are important to understand at that critical age.
Shouting At The Rain by Lynda Mullaly
Best For Ages: 8-12
Lexile Level: 560
Length: 288 Pages (Chapter Book)
Focus Topic: Emotional Turmoil
Formats Available: Print, eBook, Audiobook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, Audible, Penguin Random House
Delsie loves tracking the weather and her sweet Grammy. Lately, though, she wishes life could be a little less dark and stormy.
This coming-of-age story from Lynda Mullaly Hunt explores a wide array of topics. From irregular families to losing childhood friends, it hits the gamut on what problems plague teenagers these days. Delsie and Ronan discover each other and, with that, ways to weather nearly any storm that comes their way.
This story explores what it means to feel angry and sad, broken and whole again. Most of all, it teaches us to love those we have in our lives instead of wishing for someone more.
Loser by Jerry Spinelli
Best For Ages: 8-12
Lexile Level: 710
Length: 218 Pages (Chapter Book)
Focus Topic: Coping With Embarrassment & Shame
Formats Available: Print, eBook, Audiobook
Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, Audible, Scholastic
Newbery-winning author Jerry Spinelli gives us a powerful story that shows how not fitting in can eventually equal an incredible life.
Loser tells the tale of how a boy’s individuality surpasses fitting in. We also see the importance of failure and perseverance. As readers follow Zinkoff on a journey from first through sixth grade, they will quickly identify with him and his experiences. This book is excellent for pre-teens and young adults to learn what coping with shame and bullying looks like. It also just goes to show that nobody can keep us down.
This is one of the best teen books about feelings, and a great read for the whole family (or classroom).
What do you think of our list?
What book(s) will you add to your child’s library? In addition to books about feelings, consider checking out our other lists to help you fill your shelves with even more great children’s literature!
Feature Image by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash