Ageing

Hartnett, Sonya. The Ghost’s Child. London, Walker Books, 2008.
YA/Adult Fiction. Seventy-five year old Matilda is visited by a ghost’s child who takes her back on the journey of her life, her hopes and dreams and the sadness of losing her soulmate and unborn child.

Anxiety

Browne, Anthony. Into the Forest. Cambridge, Massachusets, Candlewick, 2004.
Picture book. A boy missing his dad experiences a nightmarish journey on the way to his grandma’s house.

Cowell, Cressida. Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency. Illustrated by Neal Layton, London,Orchard, 2010.
Picture book. Matilda’s mummy can’t stop checking up on her and making sure she has everything she thinks she needs.

Hargreaves, Roger. Mr. Worry. London, Egmont, 2008.
Picture book. Mr Worry meets a wizard who suggests writing down all of his worries. Will this magic them away?

Henkes, Kevin. Wemberly Worried. New York, Scholastic, 2001.
Picture book. Wemberly worries about everything but when she starts school she finds a friend.

Morgan, Matthew. Thank Goodness for Bob. Illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo, London, Egmont, 2017.
Picture book. When Max tells Bob, his dog, about all of his problems they suddenly don’t seem worth worrying about.

Death

Burningham, John. Granpa. London, Puffin, 1996.
Picture book. A little girl enjoys spending time with her Grandpa until he passes away.

Perkins, Jayde. Mum’s Jumper. Bristol, Book Island, 2019.
Picture book. A little girl has to work through her grief when her mum dies in hospital.

Pieters, Nils. Fox & Goldfish. Great Britain, Book Island, 2016.
Picture book. Fox takes Goldfish on a bucket list of adventures.

Simmonds, Posy. Fred. London, Cape, 1987.
Picture book. The family knew Fred as a lazy cat but his friends reveal a whole other side to him.

Velthuijs, Max. Frog and the Birdsong. London, Andersen, 1999.
Picture book. When Frog finds a dead blackbird he and his friends bury him.

Wild, Margaret. Harry & Hopper. Illustrated by Freya Blackwood, London, Scholastic, 2009.
Picture book. When Hopper the dog dies in an accident Harry has trouble coming to terms with his death.

Wilhelm, Hans. I’ll Always Love You. New York, Dragonfly Books, 2012.
Picture book. Elfie is an old dog and when she passes away and a little boy remembers how much he loved her.

Depression

Browne, Anthony. Willy and the Cloud. London, Walker Books, 2016.
Picture Book. Willy is on his way to the park when he realises he is being followed by a cloud that is getting bigger and bigger. How will he make it go away?

Cumming, Hannah. The Cloud. Auburn, Child’s Play, 2011.
Picture book. A little girl in art class is determined to befriend a girl who always has a black cloud over her.

Gliori, Debi. Night Shift. London, Hot Key Books, 2017.
Graphic novel/picture book. Gliori’s own story of understanding and coming through depression.

Maclear, Kyo, and Isabelle Arsenault. Virginia Wolf. Bristol, Book Island, 2017.
Picture Book. Vanessa’s sister is feeling ‘wolfish’, what can she do to help her?

Rosen, Michael. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. Illustrated by Quentin Blake, London, Walker, 2008.
Picture book. Rosen’s own experience of sadness after the death of his son from meningitis.

Tan, Shaun. The Red Tree. Sydney, Hatchette, 2014.
Picture book. A little girl struggles through depression before noticing a beautiful red tree is growing in her room.

Exploring Nature

Alemagna, Béatrice. On a Magical Do-nothing Day. Translated by Jill Davis, London, Thames & Hudson, 2017.
Picture Book. A child explores the outdoors on a rainy day and discovers a whole new world of snails and seeds and mushrooms.

Baker, Jeannie. Belonging. London, Walker Books, 2004.
Wordless picture book. An exploration of a changing environment, all seen from a bedroom window.

Barros, Bruna. The Carpenter. Layton, Gibbs Smith, 2017.
Wordless picture book. A boy’s imagination turns his dad’s tape measure into many adventures.

Boyd, Lizi. Flashlight. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2014.
Wordless picture book. A boy takes a flashlight and explores the world outside of his tent.

Guillain, Charlotte. The Street beneath My Feet. Illustrated by Yuval Zommer.
Non-fiction. Beneath the street there are so many things to see from electricity cables to earthworms, fossils and foxes.

Kim, Patti. Here I Am. Illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, London, Curious Fox, 2015.
Wordless picture book. A boy travels to a new city and is forced to explore his new neighbourhood when he loses a precious seed.

Manning, Mick. A Ruined House. Cambridge, Candlewick Press, 1994.
Picture book. An old house is a very good home for plants, insects and animals. 

McKinlay, Meg, and Kyle Hughes-Odgers. Ten Tiny Things. North Fremantle, Fremantle Press, 2012.
Picture book. Forced to walk to school, two children discover many things they could never see when they travelled by card.

Messner, Kate. Over and under the Snow. Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2014.
Picture book. Whilst out skiing a child discovers many animals that live over and under the snow.

—. Up in the Garden and down in the Dirt. Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2015.
Picture book. Whilst gardening with Nana, a girl discovers all the animals and insects that live in the garden.

Stark, Ulf, and Eva Eriksson. When Dad Showed Me the Universe. Translated by Julia Marshall, Wellington, Gecko Press, 2015.
Picture book. A boy and his dad go out to see the night sky and discover so many interesting things are the way.

Yolen, Jane, and Ernest V. Troost. Owl Moon. Illustrated by John Schoenherr, Westport, Weston Woods, 2002.
Picture book. Owling takes patience, observation and being very quiet but the reward is seeing an owl in full flight.

Feelings

McCardie, Amanda. A Book of Feelings. Illustrated by Salvatore Rubbino, London, Walker Books and Subsidiaries, 2016.
Picture books. All feelings are covered in this beautifully illustrated book.

Parr, Todd. The Feelings Book. New York, LB Kids, 2014.
Picture book. Simple, bright pictures take the reader through a wide range of feelings.

Sanchez, Chani. There Are No Animals in This Book!: (only Feelings). Brooklyn, Pow!, a division of Powerhouse Packaging & Supply, 2013.
Picture book. Uses famous art works to illustrate feelings.

Inspirational People

Johnson, Jen Cullerton. Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace. Illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler, New York, Lee & Low, 2011.
Picture Book. Biography of Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist who was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson, London, Simon & Schuster Children’s, 2017.
Picture Book. Biography of Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist who was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Prévot, Franck. Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees. Illustrated by Aurélia Fronty, Watertown, Charlesbridge, 2017.
Picture Book. Biography of Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist who was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Winter, Jeanette. Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.
Biography of Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist who was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Stuff/Bragging/Thrifting

Blake, Quentin. Clown. London, Red Fox, 1998.
Wordless picture book. A toy clown escapes from the bin to find a new home.

Browne, Anthony. Look What I’ve Got! New ed., London, Walker, 2010.
Picture book. Falling of his new bike, chased by infuriated park keepers and an old lady’s dog does not stop Jeremy bragging about all his stuff but why is Sam so unimpressed?

De la Peña, Matt. Last Stop on Market Street. Illustrated by Christian Robinson, New York, Putnam, 2015.
Picture book. CJ rides the bus with his Grandma who points out all the wondrous things he would never experience if he travelled by car, or had the same things as his friends.

Williams, Vera B. A Chair for My Mother. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1982.
Picture book. After their home is burnt down, Rosa and her mother rely on neighbours donations to replace their furniture but what they really need is a nice, comfy chair.

Zommer, Yuval. Big Brown Bear’s Cave. Somerville, Templar Books, 2018.
Picture book. Big Brown Bear wants his new cave to feel like home so he takes a tip from humans and fills it with stuff. But when the stuff takes over he realises that friends are far more important.