I am obsessed with personal development, having attended seminars to walk across hot coals and jump from crazy heights to test my limits, and I have read hundreds of books and watched hundreds of videos on self-improvement. But sometimes the best lessons come in fiction, and kid’s books do this so wonderfully. And they are a lot quicker to read and absorb! They also teach with humour, rhythm, and joy, and can change a child’s life simply by letting them escape into a world of laughter and joy, expanding their imaginations, and letting them absorb the lessons, sometimes without even realising it.
How to Catch a Leprechaun is a crazy, chaotic St. Patrick’s Day Eve rhyming romp through the houses of kids trying to catch a Leprechaun. With a mixture of slapstick, STEM, and escalation, How to Catch a Leprechaun has hit the New York Times Bestseller List four years in a row leading up to St Patrick’s Day.
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley is a book that, well, the first time I read it my mind was blown. This is a self-help book for all humans in a picture book. It takes our thirst to live forever, to always want more, be more, see more, do more, look better, and compares that with the wonderful Riley, who is happy with some fruit and maybe a couple of slugs on Tuesday or Friday.
He likes a little stick that can scratch his back.
He looks like Riley. Why would he want to look like anything else?
This is a beautifully written and illustrated book on being grateful for what we have.
The great thing about picture books is they can give these incredible, and sometimes incredibly simple, messages about life. Celeste the Giraffe Loves to Laugh is a story about Celeste, who doesn’t know where she fits in, she feels like all the other animals are cooler than her. So she sets out to be like them in order to be “better”. But that leads to one disaster after another, with Matt Cosgrove’s hilarious illustrations adding to the action as Celeste uses all sorts of random items for her costumes.
In the end, Celeste finds her own special gift, the thing that makes her at least as cool as all the other animals!
Celeste was a friendly, happy little giraffe. She had a kind heart and she made others laugh. But Celeste sometimes worried that she wasn't enough. It seemed like other animals did much cooler stuff. Join Celeste the Giraffe on her hilarious journey as she finds out what it is that makes her unique.
This was my favourite book as a kid, and I still love it now. Bill Peet is an incredible author and artist, who also did amazing work for Walt Disney. Many of his books are about finding the gift in your uniqueness, where the thing that makes the main character an outcast, the butt of jokes, ends up being the thing that makes them special in the end.
The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg does this wonderfully as Zeke, a griffin hatched by a pigeon, finds his heart, courage, and uniqueness to save the very birds who had wanted to exile him.
While my first three suggestions were picture books, I have upped the age a little here. Stargirl is a tween/YA novel, and it is incredible. Jerry Spinelli has written a personal development book in the form of a beautiful work of fiction. Standing out, fitting in, being yourself, hiding your gifts, embarrassment of yourself and others, beauty, it’s all here as the amazing ukulele playing, singing, gift-giving, caring, “oddly”-dressed Stargirl enters the life of a normal, everyday town and turns it on its head.
As a reader, Stargirl is a warm cuddle of delight. As a writer, Stargirl is a lesson in language and imagery. A must-read.
Soon to be an original film on Disney+ streaming service!
Before ELEANOR AND PARK, there was STARGIRL. The seminal life-affirming YA novel celebrating first love and self-acceptance - now in a beautiful new edition for the next generation of readers.
She's as magical as the desert sky. As mysterious as her own name. Nobody knows who she is or where she's from. But everyone loves her for being different. And she captures Leo's heart with just one smile.
STARGIRL is a classic of our time that celebrates being true to ourselves and the thrill of first love. A life-changing read…
Okay, I am totally cheating here. Harpo Speaks! is not specifically a kid’s book at all (although it would be wonderful to read with and to upper primary and older), but it is my favourite book of all time, and I couldn’t not include it here. Harpo Speaks! is the autobiography of Harpo Marx. I have read it at least ten times, and every time I learn something new.
The Marx Brothers show how life can and should be fun, but that the fun comes after and while you are working incredibly hard towards a dream. And of all of them, Harpo’s attitude to and joy of life is a lesson to us all. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
Facsimile of 1961 Edition. “Adolph Marx [Harpo] squashed his formal education at the age of eight when he was dumped out of the 2nd grade window at P.S. 86 for the last time by two Irish classmates. He never went back. But his informal education blossomed on the streets of New York's Upper East Side; as a piano player in the Happy Times Tavern, on the vaudeville circuit of the early 1900's, at all-night poker games in the Algonquin Hotel. This is a racy autobiography by the mute Marx Brother with the rolling eyes, oversized pants and red wig who…
Four years old and homeless, William Walters boarded one of the last American Orphan Trains in 1930 and embarked on an astonishing quest through nine decades of U.S. and world history.
For 75 years, the Orphan Trains had transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast into homes in the emerging West, sometimes providing loving new families, other times delivering kids into nightmares. Taken by a cruel New Mexico couple, William faced a terrible trial, but his strength and resilience carried him forward into unforgettable adventures.
Whether escaping his abusers, jumping freights as a preteen during the Great Depression, or infiltrating Japanese-held islands as a teenage Marine during WWII, William’s unique path paralleled the tumult of the twentieth century—and personified the American dream.
WINNER, DA VINCI EYE AWARD FOR COVER DESIGN, ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARDS
HONORABLE MENTION, ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARDS, E-BOOK NONFICTION
FINALIST, NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS, E-BOOK NONFICTION
FINALIST, NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS, MEMOIRS (Overcoming Adversity)
HONORABLE MENTION, READERS' FAVORITE BOOK AWARDS, GENERAL NONFICTION
From 1854 to the early 1930s, the American Orphan Trains transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast into homes in the emerging West. Unfortunately, families waiting for the trains weren’t always dreams come true—many times they were nightmares.
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