The best children’s picture books about facing your fears

I feel like I lived this story as a kid. I’ll bet a lot of kids do. A young boy overcomes his fear of the high dive. 

Step by step, Gaia Cornwall takes us through Jabari’s jump. Jabari starts by telling his dad he’s not scared at all. He clearly is. He delays, makes excuses. Dad never pushes. He wants this to be Jabari’s decision, Jabari’s victory. It’s so relatable, the perspective even changes to first person once Jabari is high above the pool. 

Everything rings true. It’s exactly what a scared kid would say and do. It’s exactly what I said and did when I was Jabari’s age trying to summon my own courage on the high dive. Except when I hit the water, my swim trunks fell off.

I’m a creature of habit. So is Scaredy Squirrel. We both know the comforts of feeling safe in perfect routines where nothing is left to chance, where nothing can go wrong…right?  

Scaredy writes lists of his emergency procedures, draws grids of his safety equipment, diagrams his secret exit strategies. I feel this poor squirrel’s pain. How many nights have I lain awake before a school visit mulling over my presentations? No plan is fool proof. So when Scaredy accidentally falls from his tree, he does what he must: thinks quickly and improvises. And discovers a secret ability he never knew he had. 

In the end, Melanie Watt gives Scaredy most of his old routine back, but now it’s balanced with a healthy dose of adventure. Perfectly balanced, I’d say.

Here’s a book about being shy in a world that rewards the bold. 

Sugar is the beloved therapy dog at school. She puts people at ease. Kids, teachers, parents, all give her pets. But not Hannah. Whenever it’s her turn, she shrinks away. Then, when Sugar gets lost, Hannah finds herself reaching out to calm her. Her fear evaporates when Sugar’s the one in need. Kate Berube evokes Hannah’s quiet bravery with a beautifully-timed wordless scene. 

When I was Hannah’s age, I was shy too. I hid when I thought my teacher was going to give me a shot. But her “syringe” was just a fountain pen. As she wrote my name, my fear evaporated. I could have used a dog like Sugar. Or a book like this.

I love weird humor. I always have. These guys are like the Monty Python of kids books. 

Four monsters from an alternate world of cheap real estate and donut trees run around terrified of bubbles. They have fangs and claws and huge horns (the monsters, not the bubbles).

The bubbles are so delicate, they are almost too much for the beasts. But the narrator urges them to fight back. They do. And they win. The bubbles pop, and they feel like heroes. Until they learn the terrible truth about butterflies. 

Fetch the soft cushions and the comfy chair. This book will terrify you (no, it won’t).

I loved reading this book as a kid. It’s so fun and funny. It inspired me to become an author. It’s one of the first ever books where you feel like the main character responds directly to you. 

Grover, from Sesame Street, is terrified there’s a monster at the end of the book. How does he know? The title page told him! So he begs you not to turn the page. He tapes them down. He nails boards over them. He builds a wall between you and the book, anything to stop you from bringing the monster closer. 

I won’t say how it ends. Just know it’s all about false expectations and self-awareness, learning to see yourself the way others do. Novel, sly, philosophical, I still love reading it.