The best books to help children of all ages understand depression, loss, grief, and anxiety

Luna’s Red Hat does a fantastic job of explaining suicide to its readers in a way that is blameless and sensitive, delicate but not sugar-coated. It’s a hard topic to talk about, especially with children or people who haven’t ever felt suicidal themselves. You can tell in the way that Luna and her father talk to each other and about Luna’s mother that this was and is a very close and loving family, and that nobody is to blame for Luna’s mother taking her own life. This book has been a big inspiration for me. I hope I am able to write about mental health and other difficult topics with as much grace as Emmi does in this book.

Not Today, Celeste! is another terrific book that explains to young readers how to recognise depressive symptoms in others, and how these symptoms might affect your relationship with them. Celeste is a wonderful choice of protagonist - a dog whose human, Rupert, begins to suffer from depression. She is initially worried and wants to help, but doesn’t know how to, and is happy when he’s able to finally get help and go back to being his old self again. A perfect reader surrogate for a child whose parent or other loved one is struggling with depression. A very hopeful and warm book for a time when things might seem bleak and confusing.

The author’s grief after the loss of his teenage son is beautifully realised in both the words and the fabulous illustrations by Quentin Blake. This book eloquently describes the invisible symptoms of depression that I know from experience can be incredibly difficult to explain, such as how a big smile can hide deep, rotten anguish; and how said anguish can pervade every part of your everyday life, how unfair life can be. 

The book is very real and earnest but ultimately hopeful. Rosen explains in simple detail how he is able to keep going, despite the sorrow inside of him. He has learned how to survive, which is a task that he knows can seem insurmountable to some people; and he uses this book to spread that crucial knowledge.

I will not mince words: this book is silly. It follows a very simple formula of describing the symptoms of anxiety, general worry, and stress alongside photographs of birds. The funny expressions candidly captured on the bird’s faces somehow seem to always illustrate the specific situations and emotions being described in the text more perfectly than I even could as a professional illustrator. It’s really good fun and would be an especially great resource for a parent/carer/teacher to read along with an anxious child - jumping off and discussing how they relate to what the birds look like they’re feeling as they go.

This is another book that deals with grief, by one of my favourite authors and illustrators. The protagonist loses somebody important to her and as a defense mechanism she locks away a part of herself that she feels was intrinsically linked to the person she lost. It seems like the safest option at first - it’s an easy trap to fall into - but after a few years she eventually starts to miss that part of herself and has to learn to unlock it again with some help. This is a great book for explaining that closing yourself up might make the pain go away at first, but it can also keep happier feelings at bay as well. It’s important to keep your heart open, even when that’s difficult.