Children / Young Adult Social Justice Book Lists

Teach children the basics of mindful breathing--along with their ABCs--in this playful and interactive picture book. In Alphabreaths Too, children learn their ABCs along with the basics of mindfulness through fun exercises and illustrations they'll want to come back to again and again. Each letter of the alphabet teaches a simple mindfulness, or compassion-based, practice to help kids focus their thoughts, feel calm, express gratitude, and hold positive feelings for others. A great standalone title or a companion volume to Alphabreaths: The ABCs of Mindful Breathing, this is a perfect book for the classroom or home library. Breaths like Astronaut Breath and Fireworks Breath help children use their imaginations, while breaths like Gift Breath and Kite Breath help them fill their hearts with gratitude and send good wishes to others. They can breathe with a partner using Drawbridge Breath, relax with Ocean Breath, or get their wiggles out using Pirate Breath. Alphabreaths Too offers a meaningful introduction to mindfulness for children, all while keeping them delighted with imaginative inspiration and hours of fun. It's as easy as A-B-C!

"Ants in my Pants is a story about a young Indigenous girl who struggles to focus. She has a hard time sitting still and loves to be active. This rhyming story follows the young girl throughout a day at school and at home. Through her struggles to focus, she begins to understand that she also has many strengths. Learn the tools and techniques that she uses to stay calm and to focus. A perfect book for students who struggle to focus."-- Provided by publisher.

Yes, bucket filling is the moment by moment choice to be kind and caring. Teaching and encouraging children to be "bucket fillers" is one of the greatest gifts you can give to them. You give them the key to being happy. This book of rhyming verse uses the letters of the alphabet to help young and old see the many, simple ways that they can fill buckets and fill their own buckets in return."--Jacket flap

A young girl discovers a vacant park next door to her new house that is intended for butterflies, but when she has trouble getting butterflies to stay there, her new neighbors help her plant flowers to attract them.

Every September 21 on the International Day of Peace, children around the world wish in many different languages for peace.--Title page verso.

Uses the metaphor of a bucket filled with good feelings to show how easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation, and love on a daily basis.

A stunning celebration of mindfulness, meditation, and enjoying each moment, from the team behind the award-winning Windows. This lush picture book is a fantastic tool for engaging children 3-7 who are schooling from home who are eager to feel connected to their world while managing new anxieties.

For kids ages 2-6, a gentle and fun introduction to mindfulness and breath awareness. When we are overcome with emotions, our breath--and a bit of imagination--can bring us back to a peaceful place. In I Am a Peaceful Goldfish, two children learn how to settle their difficult feelings with imaginative breathing techniques, pretending they are elephants, flowers, and even dragons! I Am a Peaceful Goldfish teaches kids essential and easy-to-learn life skills: It's okay to feel overwhelmed or anxious! Feeling calm and in control are just a couple of easy breaths away How to self-regulate and relieve anxiety A perfect book for readers of I Am Peace and I Am Yoga by Susan Verde. Book #1 in the I Am Mindful series! This series on mindfulness for young children introduces playful and imaginative techniques designed for the entire family to navigate overwhelming emotions with ease and confidence. The simplicity of the stories and relatable characters allow children of all ages to connect with the everyday challenges they face. By consistently practicing the mindfulness methods depicted in these books, children can cultivate skills that are readily applicable in various real-life situations. These abilities serve as a sturdy foundation for resilience throughout their lives.

I Can Do That! helps children learn self-regulating techniques. Told through rhyme from a child's point of view, strategies are shared empowering the child to effectively learn and practice ways they can control their emotions and actions when they feel themselves becoming dysregulated. The discussion questions at the end of the book provide an easy transition for counselors and parents to open a discussion, assisting the child in exploring ways they can learn to manage themselves.

Illustrations and evocative text show how imagination can reveal the extraordinary in the everyday.

Meena is excited to visit Dada and explore all the exciting sights and sensations of his home with him. But Meena has so much energy, it becomes a whole imaginary character she calls her hurly-burly hullabaloo. Wherever Meena goes, her hurly-burly hullabaloo goes too. Together they're never calm, as they run and cartwheel and make a lot of noise!But when Meena makes a mess, her grandfather is there to teach her how to handle it with deep breaths and meditative poses--after all, he has a hurly-burly hullabaloo too.With playful art and engaging characters (real and imagined), this charming story all about mindfulness will be wonderfully relatable to anyone with a rambunctious hurly-burly hullabaloo of their own.

A little girl has a wonderful idea. With the help of her canine assistant, she is going to make the most magnificent thing! She knows just how it will look. She knows just how it will work. But making the most magnificent thing turns out to be harder than she thinks.

For "Peace Week," the animals in Miss Fox's class find ways to be peaceful, instead of squabbling with each other.

Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.

Uses silly jokes and light-hearted cartoons along with serious advice to help readers recognize the causes of stress and its effects and learn how to handle worry, anxiety, and stress.

Learn about different emotions, what they mean, how they make you act, and why you have them.

Illustrations and rhyming text portray children experiencing a range of emotions, including frustration, shyness, jealousy, and pride.

What kind of thoughts are in your mind? Are they angry or are they kind? Children who struggle with negative thoughts may wonder how to make them go away. In this guided, illustrated meditation for kids, author Louise Bladen offers a simple mindfulness practice, not to banish bad thoughts, but to feel calm in the midst of thoughts that come and go. Children will learn how to breathe and center themselves in their bodies, find different ways to think about their positive and negative thoughts, and ultimately learn that they have the ability to feel calm and at peace no matter what kinds of thoughts happen to be in their mind at any particular moment.

Teaches children about what it means to be present by discussing about the important gift of appreciation, giving children and adults alike the opportunity to live more fully and richly.

Simple text and illustrations portray what peace looks, sounds, tastes, feels, and smells like to children around the world.

"Teaches school-age children cognitive-behavioral techniques to reduce and overcome anxiety, fears, and worry, through writing and drawing activities and self-help exercises and strategies. Includes introduction for parents"--Provided by publisher.

Children around the world remind us of their need for love and affection by asking us to fill their buckets. Tender responses affirm that bucket filling is the essence of loving and being loved.

I am here. I know who I am. I breathe in the smell of sun-warmed grass and it fills my lungs with energy. Parents, educators, and health practitioners everywhere are recognizing the importance of mindfulness practice, particularly for children. Meditation and yoga are becoming common activities in kindergarten classes and beyond. Taking time to be still and pay attention to their thoughts and bodies helps kids feel calm, focused, and in control. In A World of Mindfulness, meditative text reflects on the sensory ways children experience life, from the feeling of their muscles when they run...to the sound of a turning page...to the memory-laden taste of fresh-baked cookies. Positive and negative emotions are alike acknowledged and affirmed, and a strong sense of self is reinforced. Richly illustrated by fourteen artists will all-new original art, A World of Mindfulness will create its own quiet moments as children revisit its lavish pages. A closing note about mindfulness practice rounds out this picture book, making it a helpful resource for homes, classrooms, and beyond.

Sometimes we just need to take a pause -- to stop, breathe, and take a moment for ourselves. To be mindful. Told in rhyming verse and beautifully illustrated, A World of Pausabilities is an inviting introduction to mindfulness. Following a neighborhood on a summer day, readers will learn how to apply mindfulness to simple, everyday moments, and how days are filled with endless possibilities to take a pause. Includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers that further discusses mindfulness and ways to introduce pauses into your child's life. Age range 4-8.

Resonant sayings to inspire happiness and mindfulness are paired with exquisite artwork by Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times Bestselling author/artist Jon J Muth. This beautiful, small-format gift book contains twelve inspiring and affirmational sayings that take on deeper meaning when paired with Jon J Muth's profoundly beautiful Zen books, many featuring the beloved panda bear, Stillwater. This is a book to cherish. Every saying inspires delight, and each picture is worth a thousand words!Nourishment for the spirit!

Transform your chaotic classroom environment into a classroom of calm by fostering community, trust, and self-reflection. Calm is a choice. The key to a calm classroom isn't students who are obedient or quiet but students who feel empowered and safe. It starts with you as the teacher and your ability to foster an environment that supports emotional awareness, psychological safety and belonging, and connected relationships. In Cultivating a Classroom of Calm, mindfulness coach and former principal Meredith McNerney will help you promote student engagement and self-regulation using strategies grounded in neuroscience research. The book provides all the tools you need to Discern the characteristics of a truly calm environment. Explore the four dimensions of engagement. Discover how trauma often affects students. Balance empathy with accountability in the classroom. Develop practices to regulate emotions and stress. As you explore how the brain can learn to make calm and responsible decisions, the book will guide you in building a personalized plan to cultivate calm for your students and yourself. When you understand your own basic emotional and relational needs, you can instill your own calmness and help your students learn how to do the same, cultivating a classroom environment in which every learner can grow.

Everybody Present illustrates the transformative effects of mindfulness on educators, students, and their classrooms. Using concrete examples, Didde and Nikolaj Flor Rotne present a mode of classroom engagement that reduces stress to make room for thoughtful learning. A working manual addressed to everyone in the educational universe, Everybody Present presents real-world applications grounded in solid research. Stories, exercises, and case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of mindful practices across all areas of education. By exploring the challenges of teaching, Everybody Present will help all educators transform feelings of inadequacy into experiences of abundance. Everybody Present seeks to create a new kind of culture in our schools- one that counters stress and facilitates learning. It reframes the student-teacher relationship, showing teachers how to supplant antagonism and foster strong relationships by planting seeds of mindfulness in their students and encouraging them to embark on a mindfulness practice of their own. Everybody Present is intended to contribute to the creation of a culture throughout the educational system writ large, working against stress and victim mentality to set in motion a revolution of silence, allowing each individual the experience of inter-being, inner calm, and joy.

"Now in a revised and expanded second edition, this popular guide provides expert information and clear-cut strategies for assessing and treating internalizing problems in school settings. More than 40 specific psychoeducational and psychosocial intervention techniques are detailed, with a focus on approaches that are evidence based, broadly applicable, and easy to implement. Including 26 ready-to-use worksheets, in a large size format with permission to photocopy, the second edition has been updated throughout to ensure its currency and clinical utility. Coverage of psychiatric medications has been extensively revised with the latest developments and findings. A new chapter addresses prevention-oriented social and emotional learning curricula for the classroom."

"Now in a revised and expanded second edition, this popular guide provides expert information and clear-cut strategies for assessing and treating internalizing problems in school settings. More than 40 specific psychoeducational and psychosocial intervention techniques are detailed, with a focus on approaches that are evidence based, broadly applicable, and easy to implement. Including 26 ready-to-use worksheets, in a large size format with permission to photocopy, the second edition has been updated throughout to ensure its currency and clinical utility. Coverage of psychiatric medications has been extensively revised with the latest developments and findings. A new chapter addresses prevention-oriented social and emotional learning curricula for the classroom."-

"Certified yoga instructor Jennifer Cohen Harper introduces Little Flower Yoga for Kids, a fun and unique program that combines yoga and mindfulness in an easy-to-read book. This program is designed especially for parents and kids, and is aimed at teaching children to pay attention, increase focus, and balance their emotions--all while building physical strength and flexibility. Based on a growing body of evidence that yoga and mindfulness practices can help children develop focus and concentration, the simple yoga exercises in this book can easily be integrated into their child's daily routine, ultimately improving health, behavior, and even school achievement"

This boxed card deck includes 50 creative mindfulness games, visualizations and exercises divided into 5 categories to help children feel grounded, find calm, improve focus, practice loving-kindness and relax. Whimsical full-color illustrations on both sides of the cards break down each practice into easy-to-follow steps. Tips on individual cards plus an 8-page instructional booklet show modifications that make these activities inclusive for children of all abilities. Perfect for parents, teachers, therapists and homeschoolers.

Now you can discover the calming and rejuvenating practice of yoga at home with Cyndi Lee, founder of New York's OM yoga center and creator of OM yogaoa unique blend of Hatha yoga and Buddhist mindfulness. These cards, created especially for beginners, are conveniently divided into sections: Warm-Up, Sun Salutation, Standing Poses, Seated Poses, Backbending, Finishing Poses, and Relaxation.--Page [4] of booklet cover.

This timely book explores the stresses exerted on today's students, and shows teachers how to reduce the atmosphere of tension and pressure in their classrooms. It emphasizes the power teachers have in building a positive environment, through kindness and stress reduction. Committed to fostering a healthier classroom, Stop the Stress in Schools provides explicit ways to build healthy relationships and handle problems so that negative interactions, such as bullying, are reduced. It features calming strategies that include slowing the pace; increasing positive engagement and interaction, considering the perspective of the student; and celebrating pro cess rather than pro duct. Instead of targeting the symptoms of stress, this thoughtful book focuses on the social-emotional traits that are instrumental in helping children experience stress and navigate through it constructively. A comprehensive approach to reducing stress and frustration for teachers and students, the book includes practical examples, activities, and samples of student work.
Contents
Introduction -- Creating a positive classroom -- Giving positive response -- Awareness -- Acceptance -- Ability to manage stress -- Conclusion.

Connect the ancient practice of yoga with indigenous culture. These cards celebrate our connection to each other, to our animal friends, and to this amazing planet we all share."--[card]
These cards include simplified text, making them suitable for individual yoga practice and children of all ages. Handy, user-friendly and fun, each Strong Nations Yoga Card presents a physical practice and a reflective practice. The endless combinations and versatility of these cards make them ideal for all levels and any age. Choose an individual card, or one of each colour to create a sequence, or several cards at once for a longer yoga practice.

​Gold Medal, 2013 Mom's Choice Awards Silver Medal, 2014 Nautilus Awards Visiting Feelings invites children to sense, explore, and befriend any feeling with acceptance and equanimity. Includes a Note to Parents. Do you have a feeling that's visiting today?  Can you open your door and invite it to play? Visiting Feelings harnesses a young child's innate capacity to fully experience the present moment. Rather than labeling or defining specific emotions and feelings, Visiting Feelings invites children to sense, explore, and befriend any feeling with acceptance and equanimity. Children can explore their emotions with their senses and gain an understanding of how feelings can lodge in the body, as conveyed by common expressions like "a pit in the stomach" or "lump in the throat." Children can cultivate this emotional intelligence and nurture a sense of mindfulness. In essence, mindfulness is tuning into yourself and paying attention to the present moment without judging or analyzing what you are thinking or feeling. Practicing mindfulness can enhance many aspects of a person's well-being, help develop insight and empathy, and enhance resiliency. Taking the time to practice mindfulness as a family is a remarkable gift for parents to give to their children, and will help children as they navigate the teen years and adulthood. Includes a "Note to Parents" to provide more information about emotional awareness, and suggests ways to seamlessly incorporate mindfulness practices into your child and family's daily routines.

"Yoga shows that all beings (regardless of age) desire the same thing : peace. Yoga for Teens teaches how to attain this peace, for intermediate and high school aged kids, through using different yoga poses, breathing techniques, meditations, and writing "AUMwork" exercises. Each chapter focus on how using yoga can help teens properly cope with one emotion that they often face in their daily lives. Combining the teachings of yoga with the personal stories provided by the author and other yoga teachers who reflect back on their own teenage lives to inspirational stories written and art work reflecting these emotions drawn by teens today, Yoga for Teens explains how to use yoga for anger fear, gratitude, patience, focus, love, and confidence. The book uses honesty to talk about the things that teens go through from depression, drug use, alcohol use, sex, stress, driving, home issues, school, peer pressures, body image issues, social media, cyber bullying, focus and ADD, first loves, friendships, and fights (along with many other topics teenagers face currently today). In understanding the history of yoga (including the 8 limbs, 7 chakras, and AUM) and the benefits of the practice, teens will learn how to become and stay physically, mentally, and emotionally strong, releasing the stress teens often face, enabling them to grow into strong, peaceful adults."--

A playful and easy way to teach yoga.