Square image- the top half shows a range of children's books on a shelf. Underneath there is black text on a white background which reads "10 of the best children's books about emotions".

10 of the Best Children’s Books about Emotions

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Books are a fantastic way to help young children begin to explore, process, and understand their feelings and emotions. In this post you’ll learn about my 10 favourite children’s books all about emotions. These books are suitable for preschoolers and older.

Image in the background shows a range of books on a bookshelf. The text overlay reads "books are a fantastic way to help young children begin to explore, process, and understand emotions".

I’ve gathered together a list of my favourite books about emotions that you can use in your Speech Therapy sessions or at home with your child.
All of these books are taken from our personal book collection at home. My son is 3 years old and he loves all of these books, so they’re kid and mum/therapist approved!
Some of these books explore all emotions, and others focus on some specific emotions. Hopefully you’ll find some new ones you can add to your collection.

Please Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means I earn a small amount of commission if you purchase any of the books listed in this post. Thank you for supporting my website in this way.
A note about Amazon links: Please be aware, the links are set up to redirect to your local Amazon site. This means, if some books are not available in your country, you will be redirected to a book or product with a similar title. Please double-check before purchasing as you may not be getting the book I mentioned in the post. Many of the books are shown in the images in this post, so you can see which cover to look for. If you’re in the UK, you may need to purchase via Amazon.com instead, as most of the books are available on there and do ship to the UK.

Also, this post is not sponsored by, or affiliated with, any of the authors/publishers. The list is in no particular order.

Three children's books about emotions shown on a white background. The books from left to right are: Ruby's Worry, Tilda Tries Again, and Ravi's Roar, all written by Tom Percival.

10 of the best children’s books about emotions for Speech Therapy

  1. Ruby’s Worry – Tom Percival
  2. Tilda Tries Again – Tom Percival
  3. Ravi’s Roar – Tom Percival

All three of these books are from the ‘Big Bright Feelings’ series. They each explore one emotion throughout the story in a postive, child-friendly way.
My son has really resonated with these books, we tend to read them when we feel he’s experiencing that emotion more often. I.e., if he seems worried about something, we will read ‘Ruby’s Worry’ at bedtime for a few nights, and talk positively about our worries and how we manage them.

Three children's books about emotions shown on a white background. The books from left to right are: Big Feelings by Suzanne Kaufman, All About Feelings by Usborne Books, and Feelings by Libby Walden.

4. Big Feelings – Suzanne Kaufman (she also wrote ‘All Are Welcome’ which I highly recommend for anyone working with children)
5. All About Feelings – Felicity Brooks and Frankie Allen/Usborne Books
6. Feelings – Libby Walden

All three of these books explores a range of emotions in different ways. ‘Big Feelings’ and ‘Feelings’ discuss emotions through a story-telling format.
Wheras ‘All About Feelings’ explains feelings with easy-to-understand examples and child-friendly pictures. It includes scenarios and activities for children to complete with an adult too (great for therapy sessions!). All three books provide loads of lovely opportunities for discussion around emotions and feelings.

Four children's books about emotions shown on a white background. The books from left to right are: The LIon Inside and The Koala Who Could, both by Rachel Bright. A little bit Brave by Nicola Kinnear, and 'What to do when you feel like hitting' by Cara Goodwin.

7. The Lion Inside – Rachel Bright
8. The Koala Who Could – Rachel Bright
9. A Little Bit Brave – Nicola Kinnear
10. What to do When you Feel Like Hitting – Cara Goodwin, PhD.

‘The Lion Inside’, ‘The Koala Who Could’, and ‘A Little Bit Brave’ are all books about courage, bravery, and self-confidence. I love the messages in these books, and the illustrations are captivating. These are perfect bedtime stories for young children.

‘What to do when you feel like hitting’ is a fanastic book for toddlers and young children (highly recommend for therapists, childcare staff, early years teachers, and parents/caregivers alike!). This book talks about feelings and what we may feel like doing when these feelings get big and hard to control (i.e., hit). It explains (and repeats throughout the book) that hitting hurts others and it is not safe. It then goes on to give a huge range of ideas to help young children cope with these big feelings. The illustrations help the child understand the strategy more easily.
This book has been really beneficial for my own son when he’s been experiencing those really big feelings. He has identified some strategies to use instead of hitting, and they’ve worked really well for us as a family. At the back of the book is some guidance and strategies for parents/caregivers/therapists. This book is written by Cara Goodwin, she is a licensed clinical psychologist and specialises in child development. You can follow her on Instagram at @parentingtranslator and her website is www.parentingtranslator.com.

More children’s books about feelings and emotions

If you’re looking for more children’s books about emotions, check out these other round-ups I found on the web.
(Not affiliated with these links, The SLT Scrapbook is not responsible for the content of external sites).

Other children’s book recommendations for Speech Therapy

If you love using books in your therapy sessions, or are looking for more books to read with your child, check out these other round-up blog posts with my other favourite books for a range of themes.

I hope you’ve found this round-up helpful. I would love to know, do you have any favourite children’s books about emotions and feelings that I’ve not included in this post? Drop a comment below and let me know.