Books For Kids

The books listed below were chosen because they talk about the topics in Building Blocks for a Healthy Future. They are suggested reading only and you will find other titles that cover these same topics. You can find these books in your local library or bookstore or borrow them from friends!

Black, Claudia. My Dad Loves Me, My Dad Has a Disease. Denver, CO: M.A C. Printing, 1997.
A workbook designed to help young children learn about themselves, their feelings, and the disease of alcoholism in their families through art therapy. Children 6-14 share what it is like to live in an alcoholic family.

Brown, Cathy, Elizabeth LaPorte, and Jerry Moe. Kids’ Power Too! Words To Grow By. Dallas, TX: ImaginWorks, 1996.

Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. NY: Putnam Publishing Group, 1994.
Caterpillar grows into a butterfly as he nibbles his way through the book’s pages. Kids learn about animals, numbers, days of the week, and the importance of friendship and self-esteem.

de Paola, Tomie. The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. NY: Putnam Publishing Group, 1991.
Little Gopher, a Native American from the Plains, discovers his destiny as an artist and brings the colors of sunset out of the sky for his people.

Feiffer, Jules. I Lost My Bear. NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2000.
Panic and despair, a favorite toy is lost! Delightful cartoons humorously express the anguish of a small girl with a big problem.

Hoban, Russell. Bread and Jam for Frances. NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1986.
Frances is a one-food kid: She only likes jam on bread. An excellent book to use to talk with kids about the importance of a balanced diet based on foods they like.

Kimmel, Eric A. and Janet Stephens. Anansi and the Talking Melon. NY: Holiday House, Inc. 1997.
In this African folktale, the trickster hero Anansi, the spider, outwits all the huge animals, including Elephant, Hippo, and Warthog, and even the king.

Kvasnosky, Laura McGee. Zelda and Ivy. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2000.
Fox sisters, Zelda and Ivy, reveal a dynamic relationship that is both caring and competitive.

Marshall, James. George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
Five short stories, starring two huge hippos with buckteeth and pin-dot eyes, show what friendship is all about, from privacy to vanity to honesty.

Mercury, Catherine. Think of Wind. Rochester, NY: One Big Press, 1996.
A gentle book that tells children living with alcoholism that their feelings and hurts are reasonable and acceptable. It describes the environment of a child living with alcoholism as similar to wind. You feel it, but do not always see it and can’t always explain it.

Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1996.
In this beautifully illustrated book, the author captures the joy in the universal dream of mastering one’s world by flying over it.

San Souci, Robert D. Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella. NY: Simon & Schuster (Juv), 1998.
A vital, assured Cinderella in this French Creole adaptation of the traditional tale.

Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1984.
Max dreams of visiting a land of Wild Things where he is made king. In this story, scary monsters become familiar friends and readers get the chance to fantasize about their own “wildness.”

Shannon, David. No, David! NY: Scholastic Trade, 1998.
Desperate rebukes of a mom who can’t stop her son from playing with his food or picking his nose.

Steig, William. Pete’s a Pizza. NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1998.
Pete’s blue but his father decides to cheer him up by turning Pete into a pizza.

Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. Elizabeti’s Doll. NY: Lee and Low Books, 1998.
Elizabeti, from Tanzania, adopts an oval-shaped rock for a doll. A lovely story of imaginary motherhood.

Vigna, Judith. I Wish Daddy Didn’t Drink So Much. Niles, IL: Albert Whitman and Co., 1993.
A girl and her mother deal with the father’s drinking during Christmas. This story can help the child of an alcoholic understand that it is not his or her fault.

Viorst, Judith. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. NY: Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, 1972.
From the time he gets out of bed, everything goes wrong for Alexander—the entire day is “terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad!”

Young, Ed. Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story From China. NY: Putnam Publishing Group, 1996.
Thousand-year-old Asian version of Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. The heroines are three sisters, and their clever handling of the villain will spark excitement and admiration.