Books for Every Age: Talking About Mental Health with Kids and Teens

Introducing mental health awareness early in life can help children, tweens, and teens better understand their emotions and develop lifelong coping skills. Thoughtfully selected eBooks and audiobooks are a gentle, accessible way to spark conversations around topics like anxiety, depression, and emotional well-being. One of the most important conversations we can have with kids and teens today is about mental health awareness. It’s never too early—or too late—to talk about feelings

Explaining Mental Health to Kids:

How to Answer: What is Mental Health? Explain it simply: A good place to start is, “Mental health is about how we feel, think, and handle life. Everyone has mental health—just like we all have physical health.”

Growing Up BingePass

This special BingePass is a collection of nearly 80 eBooks focusing on introducing your child to a variety of social and emotional topics, including managing relationships, handling feelings, and making healthy choices. There are even books about specific moments in a child’s life, like getting a pet, cleaning a park, and moving into a new home.

Books That Support Childhood Mental Health

For younger children, picture books and early readers can help normalize emotions like sadness, worry, or anger in an age-appropriate way. Look for books that name emotions and show characters working through them. Try Peppa’s Big Feelings by Lori C. Froeb, read by Lauren Irwin. In it, the beloved children’s character and her friends experience, and name, their emotions.

Tips for Starting the Conversation:

  • Read together and pause to ask open-ended mental health questions for discussion like, “Have you ever felt this way?”
  • Encourage kids to draw their feelings after reading.

Tween Reads to Build Mental Health Awareness

Tweens benefit from books that balance story with insight. These titles introduce concepts like anxiety, empathy, and stress while keeping things engaging and relatable. The graphic novel Hey Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka is read as an audiobook by the author and others. It’s a memoir about growing up with a difficult family and finding out ways to overcome.

Teen Mental Health: Books That Speak Their Language

Teens appreciate books with authentic voices and real-life struggles. These stories reflect challenges around identity, peer pressure, and emotional resilience. It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is about Craig, a hard-working kid who switches to an elite school and ends up feeling less than average.

Tips on Starting the Conversation: How to Get a Teenager to Talk About Their Feelings

  • Choose a book to read or listen to together and ask what they think of the character’s choices. A car ride is a great place to listen to an audiobook together!
  • Normalize feelings by saying, “It’s okay not to be okay sometimes.”

Starting the Conversation: Mental Health Questions for Discussion at Any Age

Use these prompts to encourage dialogue after reading:

  • Which character did you relate to most, and why?
  • What would you do if you were in their situation?
  • Have you ever felt like that character?

These questions help young readers explore their own emotions in a safe and guided way, reinforcing emotional intelligence.

Final Thoughts on Raising Mental Health Awareness

Reading together is a powerful way to nurture mental health awareness in kids, tweens, and teens. With a bedtime story, a mini book club, or a shared audiobook, these resources open the door to important conversations and provide tools to navigate emotional ups and downs.