We all want to raise smart, strong, and resilient kids, but it's no secret that it's a difficult time to be a parent—and it's a difficult time to be a kid, too. Even more, the back-to-school season can be an exceptionally challenging season for families as routines change and kids adapt to the new school year. The books below, designed for both parents and children, are practical, research-informed, and creative tools for emotional regulation, cycle-breaking, resilience, play, and belonging, here to support your family at the start of the school year and beyond.
Books for Parents
Empower Kids to Play Independently
Kate Allen Fox, Gennie Gorback M.Ed
We live in a society that undervalues play. Increasingly, children lead regimented lives that include commuting, school, and extracurriculars, with little time for play and exploration. For parents who want to build more open-ended play into their children's lives but aren't sure where to start, Go Play is part urgent call and part friendly guide. Inside you’ll find loads of helpful tips and tricks to encourage kids to play, and you'll leave with the knowledge and confidence to create a culture of play everywhere. Our kids are already primed to play and learn. All we have to do is let them.
Download a free sample pack of activities from the book here.
Shift from Reaction to Deeper Connection
I Was Never Angry Before I Had Kids
Parenting is hard, but it doesn't have to be this hard. We want to raise confident, resilient kids—but we're exhausted, afraid we're messing things up, and yes, we're getting angrier than we'd like to admit. I Was Never Angry Before I Had Kids is a compassionate, candid guide for parents who are ready to break the cycle. Journalist, author, and parent Tracy Cutchlow shares her journey from perfectionism and control toward emotional healing and strengths-based parenting. If you've ever whispered, "I can't do this," this book will meet you with empathy, wisdom, and the radical reassurance that you're not alone.
Break the Cycles of Trauma
Every good parent wants to create relationships with their children that are filled with joy, connection, and healthy attachment. Yet well-meaning but traumatized parents—those who suffered as children or who are dealing with traumatic events as adults—tend to see the world from a survival point of view. Post-Traumatic Parenting goes far beyond the fad social-media trends like "gentle" and "responsive" parenting to provide a clear, easy-to-follow, and substantive guide, helping you break the cycle, enjoy the journey, and create healthy, joyful, dynamic, lasting relationships with your children.
Support and Celebrate Gender-Diverse Children
Raising Kids beyond the Binary
The debate around transgender children rages, with some Christians being the loudest voices against supporting these young people. So, now more than ever, people of faith need to be grounded in God's call to love and affirm young people in who God created them to be. Drawing on the author's experience as the mother of a transgender child and her years of advocacy work, Raising Kids beyond the Binary helps Christian parents navigate the emotional, spiritual, and logistical landscape of raising a gender-diverse child. It paints a picture of who transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse young people are and what they need to thrive.
Books for Kids
Encourage Screen-Free Imaginative Play
Cameron is faced with a no-screens, very dreary, worst day ever. Oh, the misery! But wait ... maybe there's adventure to be found in boredom after all. When his ordinary living room transforms into the land of Boredom, Cameron wanders into a bleak landscape where everything seems terribly tedious and drowsily dull. But then a mysterious, friendly monster appears and Cameron learns to celebrate the silence of a distraction-free world and finds his creative spark.
Allow Big Energy to Shine
From the creators of The Boy with Big, Big Feelings comes a new story about a boy who's bursting with energy—moving, talking, bubbling excitement. In some places, he's supposed to be quiet and still, but that's HARD! What's a boy with so much energy to do? The Boy with Big, Big Energy explores how energetic, active kids can find healthy outlets. With the help of his patient dad, the boy learns how to focus his energy in the appropriate time and place and discovers how his unique gifts equip him to leap into action when his friends need him most. There are lots of ways his big energy can shine!
Nurture the Biggest of Feelings
The Boy with Big, Big Feelings
Meet a boy with feelings so big that they glow from his cheeks, spill out of his eyes, and jump up and down on his chest. When a loud truck drives by, he cries. When he hears a joke, he bursts with joy. When his loved ones are having a hard day, he feels their emotions as if they were his own. The boy tries to cope by stuffing down his feelings, but with a little help and artistic inspiration, the boy realizes his feelings are something to be celebrated.
The Boy with Big, Big Feelings is relatable for any child, but especially for children experiencing anxiety and extreme emotions, or who have been diagnosed with autism or as a Highly Sensitive Person.
Celebrate the Curious Spirit
The Girl with Big, Big Questions
Parents of young kids know: kids ask SO many questions. In The Girl with Big, Big Questions, question after question bubbles out from one little girl with twinkling eyes and a curious mind. When the girl finds that her big questions make some people uncomfortable, she stops asking. But then she learns that her questions can solve problems and that asking questions is how we learn and grow. Celebrate the spirit of curiosity and the joy of learning with this lively picture book about a persistent girl and her quest for knowledge.
Give Kids Space to Share Ideas
Following the bestselling The Boy with Big, Big Feelings and The Girl with Big, Big Questions comes a new story about a kid with ideas so big and wild that grown-ups often dismiss them. With the help of their supportive Gran, they come up with their biggest idea yet. In a world that so often excludes kids from decision-making, this book suggests that not only should kids have a voice, but that their ideas just might be the ticket to making progress.
Sow the Seeds of Imagination
When a group of kids find an ordinary rock on the playground, anything can happen. "It's a dinosaur seed!" Flora declares. Wyatt and Cece immediately catch on, and the kids plant the seed and wonder what it will grow into, building on each other's ideas. But Victor is confused. "Rocks don't grow," he says. Before he misses out on their adventure, the friends help Victor find his own way into the game. Inspired by the improv concept "yes, and . . . ," The Dinosaur Seed captures the creativity and authentic voice of kids left to their own devices.
To view all of our books and resources, visit broadleafbooks.com.
