Sadness, Depression

Winner of the 2025 American Writing Award (Health/Cancer Category)Winner of the Counselor's Choice Award (Navigating Friendships Series) A scary health crisis puts Han on a journey that will test his resiliency, strain his relationships, and reveal who...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Flexible thinking allows people to think about things in new ways or to incorporate new information into a specific plan or idea. Flexible thinkers are often able to come up with more than one solution to a...

2026 Children's Book International Award Finalist What does June Bug do when she’s scared? When worry makes her heart race and tummy hurt? When the thoughts in her head say she’s not good enough? When she feels sad and alone? She listens to...

A mood-boosting picture book that combines creative storytelling with writing prompts to help young readers reframe their thoughts and rewrite their negative self-talk! Whenever something goes wrong for Vanessa, her mind goes immediately to the worst...

A gentle, comforting story about sadness and the simple things children can do to navigate and work through this confusing, sometimes scary, emotion. Sammy has lots of unhappy thoughts, and he’s not sure why. Instead of playing and laughing, he...

Winner of the Counselor's Choice Award! Sophie says sorry – a lot. She says it so much, her schoolmates call her "Sorry Sophie". It doesn’t matter what mistake, mayhem, or misery she creates, Sophie blurts out a quick sorry and thinks...

In terms of resilience and well-being, hope is a critically important predictor of success. Sometimes the dark clouds overhead seem too heavy, and you feel like giving up. Little Candle knows all about this. Bad grades, being teased by classmates, and...

This unique story presents a timeline of events from sunup to sundown, in a day in the life of five seventh graders - Ashley, Kenisha, Taara, Ryan and Andrew. As they walk the hallways, attend class and navigate the dreaded lunchroom, they experience all...

Drama defines middle school, especially for Jilly. Not that she likes drama. She’d rather walk invisibly through the hallways than have any eyes turn toward her. But drama will always find Jilly. With Mom battling depression, and the family’s...

Includes 6 activities that complement lessons learned in The Pirate and The Ink Blot, the first story in The Adventures of Jeff and Reed Anthology. Each activity follows the GANAG lesson structure: Goal (Share the lesson goal/objective.)Access prior...

Lesson plans pulled from the popular More Tools for Teaching Social Skills in School and separated into four categories based on skill type. Use these downloadable lesson plans with your students to improve social emotional skill development, as well as...

Use these engaging downloadable activities to reinforce the lessons taught in the storybook, My Magical Mindset! These activities are best suited for children ages 4-8. The Five Downloadable Activities include: Activity 1 – Connecting Coping...

Use these engaging downloadable activities to reinforce the lessons taught in the storybook, My Story by Vanessa & Me. These activities are best suited for children ages 6-10. The five Downloadable Activities include: Activity 1 – Change...

Use these engaging downloadable activities to reinforce the lessons taught in the storybook, Sammy’s Sad Day. These activities are best suited for children ages 4-8. The Five Downloadable Activities include: Activity 1 – How Does Your...

Use these engaging downloadable activities to reinforce the lessons taught in the storybook, When Sophie’s Sorry Wasn’t Enough.The activities are best suited for children ages 5-11.  The Six Downloadable Activities...

It's easy for kids to feel sad when bad things happen in their lives. This is especially true when boys and girls are bullied or picked on or feel left out and isolated. Author and School Counselor, Bryan Smith, has developed four exercises to accompany...