Big Topics Book Lists

Click on any of the covers below to be taken to our online catalog where you can learn more about the book and place it on hold. These lists are curated from our state-wide catalog and therefore Libby Library may not have a copy of every book listed below (though we do have many!). You will be able to place a hold on any of these books and if we don’t own that title, a copy will be sent to our library through the Inter-Library Loan (ILL) system for you to check out.

Death, Grief, & Loss

The rabbit listened / by Cori Doerrfeld.
The boy and the gorilla / Jackie Azúa Kramer ; illustrated by Cindy Derby.
Just what to do / by Kyle Lukoff ; illustrated by Hala Tahboub.
Cry, heart, : but never break / Glenn Ringtved ; illustrations by Charlotte Pardi
Grief is an elephant / written by Tamara Ellis Smith ; illustrated by Nancy Whitesides.
Bug in a vacuum / written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt.
The memory string / Eve Bunting ; illustrated by Ted Rand.
The dead bird / story by Margaret Wise Brown ; pictures by Christian Robinson.
Ten beautiful things / Molly Beth Griffin.
A walk in the woods / Nikki Grimes, Jerry Pinkney, Brian Pinkney.
Cape / Kevin Johnson ; illustrated by Kitt Thomas.
Ida, always / written by Caron Levis ; illustrated by Charles Santoso.
Boats for Papa / Jessixa Bagley.
The memory box : a book about grief / by Joanna Rowland ; illustrations by Thea Baker.

Pet Loss

Bear Island / Matthew Cordell.
A Stone for Sascha / Aaron Becker.
Saying goodbye to Lulu / by Corinne Demas ; illustrated by Ard Hoyt.
Cat Heaven / written and illustrated by Cynthia Rylant.
Dog Heaven / written and illustrated by Cynthia Rylant.
You'll find me / by Amanda Rawson Hill ; illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff.
The longest Letsgoboy / written by Derick Wilder ; illustrated by Cátia Chien.
Big Cat, Little Cat / Elisha Cooper

Body Confidence

Bodies are cool / by Tyler Feder.
What I like about me! / [written by Allia Zobel-Nolan ; illustrated buy Miki Sakamoto].
The belly song / Mother Moon ; illustrated by Leah Giles.
Some bodies / written by Sophie Kennen ; illustrated by Airin O'Callaghan.
Abigail the whale / written by Davide Cali ; art by Sonja Bougaeva ; translated by Karen Li.
Big / Vashti Harrison.
Honeysmoke : a story of finding your color / Monique Fields ; illustrated by Yesenia Moises.
Sulwe / Lupita Nyong'o ; illustrated by Vashti Harrison.
Eyes that kiss in the corners / by Joanna Ho ; illustrated by Dung Ho.
Stand tall, Molly Lou Melon / written by Patty Lovell ; illustrated by David Catrow.
The best part of me : children talk about their bodies in pictures and words / by Miss Lord's 3, 4, 5th grade class ; photographs by Wendy Ewald.
Laxmi's mooch / Shelly Anand ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali.
What happened to you? / James Catchpole ; illustrated by Karen George.
Mara Hears in Style / by Terri Clemmons ; illustrated by Lucy Rogers.
All the way to the top : how one girl's fight for Americans with disabilities changed everything / words by Annette Bay Pimentel ; pictures by Nabi H. Ali ; foreword by Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins.
Crown : an ode to the fresh cut / Derrick Barnes ; illustrated by Gordon C. James.
Gorgeously me! / Jonathan Van Ness ; illustrated by Kamala Nair.
I am golden / by New York times-bestselling author Eva Chen ; illustrated by Sophie Diao.
I talk like a river / words by Jordan Scott ; pictures by Sydney Smith.

Breaking Gender Stereotypes

Morris Micklewhite and the tangerine dress / Christine Baldacchino ; pictures by Isabelle Malenfant.
Fred gets dressed / Peter Brown.
When Langston dances / written by Kaija Langley ; illustrated by Keith Mallett.
Julián is a mermaid / Jessica Love.
Mary wears what she wants / Keith Negley.
Pink is for boys / by Robb Pearlman ; illustrated by Eda Kaban.
Want to play trucks? / Ann Stott ; illustrated by Bob Graham.
Teddy's favorite toy / Christian Trimmer ; illustrated by Madeline Valentine.
John's turn / Mac Barnett ; illustrated by Kate Berube.
Pink, blue, and you : questions for kids about gender stereotypes / Elise Gravel with Mykaell Blais.
Oliver Button is a sissy / story and pictures by Tomie de Paola.
Players in pigtails / by Shana Corey ; illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon.
Here come the Girl Scouts! : the amazing all-true story of Juliette
Miss Mary reporting : the true story of sportswriter Mary Garber / written by Sue Macy ; illustrated by C. F. Payne.
Maya Lin : artist-architect of light and lines / by Jeanne Walker Harvey ; illustrated by Dow Phumiruk.

Families

Uncle Bobby's wedding / Sarah S Brannen, Lucia Soto.
Families, families, families! / by Suzanne Lang and Max Lang.
And Tango makes three / by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell ; illustrated by Henry Cole.
Plenty of hugs / by Fran Manushkin ; illustrated by Kate Alizadeh.
In our mothers' house / Patricia Polacco.
Home for a while / by Lauren Kerstein ; illustrated by Natalia Moore.
Happy Adoption Day! / lyrics by John McCutcheon ; illustrations by Julie Paschkis.
Always Mom, forever Dad / Joanna Rowland ; illustrated by Penny Weber.
My family's changing : a first look at family break up / Pat Thomas ; illustrated by Lesley Harker.
Here and there / written by Tamara Ellis Smith ; illustrated by Evelyn Daviddi.
Milo imagines the world / words by Matt de la Peña ; pictures by Christian Robinson.
Mama loves me from away / by Pat Brisson ; illustrated by Laurie Caple.

Sadness & Depression

Maybe tomorrow? / by Charlotte Agell ; illustrated by Ana Ramírez González .
A shelter for sadness / Anne Booth & David Litchfield.
When sadness is at your door / Eva Eland.
Beneath / Cori Doerrfeld.
Way past sad / Hallee Adelman ; illustrated by Karen Wall.
The princess and the fog : a story for children with depression / written and illustrated by Lloyd Jones ; with a contribution by Melinda Edwards MBE and Dr Linda Bayliss.

Importance of Our Names

My name / words by Supriya Kelkar ; pictures by Sandhya Prabhat.
That's not my name! / Anoosha Syed.
What's your name? / Bethanie Deeney Murguia.
The boy who tried to shrink his name / by Sandhya Parappukkaran ; illustrated by Michelle Pereira.
Always Anjali / by Sheetal Sheth ; illustrated by Jessica Blank.
Your name is a song / Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow ; illustrated by Luisa Uribe.
Alma and how she got her name / Juana Martinez-Neal.
Chrysanthemum / by Kevin Henkes.

Digital Citizenship

You're missing it! / written by Brady Smith and Tiffani Thiessen; illustrated by Brady Smith.
The couch potato / written by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald.
Tek : [the modern cave boy] / Patrick McDonnell.
Killer underwear invasion! : how to spot fake news, disinformation and lies / Elise Gravel.
Unplugged : Ella gets her family back / Laura Pedersen ; illustrated by Penny Weber.
Dot / Randi Zuckerberg ; illustrated by Joe Berger.

Fear, Anxiety, & Worry

Ruby finds a Worry / Tom Percival.
My monster and me / written by Nadiya Hussain ; illustrated by Ella Bailey.
Hattie Harmony : worry detective / by Elizabeth Olsen & Robbie Arnett ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez.
I'm not scared, you're scared! / Seth Meyers ; pictures by Rob Sayegh Jr..
Just like Millie / Lauren Castillo.
Good night thoughts / Max Greenfield ; illustrated by James Serafino.
Brave Molly / Brooke Boynton-Hughes.
Jabari jumps / Gaia Cornwall.
The lion inside / Rachel Bright ; Jim Field.
The darkest dark / written by Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion ; illustrated by the Fan Brothers.
The dark / by Lemony Snicket ; illustrated by Jon Klassen.
Tiny T. Rex and the very dark dark / by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck.

People Living with Disabilities

I am not a label : 34 disabled artists, thinkers, athletes and activists from past and present / written by Cerrie Burnell ; illustrated by Lauren Baldo.
Mara Hears in Style / by Terri Clemmons ; illustrated by Lucy Rogers.
Listen : how Evelyn Glennie, a deaf girl, changed percussion / written by Shannon Stocker ; illustrated by Devon Holzwarth.
Fighting for yes! : the story of disability rights activist Judith Heumann / by Maryann Cocca-Leffler ; illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger ; with a note from Judith Heumann.
All the way to the top : how one girl's fight for Americans with disabilities changed everything / words by Annette Bay Pimentel ; pictures by Nabi H. Ali ; foreword by Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins.
The girl who thought in pictures : the story of Dr. Temple Grandin / written by Julia Finley Mosca ; illustrated by Daniel Rieley.
Thank you, Mr. Falker / Patricia Polacco.
How to build a hug : Temple Grandin and her amazing squeeze machine / by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville ; illustrated by Giselle Potter.
Six dots : a story of young Louis Braille / by Jen Bryant ; illustrations by Boris Kulikov.
What happened to you? / James Catchpole ; illustrated by Karen George.
I talk like a river / words by Jordan Scott ; pictures by Sydney Smith.
Just ask! : be different, be brave, be you / Sonia Sotomayor ; illustrated by Rafael López.
Helen's big world : the life of Helen Keller / written by Doreen Rappaport ; illustrated by Matt Tavares.

Gun Violence & School Shootings

One Thursday afternoon / written and illustrated by Barbara DiLorenzo.
Come with me / Holly M. McGhee ; illustrated by Pascal Lemaître.
The breaking news / written and illustrated by Sarah Lynne Reul.
Most people / words by Michael Leannah ; pictures by Jennifer E. Morris.
Something happened in our park : standing together after gun violence / by Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP, Marianne Celano, PhD, ABPP, and Marietta Collins, PhD ; illustrated by Keith Henry Brown.