Resilience Books
“It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.”
Bram Stoker, Dracula
It’s a great quote about resilience, isn’t it? Unfortunately, too many kids are losing their resilience skills. Sure, we could sit here all day and point fingers are parents, schools and society. All three have a role. But, I’m not going to tell anyone how to parent their child. Does your child struggle with resilience? How do you know if they lack resilience skills? And, most importantly, what can you do?
Definition of Resilience
- the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
That is the definition of resilience. Think of the average toddler, who freaks out when you give them their drink in the green cup instead of the blue cup. This is how kids first learn to deal with disappointment and bounce back. It’s also why, even in the moment it’s easier to just give them the blue cup, it’s probably more valuable for the long run to make it a teachable moment.
When parents fix things instead of teaching them how to deal with disappointment, it can hinder resilience skills.
However, this is not to say that all kids who lack resilience skills have bad parents. Or, that for a real trauma or disappointment, that they should just “buck up and shake it off.” That’s not helpful either. There are a lot of factors that go into resilience, and our kids may struggle a bit more due to learning differences.
My point is, first, parenting is hard. But also that kids do need to learn to deal with life’s disappointments.
Kennett Ginsburg (one of his books in on the list) has written about this, and he defines resilience into 7cs.
7 Cs of Resilience
- Competence
- Confidence
- Connection
- Character
- Contribution
- Coping
- Control
Resilience at School
If a child lacks resilience skills, this may affect them at school. You may want to consider adding a Social-Emotional IEP goal, or SEL. You can find some ideas in that link.
For more information about these concepts of resilience and more in the resilience books below. The first list is books that a child would read, or that you would read to a child. The second list is resilience books for teens.
The last list is parenting books about resilience. Or, books that a parent would purchase and read. And then implement the ideas at home.
Resilience Books for Kids
- Hardcover Book
- Neimark, Jill (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages - 09/07/2015 (Publication Date) - Magination Press (Publisher)
- Kids Can Press
- Hardcover Book
- Spires, Ashley (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages - 04/01/2014 (Publication Date) - Kids Can Press (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Santat, Dan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 40 Pages - 10/03/2017 (Publication Date) - Roaring Brook Press (Publisher)
- Sanders, Jayneen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 42 Pages - 05/15/2017 (Publication Date) - Educate2Empower Publishing (Publisher)
- Azri, Stephanie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 09/19/2019 (Publication Date) - Jessica Kingsley Publishers (Publisher)
- Building Resilience in Children and Teens Giving Kids Roots and Wings
- Ginsburg MD FAAP, Kenneth R. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 330 Pages - 10/28/2014 (Publication Date) - American Academy of Pediatrics (Publisher)
- Kennedy-Moore PhD, Eileen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages - 01/02/2019 (Publication Date) - New Harbinger Publications (Publisher)
- van Hove, Niels (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages - 10/20/2017 (Publication Date) - Truebridges Media (Publisher)
- Ace, Nikki (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 41 Pages - 03/11/2019 (Publication Date) - Ace Publishing (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Salvi, Sue (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 64 Pages - 10/30/2018 (Publication Date) - Little, Brown and Company (Publisher)
Resilience Books for Teens
- Ginsburg, Kenneth R (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 05/26/2020 (Publication Date) - American Academy of Pediatrics (Publisher)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Westover, Tara (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 336 Pages - 02/20/2018 (Publication Date) - Random House (Publisher)
- Bradshaw MA, Cheryl M. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 05/01/2019 (Publication Date) - Instant Help (Publisher)
- Alvord PhD, Mary Karapetian (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 168 Pages - 07/01/2017 (Publication Date) - Instant Help (Publisher)
- Raja PhD, Sheela (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 02/02/2018 (Publication Date) - Instant Help (Publisher)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Abraham, Dr. Anisha (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 329 Pages - 10/01/2020 (Publication Date) - Summertime Publishing (Publisher)
- English (Publication Language)
- 600 Pages - 01/01/2014 (Publication Date) - American Academy of Pediatrics (Publisher)
- Cope, Andy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 224 Pages - 11/05/2018 (Publication Date) - Capstone (Publisher)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Paterson, Katherine (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 190 Pages - 03/03/2009 (Publication Date) - HarperCollins (Publisher)
- MacConville, Ruth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 256 Pages - 05/15/2012 (Publication Date) - Jessica Kingsley Publishers (Publisher)
Resilience Parenting Books
- Ginsburg, Kenneth R (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 05/26/2020 (Publication Date) - American Academy of Pediatrics (Publisher)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Li, Yiyun (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 07/28/2020 (Publication Date) - Random House (Publisher)
- Mariner Books
- Seligman, Martin E. P. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 352 Pages - 09/17/2007 (Publication Date) - Mariner Books (Publisher)
- Siegel, Daniel J. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 208 Pages - 01/08/2019 (Publication Date) - Bantam (Publisher)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Abraham, Dr. Anisha (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 329 Pages - 10/01/2020 (Publication Date) - Summertime Publishing (Publisher)
- Kennedy-Moore PhD, Eileen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages - 01/02/2019 (Publication Date) - New Harbinger Publications (Publisher)
- Chansky, Tamar (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 01/14/2020 (Publication Date) - Da Capo Lifelong Books (Publisher)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Brown, Brené (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 290 Pages - 09/11/2012 (Publication Date) - Avery (Publisher)
- North Atlantic Books
- Levine Ph.D., Peter A. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 248 Pages - 03/04/2008 (Publication Date) - North Atlantic Books (Publisher)
- van Hove, Niels (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages - 10/20/2017 (Publication Date) - Truebridges Media (Publisher)
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