Books & Resources
Tender Topics
Huron Street Press
Books help us learn about other parts of the world, scientific facts, and history. They can also help us learn about ourselves and how to solve the problems of life. In life, there are times of struggle and times of fulfillment. All families experience challenges, losses, and crises. Books can open the door to learning for children and give them a head start in learning the art of living. They can inspire families to explore thoughtfully, with optimism, compassion and joy as they face the problems and challenges of life.
Ever since Beatrix Potter wrote her first book about Peter Rabbit more than 110 years ago, picture books have become a favorite choice of children. Authors and illustrators have responded by swamping the market with wonderful picture books. In recent years many of these books have been dealing with tender topics, such as the death of a parent, telling the truth, and having a new baby brother or sister? In a profound way many of these books have become the modern counterpart to Aesop’s Fables. They are not just stories about bunny rabbits and bears. They are books about human beings confronting the unexpected challenges of living. Many of these tender topics are addressed sensitively in picture books written for preschool through elementary school age children.
In books children find characters facing struggles just as they do. They can see how the difficulties are met successfully. With their imagination boys and girls can learn to succeed, survive and find peace and happiness. They can learn what to expect when faced with the unknown such as a trip to the hospital or a new baby in the household. When their story is played out in a book they enjoy, children become more comfortable with an uncertain future. Picture books can enhance children’s capacity for optimism in hard times, increasing their ability to be creative thinkers and solve problems, as well as expanding the likelihood of growing up with hope and joy and becoming their best selves.
Excerpt adaptation from pages xiii - xiv of Tender Topics: Picture Books About Childhood Challenges by Dorothy Stoltz, Elaine Czarnecki, and Buff Kahn. (Chicago: Huron Street Press. An Imprint of the American Library Association. Copyright 2013 by Dorothy Stoltz, Elaine Czarnecki, and Buff Kahn. All Rights Reserved.)
