Bibliotherapy: Healing with Literature
Children love books. Reading has a calming effect, strengthens the bond between caregiver and child, builds a foundation for literacy and a lifelong love of reading. That alone would be reason enough to read together, but as a librarian, I have seen that children’s literature often does far more than that.
What is Bibliotherapy?
Children’s books can be healing tools to help young people face their fears, cope with life’s challenges and manage strong emotions in a safe, relatable way. When stories use characters that reflect real struggles, kids feel less alone and more prepared to handle tough situations. Reading stories together can help children and adults find the right words to talk about their feelings and tackle tough conversation topics. When used this way books become a tool to promote mental health and wellbeing. Librarians and clinicians refer to this use of literature as bibliotherapy.
Bibliotherapy is used in clinical settings along with other therapeutic methods, but you don’t have to be a therapist to use books in a healing way. In this New Horizon Academy podcast, child mental health specialist, Amanda Mason, offers some excellent strategies for parents using books in a bibliotherapy way with their children.
Using Bibliotherapy with Your Child
While bibliotherapy can help all children, it takes on special significance for families facing complex medical problems or chronic illness. Along with the usual ups and downs of childhood, your child may need:
Help understanding what’s happening with their body and treatment
Preparation for medical visits and hospital admissions
Confidence for coping with pokes, and procedures
A sense of control when so much is out of their hands
Tools for handling fear, discomfort, and big emotions
Using books with a bibliotherapy approach, you can help your child navigate the special challenges of a medical journey.
How to Use bibliotherapy with your child
Talk with a librarian or child life specialist about the best literature for your child. Children’s librarians can guide you to high-quality accessible titles on any topic you need. If your child is in the hospital, or an admission is planned, a child life specialist will have age-appropriate books on hand to help your child cope with their hospital stay.
Here are some special booklists curated by librarians or child life specialists to get you started:
Indianapolis Public Library’s Health Librarian – Bibliotherapy Books for Kids
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Here to Help Booklists
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) – Recommended Children’s Books
Rady’s Children’s Health – Book Resource List
Pre-read the book: Read the book yourself first so you know what’s in it and can make sure it’s right for your child. During a hospitalization, be on the lookout for more intense images or themes, what feels fine at home can become overwhelming during a stressful time in the hospital.
Set the right environment: Choose a time when you can both be free of distractions and find a comfortable spot. This is easy at home, but much harder in the hospital where interruptions happen often. If your child can leave their room, ask about a family lounge, family resource center, or children’s library for a change of scenery. If they need to stay in the room, let the nurse know you’d like some quiet time if possible. You can also work with a child life specialist or art therapist to make a Reading Time: Please Knock sign for the door. It won’t stop staff from coming in, but it gives you a moment to pause the story and gives your child a small sense of control over their space.
Introduce the book: Look at the cover together and flip through a few pages. Ask your child what they think the story might be about. If the topic is new or unfamiliar, offer some context. For example: “The girl on the cover is a princess, but she doesn’t look very happy. The book is called I Don’t Want to Go to the Hospital! What do you think might be happening?”
Read together: Read the story aloud, take turns, or follow along with an audiobook or read-aloud video. What matters most is sharing the story together.
Let your child lead: It can be tempting to suggest to your child how they might feel or think about the story or tell them how it makes you feel. Try to resist that urge and let your child lead the way.
Let your child guide the reading.
Some children want to talk; others prefer to listen.
If your child wants to skip a page, or read the same page twice, or change the ending, go with that.
Encourage participation: Talk about how the characters feel and encourage the child to name the feelings they see. You can follow up with simple questions that can lead to powerful conversations.
How do you know she is scared?
Why do you think he is worried?
What helped them feel brave?
If your child seems ready, you can help them relate the story to their own experience.
That reminds me of the first time you went to the hospital.
That fancy ball gown is a lot better than a hospital gown!
Be present and responsive: Let your child stop to ask questions, comment, or just listen quietly. Respond to any questions with honest, simple, and clear language. If they seem uninterested, don't push; you can always try again later.
After Reading
Get creative: If your child is interested, try activities related to the story – drawing pictures, writing their own story, making a collage, engaging in medical play, or acting out the story. When in the hospital, art and music therapists can help with ideas and supplies.
Reread the story: While it may get a little tedious for you, reading the same story again and again can be comforting for your child, and help them gain confidence and master the feelings related to the story.
Continue the conversation: Stories and characters may come up in conversations at other times during outings, medical visits, mealtimes, or at play. Take advantage of these moments to expand on the conversations and see where it leads. Over time, not overnight, you may notice your child becoming a little more confident, a little more resilient, and a little better at speaking up for themselves and handling big feelings. All that plus the joy of reading books together!
When Bibliotherapy Isn’t Enough
Reading healing books together can help kids cope with the challenges and big emotions that come with a serious medical diagnosis or disability, but it isn’t a substitute for professional help. Children facing trauma, depression, or anxiety do best with a clinical assessment and guidance from a counselor, psychologist, or child life specialist. If you have mental health concerns related to your child, speak with your child’s medical team.
To learn more, take a look at the list of signs that your child needs professional help from the article Mental Health in Kids with Chronic Illness on the Child Mind Institute website.
For more information about books and your child, visit these resources:
Choosing Books:
Nemour’s Children’s Reading BrightStart: How to Select Books for Different Ages
Reading Rockets: How to Choose Read Aloud Books: Babies to Third Graders
Finding Books:
Reading Rockets - Bookfinder
Novelist K-8 – Subscription database often available free of charge through your local public library. Full of curated booklists, and offers read-alike suggestions/recommendations
Reading Aloud with Your Child:
Child Mind Institute: Why is it Important to Read with you Child
Reading Rockets:
Video: The ABCs of Active Reading
Written by: Nancy Seeger, mother of two magnificent children (now adults), and currently a part-time Branch Services Assistant at the Cuyahoga County Public Library. As a health librarian for 17 years, Nancy Seeger had the privilege of helping parents at the Family Resource Center at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s (Cleveland, Ohio). Librarianship is her second career, having spent 12 years as a special education teacher with Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Beachwood, Ohio.