7 Best Children's Books About Resilience in 2025

Like any other skill, resilience isn’t just inherent—it can be learned. One of the best ways to teach children how to bounce back after a troubling incident is through reading. With the best children’s books about resilience, your child can learn from stories of other children who persevered through hard times.

According to the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report, frequent readers are more likely to feel confident facing difficult situations and experience less depression and anxiety as they grow older [*]. To help you get started, we’ve compiled seven of the best resilience books for kids.

7 Best Children's Books About Resilience

Reading provides a unique opportunity to show children that people experience life differently from one another and that there are many ways to succeed.

Resilience books are growth-oriented and help children see the world from different perspectives. Reading them can give children the encouragement they need to make big decisions and face adversity.

Here are seven books about resilience for kids you can use to help them build strength and perseverance.

1. Pete the Cat - E. Litwin (Ages 2+)

Picture book author E. Litwin’s Pete the Cat series encourages kids to accept things for what they are and move on in many formats—board books, songbooks, and story books!

In Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, Pete walks through a colorful collection of messes, which turn his white shoes red, blue, and brown. Despite his troubles, Pete moves and grooves, holding his head high the entire way.

This children’s book is perfect for pairing with positive affirmations, as it incorporates song-like dialogue.

$15.98 on Amazon, $17.49 on Barnes and Noble

2. Lubna and Pebble - Wendy Meddour (Ages 3+)

Lubna and Pebble illustrates the unique relationship between Lubna and her best friend—a pebble. Lubna tells Pebble her secrets and fears, and finds comfort in this unusual friendship.

Lubna then meets a lost little boy in her World of Tents and gifts him with Pebble to help make him feel less alone. Lubna and Pebble teaches children to practice care, comfort, and empathy even and especially in the most difficult of times.

$13.94 on Amazon, $15.99 on Barnes and Noble

3. The Girl Who Lost Her Smile - Karim Alrawi (Ages 4+)

The Girl Who Lost Her Smile is a simple yet powerful folk tale by Egyptian author Karim Alrawi. In the story, Baghdad native Jehan loses her smile and scours the city to find it. She encounters people from all walks of life on her journey, including jugglers and fire-eaters.

Despite doing all they can to entertain her, Jehan’s smile remains lost, and they band together to help her find it. The Girl Who Lost Her Smile is based on a collection of Islamic stories and highlights the power of friendship in the face of loss.

$10.88 exclusively on Amazon

4. Trying - Kobi Yamada (Ages 5+)

As children become older, they may occasionally doubt themselves and their skills. Kids going to school for the first time may compare themselves to others and become frustrated.

If your child has ever doubted themselves, Trying can help eliminate the fear of starting over or anew. In this story, a young man dreams of becoming a sculptor but fears failing. He then meets an older sculptor who becomes his mentor and inspires him to keep trying.

Yamada does an excellent job of painting failure as the beginning of mastering your craft. He reinforces that perfection doesn’t equate to success and that failure isn’t failure when you learn from it!

$9.69 on Amazon, $9.99 on Barnes and Noble

5. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba (Ages 9+)

Now a motion picture, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind tells a powerful, gripping story of survival and perseverance. Kamkwamba relives the experience of a crippling drought in his small town of Malawi and how he was inspired to build a windmill from scrap metal and old bicycle parts.

This memoir is written for younger audiences and showcases how the power of ingenuity pushes through, even in desperate times.

Not only is The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind a story about resilience, but it also provides an excellent opportunity for children to improve their problem-solving skills. It paves the way for creative solutions and piques children’s curiosity.

$7.39 on Amazon, $19.99 on Barnes and Noble

6. When Stars are Scattered - Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (Ages 10+)

When Stars are Scattered is a National Book Award Finalist and tells the remarkable story of what it’s like to grow up in a refugee camp. The story follows Omar and Hassan as they navigate the hardships, heartbreaks, and beacons of hope in war-struck Kenya.

Amid their struggles, Omar suddenly receives the opportunity to return to school but faces the painful possibility of leaving his brother behind. This intimate and important graphic novel reinforces a growth mindset for kids, helping them find the balance between opportunities and challenges.

$9.37 on Amazon, $12.49 on Barnes and Noble

7. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L’Engle (Ages 11+)

A longtime classic children’s book, A Wrinkle in Time tells the story of Meg Murry, who journeys through time and space alongside her brothers in search of her long-lost father. It’s an exhilarating experience-turned-Disney movie that inspires children to draw from their strengths during hard times.

It’s written for older children and explores challenging topics like abandonment, dysfunctional families, and mind control. As you read this book with your child, you can ask them to reflect on how they are resilient and where they can improve.

$6.74 on Amazon, $6.29 on Barnes and Noble

The Bottom Line

If your child has ever felt like giving up, reading an encouraging book can go a long way! These children’s books about resilience emphasize the idea that there are many ways to approach life and that each route can lead to greater happiness and success. Learn more tips in our article about how to build resilience in children.

Sources:

1. “Kids and Family Reading Report.” Scholastic, 2018.