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Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
We cannot guarantee that food served at this program has not come into contact with tree nuts, soy, or other allergens.
We often take photographs during library events. Please let our photographer know if you do not want us to publish photos of your child.
Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
Mental Wellness in Everyday Life
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Projections
A groundbreaking tour of the human mind that illuminates the biological nature of our inner worlds and emotions, through gripping, moving—and, at times, harrowing—clinical stories
“[A] scintillating and moving analysis of the human brain and emotions.”—Nature
“Beautifully connects the inner feelings within all human beings to deep insights from modern psychiatry and neuroscience.”—Robert Lefkowitz, Nobel Laureate
Karl Deisseroth has spent his life pursuing truths about the human mind, both as a renowned clinical psychiatrist and as a researcher creating and developing the revolutionary field of optogenetics, which uses light to help decipher the brain’s workings. In Projections, he combines his knowledge of the brain’s inner circuitry with a deep empathy for his patients to examine what mental illness reveals about the human mind and the origin of human feelings—how the broken can illuminate the unbroken.
Through cutting-edge research and gripping case studies from Deisseroth’s own patients, Projections tells a larger story about the material origins of human emotion, bridging the gap between the ancient circuits of our brain and the poignant moments of suffering in our daily lives. The stories of Deisseroth’s patients are rich with humanity and shine an unprecedented light on the self—and the ways in which it can break down. A young woman with an eating disorder reveals how the mind can rebel against the brain’s most primitive drives of hunger and thirst; an older man, smothered into silence by depression and dementia, shows how humans evolved to feel not only joy but also its absence; and a lonely Uighur woman far from her homeland teaches both the importance—and challenges—of deep social bonds.
Illuminating, literary, and essential, Projections is a revelatory, immensely powerful work. It transforms our understanding not only of the brain but of ourselves as social beings—giving vivid illustrations through science and resonant human stories of our yearning for connection and meaning. -
You are Not Alone
Written with authority and compassion, this is the essential resource for individuals and families seeking expert guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, featuring inspiring, true stories from real people in their own words.
Millions of people in the United States are affected by mental illness every year, and the Covid-19 pandemic only further exposed the shortcomings of the American mental health system. Too many are confused, afraid, and overwhelmed, with many asking themselves the same questions: What does it mean when different doctors give me different diagnoses? What if my insurance won't cover my treatment? Will I ever feel better? Families and friends are often left in the dark about how best to help their loved ones, from dealing with financial and logistical issues, to handling the emotional challenges of loving someone who is suffering.
You Are Not Alone is here to offer help. Written by Dr. Ken Duckworth with the wisdom of a psychiatrist and the vulnerability of a peer, this comprehensive guide centers the poignant lived experiences of over 125 individuals from across the country whose first-person stories illustrate the diversity of mental health journeys. This book also provides
- Practical guidance on dealing with a vast array of mental health conditions and navigating care
- Research-based evidence on what treatments and approaches work
- Insight and advice from renowned clinical experts and practitioners
This singular resource--the first book from the National Alliance on Mental Illness--is a powerful reminder that help is here, and you are never alone.
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Reconnecting after Isolation
How to keep calm, carry on, and reconnect during times of social isolation and emotional crisis.
Although spending time alone for short periods may be restorative and helpful, unintentional or involuntary isolation can have profound detrimental effects on emotional and physical health. We all need social interaction and meaningful relationships in our lives to be well and thrive. Without them, we flounder.
In Reconnecting after Isolation, Dr. Susan J. Noonan draws on our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic to help readers deal with the emotional impact of social isolation. Speaking as both a provider and recipient of mental health care services, Noonan combines her professional and personal experiences in an evidence-based and practical guide. Drawing on meticulous research and interviews with four psychologists, she outlines steps to overcome the emotional trauma of isolation.
The book touches on how social isolation, loneliness, and stress affect each of us individually and can sometimes provoke depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidality, and substance use. Describing specific lifestyle interventions that may help, it offers tips for
• developing effective coping skills
• facing isolation-induced fears
adapting effectively to the changes in our personal, family, work, academic, and social lives caused by imposed isolation
• finding effective, culturally sensitive mental health care
• improving sleep hygiene
• building and maintaining resilience
• adopting a healthy diet
• overcoming the fatigue burnout
• grieving a loss
• engaging in regular physical exercise
• keeping a daily routine or structure
• maintaining contact with othersDr. Noonan also discusses re-entry anxiety, the challenging experience many have upon returning to their prior lifestyle, and the difficulty of establishing new school and work routines following social isolation. Accessible and compassionate, Reconnecting after Isolation empowers individuals to manage their own challenges, offering them a better chance of recovery and of staying well.
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The Concise Guide to Bipolar Disorder
A concise, essential guide to living with bipolar disorder by an internationally known expert.
When a diagnosis of bipolar disorder enters your life, you may not be sure where to turn for accurate information about this potentially devastating but treatable illness. Whether you yourself have been diagnosed, or a spouse, parent, child, friend, or employee has developed the illness, the need for information and advice is acute.
Presenting the essentials of diagnosis and treatment clearly and succinctly, leading psychiatrist Dr. Francis Mark Mondimore distills everything you need to know about bipolar disorder in this new indispensable guide. In down-to-earth language, Dr. Mondimore explains what bipolar disorder is and how you (or your loved one) can live your best life with the help of medications, therapy, the support of family and friends, and medical care.
An extensive list of references is included, along with additional suggested reading materials and online resources. Realistic clinical descriptions and anecdotes reflecting on fascinating historical details associated with this condition provide further information. The Concise Guide to Bipolar Disorder is an excellent up-to-date resource for the newly diagnosed or those seeking rapid answers to the most common questions about bipolar disorder.
Past Praise for Books by Francis Mark Mondimore, MD
"Offers advice on how to live with bipolar disorder, and how not to become its victim."—Large Print Reviews
"An enlightened, pragmatic, and empathic resource for this very complex and challenging illness."—Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
"An absolute gold mine for those with the disorder and their families: thorough, candid, and up-to-date advice, full of new possibilities for help."—Kirkus Reviews
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The Marriage Plot
A New York Times Notable Book of 2011
A Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Book of 2011
A Kirkus Reviews Top 25 Best Fiction of 2011 Title
One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2011
A Salon Best Fiction of 2011 title
One of The Telegraph’s Best Fiction Books of the Year 2011It’s the early 1980s—the country is in a deep recession, and life after college is harder than ever. In the cafés on College Hill, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels.
As Madeleine tries to understand why “it became laughable to read writers like Cheever and Updike, who wrote about the suburbia Madeleine and most of her friends had grown up in, in favor of reading the Marquis de Sade, who wrote about deflowering virgins in eighteenth-century France,” real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead—charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Portland boy—suddenly turns up in a semiotics seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged erotic and intellectual relationship with him. At the same time, her old “friend” Mitchell Grammaticus—who’s been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange—resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his mate.
Over the next year, as the members of the triangle in this amazing, spellbinding novel graduate from college and enter the real world, events force them to reevaluate everything they learned in school. Leonard and Madeleine move to a biology Laboratory on Cape Cod, but can’t escape the secret responsible for Leonard’s seemingly inexhaustible energy and plunging moods. And Mitchell, traveling around the world to get Madeleine out of his mind, finds himself face-to-face with ultimate questions about the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the true nature of love.
Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce? With devastating wit and an abiding understanding of and affection for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides revives the motivating energies of the Novel, while creating a story so contemporary and fresh that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives.
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Haldol and Hyacinths
With candor and humor, a manic-depressive Iranian-American Muslim chronicles her experiences with both clinical and cultural bipolarity.
Born to Persian parents at the height of the Islamic Revolution, Melody Moezzi was raised amid a vibrant, affectionate, and gossipy Iranian diaspora in the American heartland of Dayton, Ohio. Moezzi enjoyed all the amenities of a typical American youth- Froot Loops, Saturday morning cartoons, biased history textbooks. But she als experienced a distinctly Iranian education and uprbinging- Farsi class, unibrows, safron on everything, and PH.D.s or M.D.s for the whole family.When Moezzi began battling a severe physical illness at eighteen, her loud, loving community of adoptive Iranian aunties and uncles stepped up, filling her hospital rooms with roses, lilies, and hyacinths. But years later, when she attempted suicide and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, there were no flowers. Through several stays in psychiatric hospitals, bombarded with tranquilizers, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics, Moezzi was encouraged to keep her illness a secret - by both her family and an increasingly callous and indifferent medical establishment.
As Moezzi learned firsthand, there's something dangerous about the widespread secrecy surrounding mental illness. It breeds shame and isolation - both of which can be much more devastating than any psychiatric condition alone. Finally finding balance after years of treatment, Moezzi chose to become an outspoken advocate for the mentally ill.
Funny, caustic, and utterly unique, Haldol and Hyacinthsis the moving story of a woman who refused to become torn across cultural and social lines. Moezzi reports from the front lines of the no-man's-land between sickness and sanity, from the Midwest and the middle East. Told through a distinctive and fascinating cultural lens, Haldol and Hyacinthsis a tribute to the healing power of hope and humor.
'A compulsively readable account of one woman's descent into the hell of this insidious illness . . . Moezzi is the newest and perhaps the most important voice in this genre. Those suffering with mental illness (and their family members and friends) should read this book as soon as possible. Moezzi's story will save lives.' Andy Behrman, author of Electroboy- A Memoir of Mania
'A dazzling flower with poisonous thorns, Melody Moezzi's memoir describes formidable, twin conflicting identities, Bipolar, she wrestles frenzied, Hula-Hooping highs and psychotic, suicidal lows. Irnian-American, she finds Muslims scarce in the Bible Belt where she grew up, and learns that in Iran, there isn't even a word for 'bipolar'. Her struggle to keep these forces in balance is an immense task, and she tells her story with confidence and a fabulously wry sense of humor.' Ellen Forney, author of Marbles
'Haldol and Hyacinthsis like th brawling, big-hearted, and hilarious little sister of Darkness Visibleand The Noonday Demon. But Melody Moezzi is no imitator and she doesn't write in anyone's shadow. She stands alone and speaks her brilliant, fierce, inimitable mind, and we're the better for it.' Josh Hanagarne, author of The World's Strongest Librarian
'Melody Moezzi pulls no punches. A big brain and a big heart inform this courageous and often hilarious memoir, which crosses cultures and breaks stigmas. There is, quite simply, nothing like it. Nothing as smart, nothing as frank, nothing as information.' Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls
'With beautiful grace, sardonic humor and sharp intellect, Melody Moezzi casts a light where there is usually darkness. Haldol and Hyacinthsmay be a book about an American Muslim woman, but it speaks to the struggle of all p
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My Age of Anxiety
A riveting, revelatory, and moving account of the author's struggles with anxiety, and of the history of efforts by scientists, philosophers, and writers to understand the condition
As recently as thirty-five years ago, anxiety did not exist as a diagnostic category. Today, it is the most common form of officially classified mental illness. Scott Stossel gracefully guides us across the terrain of an affliction that is pervasive yet too often misunderstood.
Drawing on his own long-standing battle with anxiety, Stossel presents an astonishing history, at once intimate and authoritative, of the efforts to understand the condition from medical, cultural, philosophical, and experiential perspectives. He ranges from the earliest medical reports of Galen and Hippocrates, through later observations by Robert Burton and Søren Kierkegaard, to the investigations by great nineteenth-century scientists, such as Charles Darwin, William James, and Sigmund Freud, as they began to explore its sources and causes, to the latest research by neuroscientists and geneticists. Stossel reports on famous individuals who struggled with anxiety, as well as on the afflicted generations of his own family. His portrait of anxiety reveals not only the emotion's myriad manifestations and the anguish anxiety produces but also the countless psychotherapies, medications, and other (often outlandish) treatments that have been developed to counteract it. Stossel vividly depicts anxiety's human toll--its crippling impact, its devastating power to paralyze--while at the same time exploring how those who suffer from it find ways to manage and control it.
My Age of Anxiety is learned and empathetic, humorous and inspirational, offering the reader great insight into the biological, cultural, and environmental factors that contribute to the affliction. -
I Know This Much Is True
On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother, Thomas, entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut, public library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable. . . .
One of the most acclaimed novels of our time, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True is a story of alienation and connection, devastation and renewal, at once joyous, heartbreaking, poignant, mystical, and powerfully, profoundly human.
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The Kevin Show
From the NYT bestselling author of The Monopolists, the "fascinating" (People) story of Olympian Kevin Hall and the syndrome that makes him believe he stars in a television show of his life.
Meet Kevin Hall: brother, son, husband, father, and Olympic sailor. Kevin has an Ivy League degree, a winning smile, and throughout his adult life, he has been engaged in an ongoing battle with a person that doesn't exist to anyone but him: the Director. In the tradition of Kay Redfield Jamison's An Unquiet Mind, journalist and NYT bestselling author Mary Pilon's The Kevin Show reveals the many-sided struggle--of Kevin, his family, and the medical profession--to understand and treat a psychiatric disorder whose euphoric highs and creative ties to pop culture have become inextricable from Kevin's experience of himself.
Kevin suffers from what doctors are beginning to call the "Truman Show" delusion, a form of bipolar disorder named for the 1998 movie in which the main character realizes he is the star of a reality TV show. When the Director commands Kevin to do things, the results often lead to handcuffs, hospitalization, or both. Once he nearly drove a car into Boston Harbor. His girlfriend, now wife, was in the passenger seat.
Interweaving Kevin's perspective--including excerpts from his journals and sketches--with police reports, medical records, and interviews with those who were present at key moments in his life, The Kevin Show is a bracing, suspenseful, and eye-opening view of the role that mental health plays in a seemingly ordinary life.
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Girl, Interrupted
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. Her memoir of the next two years is a "poignant, honest ... triumphantly funny ... and heartbreaking story" (The New York Times Book Review).
The ward for teenage girls in the McLean psychiatric hospital was as renowned for its famous clientele—Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles—as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties.
Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery. -
Everything Here is Beautiful
‟A tender but unflinching portrayal of the bond between two sisters." --Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere
"There's not a false note to be found, and everywhere there are nuggets to savor. Why did it have to end?" --O Magazine
"A bold debut. . . Lee sensitively relays experiences of immigration and mental illness . . . a distinct literary voice." --Entertainment Weekly
"Extraordinary . . . If you love anyone at all, this book is going to get you." --USA Today
A dazzling novel of two sisters and their emotional journey through love, loyalty, and heartbreak
Two Chinese-American sisters--Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister's protector; Lucia, the headstrong, unpredictable one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a way to reach her sister. Lucia impetuously plows ahead, but the bitter constant is that she is, in fact, mentally ill. Lucia lives life on a grand scale, until, inevitably, she crashes to earth.
Miranda leaves her own self-contained life in Switzerland to rescue her sister again--but only Lucia can decide whether she wants to be saved. The bonds of sisterly devotion stretch across oceans--but what does it take to break them?
Everything Here Is Beautiful is, at its heart, an immigrant story, and a young woman's quest to find fulfillment and a life unconstrained by her illness. But it's also an unforgettable, gut-wrenching story of the sacrifices we make to truly love someone--and when loyalty to one's self must prevail over all.
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Mrs. Dalloway
"Moments like this are buds on the tree of life. Flowers of darkness they are."
In this vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life, Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of preparation for a party while in her mind she is something much more than a perfect society hostess. As she readies her house for friends and neighbors, she is flooded with remembrances of the past--the passionate loves of her carefree youth, her practical choice of husband, and the approach and retreat of war. And, met with the realities of the present, Clarissa reexamines the choices that brought her there, hesitantly looking ahead to the unfamiliar work of growing old.
From the introspective Clarissa, to the lover who never fully recovered from her rejection, to a war-ravaged stranger in the park, the characters and scope of Mrs. Dalloway reshape our sense of ordinary life making it one of the most "moving, revolutionary artworks of the twentieth century" (Michael Cunningham).
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Reasons to Stay Alive
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library.
"Destined to become a modern classic." —Entertainment Weekly
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEEL TRULY ALIVE?
At the age of 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again.
A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth.
"I wrote this book because the oldest clichés remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see it . . . Words, just sometimes, really can set you free." -
The Midnight Library
"A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."—The Washington Post
The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place. -
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
“Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!” —Reese Witherspoon
No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .
The only way to survive is to open your heart.
Mindfulness Titles for Kids
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A Pebble for Your Pocket
Drawn from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Dharma talks given to young people, A Pebble for Your Pocket presents the basic teachings of the Buddha in accessible and modern language. Combining the stories and mediation practices from the previous edition of A Pebble for your Pocket with those collected in Under the Rose Apple Tree plus several new stories, this completely revised edition is written in a conversational style, and is comprised of Buddhist parables, and stories from the author's own childhood experiences. They elucidate principles of Buddhism and mindfulness practice, and give the young reader and their parents concrete advise on handling difficult emotions such as anger, from which the title - a pebble for your pocket - is taken. Written in a highly accessible style that doesn’t rely on lot of jargon or difficult vocabulary requiring breaks for explanation, Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes the importance of the present moment through vivid metaphors, original allegories, and colorful stories. Young readers will learn about handling anger, living in the present moment, and "interbeing" — the interconnectedness of all things. Thich Nhat Hanh offers various practices that children can do on their own or with others that will help them to transform anger and unhappiness and reconnect to the wonders of nature and the joy of living in the present moment. This revised edition contains teachings and stories that the whole family can enjoy, as well as practices such as transforming anger in the family, instructions on how to invite the bell, breathing and sitting meditation, touching the Buddha inside, and others.
This revised edition of A Pebble for your Pocket remains a unique and classic title in a market with few other substantial offering on this topic. It’s teachings on spirituality and awareness are thought provoking on a child's level.
This significantly expanded version includes all stories and practices previously published in Under the Rose Apple Tree plus 3 never before published stories.
With 10 b/w illustrations by Philippe Ames and Nguyen Thi Hop.
Ages 6–13. (Second graders and up) -
Be the Dragon: 9 Keys to Unlocking Your Inner Magic
"Introducing an ingenious book that encourages kids to overcome their fears, discover their creativity and passion, and understand and manage their emotions. How, in other words, to be a dragon and recognize their own special magic. Written for readers ages eight and up, Be the Dragon promotes social and emotional learning through the wild fun of dragons, creatures that embody enchantment, power, and individuality. It's a novel way to help build kids' character and confidence. In each section-Finding Your Roar, Spread Your Wings, Guard Your Treasure, and more-kids will read an engaging, action-packed parable that brings a child's inner life into focus through the adventures of dragons. These dragons-whimsically illustrated in full color-are not scary or fearsome. They are amiable, charming, and relatable as they tackle their own challenges and find their powers. Each parable is followed by a quiz and three lively activities-or Quests-that reinforce the wisdom of unlocking the reader's unique powers and discovering courage, compassion, perspective, positivity, reflection, and more"--
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Mindful Me
Sometimes kids' lives can get busy and out of control, and worries can take over. When that happens, knowing how to pause and regain composure with mindfulness can help. This easily digestible guide introduces kids to mindfulness as a way to find clarity, manage stress, handle difficult emotions, and navigate personal challenges. With step-by-step instructions to over thirty breathing, relaxation, and guided meditation exercises, readers will have an entire toolkit at their disposal and writing prompts will help them process their discoveries. Clearly written and incredibly relatable, this invaluable resource provides a positive introduction to the world of self-care and mindfulness.
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A Handful of Quiet
A playful, illustrated guide to one of the best known and most innovative meditation practices for young children experiencing stress, difficulty focusing, and difficult emotions
Developed by Thich Nhat Hanh as part of the Plum Village community’s practice with children, pebble meditation is a playful and fun activity that parents and educators can do with their children to introduce them to meditation. It is designed to involve children in a hands-on and creative way that touches on their interconnection with nature. Practicing pebble meditation can help relieve stress, increase concentration, nourish gratitude, and can help children deal with difficult emotions.
A Handful of Quiet is a concrete activity that parents and educators can introduce to children in school settings, in their local communities or at home, in a way that is meaningful and inviting. Any adult wishing to plant seeds of peace, relaxation, and awareness in children will find this unique meditation guide helpful. Children can also enjoy doing pebble meditation on their own. -
Healing Breath
A gorgeously illustrated guided meditation to calm and soothe as well as inspire and empower us to act on behalf of the natural world
Join the award-winning team of writer and teacher Bill Meyer and illustrator Brittany R. Jacobs on a guided meditation journey through rich, colorful landscapes spanning the globe. Breathe into the experience of waves on the ocean, trees in a forest, and the warmth of a desert, and feel your connection to all of life, from barnacles to baboons to falcons to farmers. This magical meditation-in-a-book is ideal for anyone who wants to simultaneously calm down and rise up to the world in all its wonders.
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Here and Now
A stunning celebration of mindfulness and a meditation on slowing down and enjoying each moment, from the team behind the award-winning Windows.
Explore identity and connection, inspire curiosity, and prompt engaging discussions about the here and now. -
Outside In
★★★★★ FIVE STARRED REVIEWS! ★★★★★
From the New York Times best-selling author behind The Quiet Book comes a mindful contemplation on the many ways nature affects our everyday lives, even when we're stuck inside. Perfect for fans of Joyce Sidman and Julie Fogliano, Outside In reminds emerging readers of the ways nature creates and touches our lives in homes, apartments, and cars, and is the perfect homeschooling tool to reflect on the world's connectedness.Outside is waiting, the most patient playmate of all. The most generous friend. The most miraculous inventor. This thought-provoking picture book poetically underscores our powerful and enduring connection with nature, not so easily obscured by lives spent indoors.
Rhythmic, powerful language shows us how our world is made and the many ways Outside comes in to help and heal us, and reminds us that we are all part of a much greater universe. Emotive illustrations evoke the beauty, simplicity, and wonder that await us all . . . outside. -
The Rhino Suit
When a little girl feels like the pain of the world is too much, she builds a tough-skinned rhino suit to protect herself.
When one little girl sees litter in the streets, an animal without shelter, and the pain of a parent, the weight of the world feels like too much to bear. She feels everything so deeply, it makes her want to hide.
One day, when the tenderness and pain of the world feel like they are more than she can handle, she has a grand idea. She decides to build a rhino suit to keep herself safe.
Inside the rhino’s armor, the pain of the world is easy for the girl to ignore—but the beauty and joy that the world has to offer are hidden from her, too. And soon, she finds that the rhino suit blocks off her ability to help. Maybe living without thick skin is worth the risk ...
With soft and emotive illustrations and a story that will open hearts, The Rhino Suit is about moving from fear to courageousness, from brokenness to wholeness, and from feeling shut down to letting all of life in. -
Thank You, Miyuki
"Miyuki and her grandfather return in an enchanting intergenerational story enhanced by Seng Soun Ratanavanh's gorgeous Japanese-inspired illustrations. Miyuki's curiosity is piqued by her grandfather's morning meditation routine, and she is eager to learn this new skill. Her wise and patient grandfather first takes her on a walk in the garden. "When do we start to meditate?" she asks repeatedly. Grandfather enjoys the warm sun and stops to smell a rose, inviting Miyuki to join him. Their walk in the garden, filled with many tender moments, heightens their gratitude for each other and for the world around them. Miyuki comes to understand that in the small acts of mindfulness throughout her day, she learned how to meditate"--Provided by publisher.
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Puppy Mind
In this picture book for children and adults, illustrated by Jim Durk, who is adored by thousands of children for his many Clifford the Big Red Dog and Thomas the Steam Engine books, a young boy discovers his mind is like a puppy, always wandering away, into the past or the future. He sets about learning to train his puppy mind to heel to the present moment. Through remembering to breathe, the boy becomes a stronger and more caring master of his puppy mind, keeping it in the present, if only for a moment. Includes a link to a discussion guide for parents and teachers.
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Slow Down
Slow down to watch 50 nature stories that command calm and foster mindfulness
All around us, nature is working wonders. Every day, hour by hour, magical transformations happen right in front of you. But it's not always easy to see them . . . In this beautiful illustrated collection, 50 moments in nature are paused for you to watch them in detail. Then you should go outside, and explore, and see what you find when you take the time to slow down. Gorgeously illustrated, this charming collection celebrates the small wonders happening all around us every day.
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Listening to My Body
Children learn what they practice!
This engaging and interactive book guides children through the practice of naming their feelings and the sensations that accompany them. Engages children in easy, kid-friendly mindfulness activities.
Helps kids build on their capacity to be mindful, self-regulate, and develop emotional resilience.
Listening to My Body is a wonderful tool for parents, counselors and teachers! Free resources to accompany this book can be found at http: //bit.ly/gabigarciabooks.
(Available in Spanish as Escuchando a Mi Cuerpo.)
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Good Night Yoga
Kids love yoga—and it’s great for them, so much so that the President’s Council has added the practice to the fitness activities in the annual President’s Challenge. For parents and caregivers looking for a fun and effective new routine for bedtime, innovative educator Mariam Gates presents Good Night Yoga, a playful yet wholly practical book for preparing for sleep.
This beautifully illustrated, full-color book tells the story of the natural world as it closes down for the night, while teaching children a simple flow of yoga postures inspired by their favorite characters from nature. Moving from "Sun Breath" to "Cloud Gathering" to "Ladybug & Butterfly" and more, readers learn techniques for self-soothing, relaxing the body and mind, focusing attention, and other skills that will support restful sleep and improve overall confidence and well-being. -
Breathe and Be
I breathe slowly in,
I breathe slowly out. My breath
is a river of peace.
I am here in the world.
Each moment I can breathe and be.
Hear thunder crash, feel your toes touch sand, and watch leaves drift softly away on a quiet stream. The simple poems in Breathe and Be help children learn mindfulness as they connect to the beauty of the natural world.
Mindfulness teaches us how to stay calm, soothe our emotions, and appreciate the world around us. Whether we’re watching tiny colored fish darting in the water or exploring the leaves, branches, and roots of a towering tree, the thoughtful words and the lovely art of Breathe and Be remind us how much joy we can find by simply living with awareness and inner peace.
Ages 4–8 -
16 Words
This simple nonfiction picture book about the beloved American poet William Carlos Williams is also about how being mindful can result in the creation of a great poem like "The Red Wheelbarrow"--which is only sixteen words long.
"Look out the window. What do you see? If you are Dr. William Carlos Williams, you see a wheelbarrow. A drizzle of rain. Chickens scratching in the damp earth." The wheelbarrow belongs to Thaddeus Marshall, a street vendor, who every day goes to work selling vegetables on the streets of Rutherford, New Jersey. That simple action inspires poet and doctor Williams to pick up some of his own tools--a pen and paper--and write his most famous poem.
In this lovely picture book, young listeners will see how paying attention to the simplest everyday things can inspire the greatest art, as they learn about a great American poet.