Books for Kids on Abuse: Comforting and Healing Words

Abuse is hard to talk about, especially for kids. These books on abuse are good for children coping with trauma, sexual abuse, or neglect.

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Well, if you’re here the worst has happened. Either to your children or another that you know.

Of course, trauma therapy is necessary in situations of abuse, but another way to help your child process what they’ve gone through is through books.

Books are an excellent way to help your child understand their own emotions, feelings, and what has happened to them without any pressure.

Books Dealing with Traumatic Abuse

These books may help your child navigate through the emotions that come from having experienced traumatic abuse.

• What’s Inside Your Backpack? – This book is written to help children with coping skills after experiencing a trauma. It’s written creatively with the backpack symbolizing life and books inside the bag as dramatic things the main character has gone though.
• Trauma: Teaching Kids All About Trauma – This book aims to teach how to navigate feelings, address hard emotions, and cope with systematic abuse.
• Everyone Feels Angry Sometimes – According to therapists, this book teaches the essential steps to anger management and frustrations.
• Healing Days – This book is a guide for kids who have experienced trauma. It covers feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
• Brave Bart – Brave Bart is a story for traumatized and grieving children. It helps normalize the feeling associated with trauma and abuse.
• A Big Bad Wolf in My House – This story is told from the child’s perspective when an abuser moved into her house. It takes the reader through coping with the abuse and healing processes.

Books Dealing with Sexual Abuse

Abuse comes in all forms, but sexual abuse is one that deserves some topics of discussion.

Here are some books dealing with sexual abuse to help children through indescribably difficult situations:

• Repair for Kids: A Children’s Program – This book is a six step program for children recovering from incest and childhood sexual abuse. Visit lovinghealing.com for a wide variety of programs covering many topics and areas of abuse.
• Once I was Very Scared – This story helps children understand and navigate though their hardest emotions. It may be able to assist in developing the coping skills to deal with abuse.
• A Terrible Thing Happened – The main character of this story say a terrible thing and was unable to forget it. He had nightmares and anxiety because of it. Read to discover how he started to heal from this trauma.
• When I Was Little – This is the story of a child’s journey in overcoming abuse and trauma. It’s written for children with the aim of helping kids share difficult feelings and emotions.
• Loving Touches – Loving Touches was written for children to understand what love is supposed to feel like. It takes them through (at various ages) what appropriate touches are.
• How Long Does it Hurt – This book is written by survivors of sexual abuse for older children/teenagers. It talks about overcoming the damages of abuse and being a surviver.

Books about Therapy

These may not all specifically deal with therapy, but they do deal with opening up… and knowing who is safe to share with.

• Some Bunny to Talk To – This book warms the child up to the idea of talking with a therapist. Therapy could be an important part of healing from abuse, so it’s something to look at if the child is nervous about it.
• No More Bad Secrets – This book addresses the difference between a good and a bad secret and how to share the bad secrets when it’s important to do so.
• Do You Have a Secret – Sometimes it’s difficult for children to comprehend who they can trust and who they shouldn’t. Do You Have a Secret addresses who kids should share their secrets with.
• Feeling Better – Feeling Better is a kids book about going to therapy. It’s written in a journal format from a twelve year old who is afraid of opening up.
• Therapy & Me – Though the topic of this book is grief (not abuse), Therapy & Me touches on some wonderful moments where a child is able to open up to a councilor and get some relief.

Interactive/Workbook Style Books

Reading is great and almost always helpful. But, sometimes it’s good to have some interactive options. These lessons, workbooks, and interactive activities may help children cope with the effects of abuse.

• Finding Sunshine After the Storm – This is a workbook for children healing from sexual abuse. It contained 40 activities complete with printouts.
• Anger Management Management Workbook for Kids – This book includes over 50 activities to help children regain control of their anger. Working though some together may help them become calmer and happier.
• Assessment and Treatment for Children – This textbook style lesson book includes therapist tested techniques and approaches to helping children cope with abuse.
• A Foster Adoption Story with Therapeutic Workbook for Children – This reads like a narrative with coloring sheets and activities to complete along the way. It can foster healing and impactful conversations along the way.

Neglect is a form of abuse. Here is one last book that deals with the effects when children have to care for themselves, others, or too many things on their own. Somebody Cares is a guide for kids who have experienced neglect.

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