Children’s Books for the Pediatric Cancer Journey

As a registered nurse, toddler mom, and cancer survivor, I have relied on books to guide me through explaining challenging medical topics to my child. Below, I share more about the healing power of books and specific resources to use with your family. 

Why Are Books a Tool for Healing? 

Reading books together can be a great way to educate and comfort children during a new or difficult experience. Bibliotherapy, defined as using books in an intentional and structured way to help one grow, develop, and cope with emotional challenges, is a branch of recreational therapy.¹ Bibliotherapy also offers a holistic mind-body approach to healing.² You can help your child better understand their diagnosis and cope with hospital or medical interventions by reading about them. When special reading time is set aside for a child, this structure can create a safe container to address uncomfortable feelings. Children may also be more comfortable expressing their feelings about cancer when the discussion is modeled for them by book characters. 

Additional Benefits 

Reflecting & Creating Self-Concept:

Reading allows a child to compare their experiences to the ones in the book and reflect on them. Children also begin developing their own self-concept in early childhood.³ Realizing the ways in which their lives are different from their peers and identifying as cancer patients can affect how they think of themselves. Reading about other children, even fictional characters, who have cancer can lessen stigma and isolation. 

Developing Mindfulness & Resilience:

Many unknowns exist throughout a cancer journey and daily life can often feel uncertain. Book characters that model mindfulness, or focusing on tolerating and experiencing the present moment only, can reduce anxiety about the future. Similarly, characters that make meaning of their difficult experiences and learn to identify with them positively can increase a child’s sense of resilience. Studies show that resilience skills, or one’s abilities to behaviorally and emotionally adapt to challenging experiences, can be grown with practice.⁴ 

Emotional Regulation Skills:

Books, like those below, can offer children toolkits full of new and relevant cognitive skills to help with emotional regulation. The first step to regulating emotions is to identify them. Younger pediatric cancer patients may just be learning how to name emotions and how to associate sensations in their physical bodies with certain emotions. At the same time, they are attempting to integrate their cancer-related experiences, making this a dual task for them. The best time to practice identifying emotions is when children are calm, outside of the instances of intensely feeling emotions.⁵ Reading books is an excellent activity for this type of practice, as picture books display what emotions look like on characters’ faces. Books also offer coping strategies, like counting, breathing, or hugging a beloved stuffed animal. 

Increasing Communication:

Books provide vocabulary to children that we, as adult caregivers, may not even realize children are missing. Children may also be more open to discussing fears and emotions when setting aside time to read about these experiences. Reading time together creates lines of communication between caregiver and child and healthcare provider and child. 

This increased communication can lead children to better articulate their needs during treatment, thereby learning how to advocate for themselves. Practicing this type of agency in one’s healthcare journey can increase one’s sense of self-control, a key ingredient in developing resilience.⁶ 

Books for the Pediatric Cancer Patient 

What Happens When a Kid Has Cancer? by Sara Olsher 

Ages 4-10 

The main character Mia and her stuffed giraffe, Stuart, feel better when they know what to expect. Mia learns what cancer is at a cellular level and what different treatments there are for cancer. She also learns about scans, ports, central lines, and side effects. Her weekly calendar is a coping mechanism she uses to understand the day-to-day changes that cancer means for her and her family. Written by a cancer survivor who needed to explain her own treatment to her young child, this book is a collaboration with social workers, child life specialists, and families who have experienced pediatric cancer. 

The Superpower of Imagination: A Clever Approach to Pediatric Cancer by Kajol C. Kalliecharan 

Ages 3-8 

Milo starts his day with breakfast in his hospital bed and imagines what far-off places he can explore. His wheelchair becomes a race car, and an MRI machine morphs into a tunnel, as he prepares for his operation day tomorrow. Follow him throughout his routine as he meets his friends in the hospital library and his family in the cafeteria. A true-to-life depiction of one boy’s day in his hospital unit and how he uses his imagination to cope and make happy memories even while in the hospital. 

Getting Ready for My Surgery: Preparing Kids for Anesthesia by Dr. Fei Zheng-Ward

Ages 3-8 

A thorough step-by-step guide of what will happen on the day of surgery through the eyes of two children. A good resource for any type of surgery, this book asks the reader questions alongside the illustrations to help the child visualize their surgery day, like, “Which finger do you want to use?” for the oxygen sensor. The author also encourages kids to write down questions they have for their care team and emphasizes celebrating once surgery is done. This book is also available in Spanish. 

When a Kid Like Me Fights Cancer by Catherine Stier 

Ages 4-8 

The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation created this book as part of their education efforts. The organization’s co-founders started it after doctors diagnosed their daughters with cancer as infants. The story follows a boy from the moment he learns he has cancer, through sharing the news with his school and friends, and during his time in the hospital. He discovers that his courage during treatment inspires even adults. At a fundraising picnic where he is honored, the boy realizes he is not fighting cancer alone.

Books for Emotional Regulation During Cancer Treatment 

Put Your Worries Away by Gill Hasson 

Ages 6-9 

While not specific to cancer, this book is an excellent resource for explaining what worry and anxiety is and how it feels in the body. The book also models examples of both types of emotional regulation, which are equally important. Self-regulation activities can be done on one’s own, like breathing, counting and visualization, and interactive or co-regulation activities can be done with another person, like asking for help and talking with a trusted adult when one is feeling worried. 

Breathe Like a Bear: 30 Mindful Moments for Kids to Feel Calm and Focused Anytime, Anywhere by Kira Willey 

Ages 3-6 

Less a storybook and more a resource guide, this book provides fun breathing, visualization and movement exercises for children and caregivers to do together to relax on stressful days, to energize during low moments, and to use one’s imagination when a mindset shift is needed. 

Books for the Sibling of a Pediatric Cancer Patient 

How Do You Care for a Very Sick Bear? by Vanessa Bayer 

Ages 2-6 

This book is written by a childhood leukemia survivor for friends and family of pediatric cancer patients. The book details Bear and her friend’s adventures before she gets sick and how things change once her illness begins. The book offers suggestions on how to best help Bear on days when she has more energy with visits, games, and snacks, and how to help Bear on harder days when she might feel sick, tired, or scared. 

The Perfect Shelter by Clare Helen Welsh 

Ages 4-8 

With beautiful illustrations, this book follows a family of four as two sisters change the location and materials for their fort-like shelter from outdoors with sticks to inside one sister’s hospital room with sheets and pillows. This book focuses on the simplicity of family togetherness time as the best medicine for all family members throughout the emotional struggles of the family’s involvement in one child’s cancer journey. 

Conclusion 

No matter which books you select, reading serves a powerful role in any pediatric cancer journey. Books are an accessible form of bibliotherapy and are helpful for all members of the family. Every child’s cancer treatment is unique, but finding commonality and familiarity amongst book characters can ease various transitions and stages of treatment. At the same time, children can use books to build skills, like emotional regulation and resilience, that they will use far beyond their time as a pediatric cancer patient.

References

¹ American Psychological Association. (2018, April 19). Bibliotherapy. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/bibliotherapy

²Douglas, H. (2024, September 14). Healing through books: The benefits of bibliotherapy and recreational therapy for postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. Postpartum Support International. https://www.postpartum.net/healing-through-books-the-benefits-of-bibliotherapy-and-recreational-therapy for-postpartum-mood-and-anxiety-disorders/ 

³Jakobson, K., & Fischer, P. (2023). Child and adolescent development: A topical approach. Pressbooks. https://pressbooks.lib.jmu.edu/topicalchilddev/chapter/development-of-self/ 

⁴American Psychological Association. (2024). Resilience. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience

⁵Weir, K. (2023, April 21). How to help kids understand and manage their emotions. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/parenting/emotion-regulation

⁶Lerwick, J. L. (2016). Minimizing pediatric healthcare-induced anxiety and trauma. World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, 5(2), 143-150. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27170924/