7 Children's Books to Encourage Healing After Gun Violence
Remind children they are not alone and that caring communities exist even in the wake of tragedy.
Whether gun violence has happened near home, or you’ve seen it in the news, the kids in your life have likely seen or heard about it, too. Children will feel a mix of confusion, sadness, and fear after these events, and most do not have the tools to process those emotions. When reading these books together, you can use them as a starting point for conversations about the hard emotions they’re feeling, and where there’s room for safety and hope.
7 Children's Books to Encourage Healing After Gun Violence
A Kid’s Book About School Shootings by Crystal Woodman Miller
Crystal Woodman Miller, survivor of the Columbine High School tragedy, opens up a thoughtful, honest conversation to help kids process the unimaginable. This book lays the reality of needing to be prepared for in a way easily accessible to any school age child while providing five tangible actions for children feeling anxious. It’s a powerful starting point for talking about emotional and physical safety.
A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes
Through the story of Sherman, a young raccoon who has seen “a terrible thing,” it shows how big feelings like fear, sadness, and anger can show up in everyday life and how talking with a caring adult can help a child start to feel better.
After: A Survivor’s Story by Hallee Adelman
After living through The Horrible Day, a young girl struggles with fear, sadness, and confusion — but through connection with others who’ve survived hard experiences, she finds strength and hope to move forward.
Sparking Peace by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky and Hannah Rose Martin
After a child accidentally breaks a neighbor’s window, an unexpected friendship grows. A community blacksmith turns a gun into a garden trowel - a trowel that the boy gifts to his neighbor as they grow a garden together. Afterword talks about the real life movement to mold guns into garden trowels.
Something Happened in Our Park: Standing Together After Gun Violence by Ann Hazzard
When Miles’s cousin is hurt in a shooting, he learns — with the support of family and neighbors — how people can work as a community to feel safer and support one another through fear and change. Includes thoughtful guidance for parents and caregivers on talking with kids about these experiences.
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story of Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard
After hearing that a Black man was shot by police in their community, two families—one White, one Black—talk honestly with their kids about what happened, why it matters, and how we can treat everyone with fairness and respect. Features caring conversations and an extensive parent/caregiver guide to discussing race, bias, and change,
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