A gentle metaphor for understanding and processing anxiety and sadness. Is it possible we’ve misunderstood crying all along? That’s the discovery one big sister sets out to share with her little brother as they walk to school and get caught in a storm. Along the way they explore sadness, loneliness, fear, frustration, anger and more, through gentle metaphor. Their journey examines our tears revealing how they begin, why they happen, and what to do with them. Throughout the book, the message received is that we are safe in our emotional experiences and that feelings, like the weather, come and go. This is an empowering story about navigating and understanding our feelings as a healthy, important, and very natural part of our lives. Have you ever noticed you feel differently after you cry? That’s because Crying is like the Rain.

Feelings come and go like the weather, and crying is like the rain. The words of this gentle book elaborate this soothing, encouraging theme, while the pictures tell a story of a little boy tearfully bound for his first day of school in the company of his older and wiser sister. "Have you ever noticed that after a storm ends, the whole earth feels like it took a big deep breath? And then we can search for a beautiful rainbow. It's the same for you and me. When we relax into our tears, we remember they have lessons to teach us. They are here to connect us to ourselves, deep inside. We can learn to express and share our feelings in ways that are safe for everyone. And then we can look inside for our very own rainbow. Crying is like the rain."

This bestselling "lyrical, moving book: part essay, part memoir, part surprising cultural study" is an examination of why we cry, how we cry, and what it means to cry from a woman on the cusp of motherhood confronting her own depression (The New York Times Book Review). Heather Christle has just lost a dear friend to suicide and now must reckon with her own depression and the birth of her first child. As she faces her grief and impending parenthood, she decides to research the act of crying: what it is and why people do it, even if they rarely talk about it. Along the way, she discovers an artist who designed a frozen–tear–shooting gun and a moth that feeds on the tears of other animals. She researches tear–collecting devices (lachrymatories) and explores the role white women’s tears play in racist violence. Honest, intelligent, rapturous, and surprising, Christle’s investigations look through a mosaic of science, history, and her own lived experience to find new ways of understanding life, loss, and mental illness. The Crying Book is a deeply personal tribute to the fascinating strangeness of tears and the unexpected resilience of joy.

Children’s picture book about mental health and learning healthy coping skills. Around the whole world, we as humans are hurting right now. Depression, anxiety, fear, and behavioral addictions are all on the rise, and understandably so. Sadly, many of us never saw healthy coping skills modeled by our parents or peers. But how can we, as imperfect people, be good role models? How can we even start such big conversations with our little ones? It all starts with a simple question: how are you feeling today? When you join The Little Rain Cloud community, you are joining a global movement to change the future and make our world a healthier and happier place, simply by making space for emotions. You do not have to be perfect, you just need to share how you feel. Together, the story and song of "It's OK Little Rain Cloud to Cry" help teach kids (and adults too) how to share and cope with their feelings in healthy ways. At first, your kids will see that the Little Rain Cloud is sad, tries to avoid its feelings, and then runs away. But after the Mountain sings the “It’s OK Little Rain Cloud to Cry” song, the Little Rain Cloud shares its feelings and cries through the whole valley, bringing new life and happiness after the rain. You can create your own version of the song, listen to the angelic Charity Waweru singing the "official version" (streaming everywhere), or learn how to play the song yourself using the music lead sheet that is included in the book. Even if you can’t sing, like Charlie the author, try singing this song the next time you feel mad or sad or just a little blue. Gotta watch the book trailer too. It was made by kids for kids so that kids can see their peers modeling healthy coping skills. WARNING: it's absolutely precious so be prepared to laugh, cry, or laugh and cry at the same time. Find it on Charlie's author profile, YouTube, or Instagram. A note from Charlie: We all struggle from time to time, and sadly we often struggle alone in silence. I do not know what keeps us silent, but I do know that it’s OK to cry. I hope through this book we all can learn to cry and laugh with the ones we love a little more often.

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Fish in a Tree comes a compelling story about perspective and learning to love the family you have. Delsie loves tracking the weather--lately, though, it seems the squalls are in her own life. She's always lived with her kindhearted Grammy, but now she's looking at their life with new eyes and wishing she could have a "regular family." Delsie observes other changes in the air, too--the most painful being a friend who's outgrown her. Luckily, she has neighbors with strong shoulders to support her, and Ronan, a new friend who is caring and courageous but also troubled by the losses he's endured. As Ronan and Delsie traipse around Cape Cod on their adventures, they both learn what it means to be angry versus sad, broken versus whole, and abandoned versus loved. And that, together, they can weather any storm.

Celebrate feelings in all their shapes and sizes in this New York Times bestselling picture book from the Growing Hearts series! Happiness, sadness, bravery, anger, shyness . . . our hearts can feel so many feelings! Some make us feel as light as a balloon, others as heavy as an elephant. In My Heart explores a full range of emotions, describing how they feel physically, inside, with language that is lyrical but also direct to empower readers to practice articulating and identifying their own emotions. With whimsical illustrations and an irresistible die-cut heart that extends through each spread, this gorgeously packaged and unique feelings book is sure to become a storytime favorite.

"Beautifully written and wise … [Martin Prechtel] offers stories that are precious and life-sustaining. Read carefully, and listen deeply."—Mary Oliver, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Inspiring hope, solace, and courage in living through our losses, author Martín Prechtel, trained in the Tzutujil Maya shamanic tradition, shares profound insights on the relationship between grief and praise in our culture--how the inability that many of us have to grieve and weep properly for the dead is deeply linked with the inability to give praise for living. In modern society, grief is something that we usually experience in private, alone, and without the support of a community. Yet, as Prechtel says, "Grief expressed out loud for someone we have lost, or a country or home we have lost, is in itself the greatest praise we could ever give them. Grief is praise, because it is the natural way love honors what it misses." Prechtel explains that the unexpressed grief prevalent in our society today is the reason for many of the social, cultural, and individual maladies that we are currently experiencing. According to Prechtel, "When you have two centuries of people who have not properly grieved the things that they have lost, the grief shows up as ghosts that inhabit their grandchildren." These "ghosts," he says, can also manifest as disease in the form of tumors, which the Maya refer to as "solidified tears," or in the form of behavioral issues and depression. He goes on to show how this collective, unexpressed energy is the long-held grief of our ancestors manifesting itself, and the work that can be done to liberate this energy so we can heal from the trauma of loss, war, and suffering. At base, this "little book," as the author calls it, can be seen as a companion of encouragement, a little extra light for those deep and noble parts in all of us.