How to use Minds in Bloom
What is the pick of the week?
Each week, we pick one kids’ book that does a great job demonstrating a science-backed mental health skill. Some of the skills are things you can help teach your child to do, like naming emotions (noticing and naming our feelings) and exposure (approaching safe things we’re afraid of). Others are parent skills, meaning that they’re things for you to do as the parent, like reflective listening and special time (intentionally paying attention to your child’s behavior during one-on-one playtime). In each post, we give you a quick summary of the book, tell you about the skill, and then review the science behind the skill. Most of these books take 5 minutes or less to read, and are almost always able to include a link to a read-aloud version of the book so you can preview or read the book immediately for free! You can check out our Bookshop library to find all the books we’ve ever recommended.
How can I learn more about how to use these skills at home?
In our “how to practice science-backed skills at home” series, we give conversation starters, which show what it might look like to talk about or use these skills with your child. We link to a bunch of other resources we have vetted for learning about and trying the skill. We also answer reader questions about using these skills or questions about how to respond to things their own kids do and say. We love answering reader questions and would love you to comment on our posts with your questions or email us at mindsinbloombooks@gmail.com.
PS: In our posts prior to March 2026, the book recommendations are combined with the conversation starters and resource lists. If you’re trying to find a “how to practice post” for a given skill, check the “pick of the week” archive.
How can I find books appropriate for my child’s age?
We got you! Find our book posts here for toddlers (book list), preschoolers (book list), and school-aged kids (book list).
How can I find books for a specific issue?
Our skill library contains all the different mental health skills we’ve covered at Minds in Bloom. We’ve categorized these skills by the issue or topic they are most helpful for, like anxiety, depression, anger, and behavioral issues, so you can easily find what you’re looking for.
What else do you offer?
We also create kid-facing and adult-facing handouts, activity sheets, and other resources to help you use these mental health skills. These are available to our paid subscribers.
If you’re a therapist or clinician looking for a handout or activity sheet to use clinically (or an improved version of one you already use), please email us mindsinbloombooks@gmail.com. We’d love to see if we could help :)
What if my child won’t read the books you recommend?
Sometimes parents ask us if we have any tips to help get their kids more interested in the books we recommend. Some parents worry that if their child won’t pay attention to the book, the mental health skills we’re covering here won’t count.
Here’s our sneaky tip: These book recommendations are mostly for parents! The main goal of our “pick of the week” series is to expose parents to kid-friendly demonstrations of science-backed mental health skills. Parents are busy, and we chose these books because they’re easy for parents to quickly and see what’s going on in the book. Then, we break down the science behind the mental health skill and give quick tips for using these skills with your child.
Here are some things we hope parents will take away from Minds in Bloom:
Learn about science-backed mental health skills
Learn easy ways to use these skills with your kiddo
Read the book yourself!
Build a library of high-quality books that address mental health topics to have in your child’s orbit.
Read these books to your child if they seem interested in them.
If your child refuses to read the book, don’t sweat it!
Here are some things we hope kids will take away from Minds in Bloom:
Have parents who feel comfortable thinking and talking about mental health concepts.
Have fun reading with their parents!
The bottom line is, if your child doesn’t like the book, that’s no problem! We still see value in parents reading these books and the accompanying posts. Our goal is to help parents feel confident and prepared in dealing with kids mental health and behavioral challenges and knowing how to support their child’s well-being.
I think my child might need more help with their mental health. What should I do?
First, you’re a great parent for noticing this and wanting to get them help! Here is a curated list of evidence-based books to help parents learn how to deal with clinical problems like anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and disruptive behavior. For guidance on finding a therapist who uses science-based treatments, check out this post. Use our condition directory to identify evidence-based treatments for the issues you’re dealing with and our treatment directory to learn more about these treatments, including treatment-specific therapist directories (e.g., a list of therapists certified to provide parent child interaction therapy for ADHD). Lastly, the Effective Child Therapy site has more information on evidence-based therapies and how to find a therapist.