Anger Books for Kids: Anger Management Help for Kids of All Ages

Children get angry. It’s just a fact of life. But when your child gets explosive angry, it can be time to start addressing how to help your child manage those feelings. And anger books for kids can be a great way to start.

Anger books for kids is a perfect way of approaching the discussion and getting it going. For toddlers, talking about scary feelings and helping them understand simple ways to cope can make a huge difference. Older kids may benefit from workbooks and more in-depth anger books to help address your child’s specific hot buttons and behaviors.

Find these anger books for kids at your local library or purchase through the affiliate links provided for your convenience.

Anger Books for Kids

I’ve broken down this list into several age categories:

• Anger Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
• Anger Books for Elementary-Age and Middle School
• Anger Books for Teens
• Anger Books for Parents of Angry Kids

You can find these books at your local library or purchase them through the affiliate links provided for your convenience.

Anger Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

When Sophie Gets Angry–Really, Really Angry…: Everybody gets angry sometimes. For children, anger can be very upsetting. Parents, teachers, and children can talk about it. People do lots of different things when they get angry. In this Caldecott-honor book, kids will see what Sophie does when she gets angry. What do you do?

Cool Down and Work Through Anger (Learning to Get Along®): Everyone gets angry, so it’s never too early for children to learn to recognize feelings of anger, express them, and build skills for coping with anger in helpful, appropriate ways. Children learn that it is okay to feel angry—but not okay to hurt anyone with actions or words. They discover concrete skills for working through anger: self-calming, thinking, getting help from a trusted person, talking and listening, apologizing, being patient, and viewing others positively. Reassuring and supportive, the book helps preschool and primary-age children see that when they cool down and work through anger, they can feel peaceful again.

Angry Octopus: An Anger Management Story: Children love to unwind and relax with this fun exercise known as progressive muscular relaxation . Children relate to the angry octopus in this story as the sea child shows him how to take a deep breath, calm down, and manage his anger. This effective stress and anger management technique focuses awareness on various muscle groups and breath to create a complete resting of the mind and body. Progressive Muscular Relaxation can lower stress and anxiety levels. It can be used to decrease pain and anger. This engaging story quiets the mind and relaxes the body so your child can let go of anger and fall asleep peacefully.

When I Feel Angry (Way I Feel Books): Anger is a scary emotion for young children, their parents, and caregivers. As this little bunny experiences the things that make her angry, she also learns ways to deal with her anger–ways that won’t hurt others.

Llama Llama Mad at Mama: Does any child like to go shopping? Not Llama Llama! But Mama can’t leave Llama at home, so off they go to Shop-O-Rama. Lots of aisles. Long lines. Mama is too busy to notice that Llama Llama is getting m-a-d! And before he knows it, he’s having a full-out tantrum! Mama quickly calms him down, but she also realizes that they need to make shopping more fun for both of them.

Hands Are Not for Hitting (Board Book) (Best Behavior Series): It’s never too soon for children to learn that violence is never okay, hands can do many good things, and everyone is capable of positive, loving actions. In this bright, inviting, durable board book, simple words and full-color illustrations teach these important concepts in ways even very young children can understand. Created in response to requests from parents, preschool teachers, and childcare providers, this book belongs everywhere young children are. Includes tips for parents and caregivers.

Teeth Are Not for Biting: Teeth Are Not for Biting gives reasons why children might want to bite. Little mouths feel sore when new teeth come in; sometimes kids bite when they’re hungry, tired, cranky, frustrated, angry, bored, distressed, or seeking attention. Author Elizabeth Verdick suggests positive things children can do instead of biting: chew a chewy toy, drink a cold drink, get a hug, tell a grown-up. This book also includes helpful tips for parents and caregivers.

I Was So Mad: Mercer Mayer’s very popular Little Critter stars in a picture book about feeling angry. With minimal text and funny illustrations to spell out every new situation, the book shows the Critter family saying no to everything Little Critter wants to do. He can’t keep frogs in the tub. He can’t help paint the house. Finally, mad at the world, Little Critter announces he will run away. When pals come by and ask him to come and play baseball, our young hero’s mood quickly changes. He grabs his bat and heads off for the game, telling himself he can run away another day if he is still so mad.

Anger Books for Elementary-Age and Middle School

Soda Pop Head: His real name is Lester, but everyone calls him Soda Pop Head. Most of the time he is pretty happy, but when things seem to be unfair his ears gets hot, his face turns red and he blows his top! Lesters dad comes to his rescue by teaching him a few techniques to loosen the top and cool down before his fizz takes control. Soda Pop Head will help your child control his/her anger while helping them manage stress. It’s a must for the home or classroom.

A Volcano in My Tummy: Helping Children to Handle Anger: A Volcano in My Tummy: Helping Children to Handle Anger presents a clear and effective approach to helping children and adults alike understand and deal constructively with children’s anger. Using easy to understand yet rarely taught skills for anger management, including how to teach communication of emotions, A Volcano in My Tummy offers engaging, well-organized activities which help to overcome the fear of children’s anger which many adult care-givers experience. By carefully distinguishing between anger the feeling, and violence the behavior, this accessible little book, primarily created for ages 6 to thirteen, helps to create an awareness of anger, enabling children to relate creatively and harmoniously at critical stages in their development.

What to Do When Your Temper Flares: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Problems With Anger (What to Do Guides for Kids): This book guides children and their parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques used to treat problems with anger. Engaging examples, lively illustrations, and step-by-step instructions teach children a set of “anger dousing” methods aimed at cooling angry thoughts and controlling angry actions, resulting in calmer, more effective kids. This interactive self-help book is the complete resource for educating, motivating, and empowering children to work toward change.

How to Take the Grrrr Out of Anger (Laugh & Learn):Anger is a part of life. We can’t avoid it, we shouldn’t stuff it, and we can’t make it go away. Kids need help learning how to manage their anger. This book speaks directly to them and offers strategies they can start using immediately. Blending solid information and sound advice with jokes and funny cartoons, it guides kids to understand that anger is normal and can be expressed in many ways—some healthy, some not.

I’m Not Bad, I’m Just Mad: A Workbook to Help Kids Control Their Anger: Most children learn to stop throwing temper tantrums, talking back, and refusing to go to bed or take a bath at an early age. But some children have trouble with impulsivity and self-control. Left unaddressed, these issues can lead to some very serious problems in adolescence and adulthood. Anger control problems are the number one reason that children are referred for therapy, affecting children as young as three years old. Since anger problems in children may indicate other significant concerns, it pays to address anger in kids as soon as possible. If a child in your life has an anger problem, you need the friendly, effective activities in this book.

Zach Gets Frustrated: Zach and his family go to the beach, but Zach is having a lousy day. First, he dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. Then his best friend went to someone else’s birthday party instead of joining him. But most frustrating of all, he can’t get his kite to fly! Zach kicks sand, yells angry words, and asks his dad if they can just go home now. Instead, his dad teaches him a simple, three-step approach to get a handle on frustration and find a way to enjoy himself even when things aren’t going his way: 1) name it (why are you frustrated?); 2) tame it (self-regulation exercises such as deep breathing or visualization); 3) reframe it (change your thoughts to change your feelings). The three-point strategy is presented as the three corners of a triangle and is illustrated as the corners of Zach’s kite. Easy to understand and easy to remember.

Anger Books for Teenagers

Mindfulness for Teen Anger: A Workbook to Overcome Anger and Aggression: As a teen, the relationship skills you learn now can help you thrive in the future. With a little help, and by cultivating compassion and understanding for yourself and others, you will be able to transform your fear and anger into confidence and kindness.

Chillax!: How Ernie Learns to Chill Out, Relax, and Take Charge of His Anger: In this graphic novel for tweens, Ernie learns about his angry outbursts with the help of a friendly and understanding school counselor and discovers that he has the power to control and calm himself. Once he practices the skills to control and manage his angry outbursts, Ernie finds that he can be a happier person as well as a better friend, brother, and son.

Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens: This is a workbook that can help. In this book, you’ll find new ways of managing your feelings so that you’ll be ready to handle anything life sends your way. Based in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a type of therapy designed to help people who have a hard time handling their intense emotions, this workbook helps you learn the skills you need to ride the ups and downs of life with grace and confidence.

The Anger Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help You Deal with Anger and Frustration: The activities in this workbook will help you notice things that make you angry, handle frustrating situations without getting angry, and effectively communicate your feelings. Most of all, these activities can help you learn to change how you respond to anger. Change is not easy, but with the right frame of mind and set of skills, you can do it. This book is designed to help you understand how both your mind and body respond to anger, how you can handle this anger constructively, and relaxation techniques for dealing with anger in a healthy way, so that you can not only control your anger, but your life as a whole.

Anger Books for Parents of Angry Kids

Bloom: 50 Things to Say, Think, and Do with Anxious, Angry, and Over-the-Top Kids: Written for real parents with anxious, angry and over-the-top kids, Bloom is a brain-based approach to parenting all children. Stop second-guessing the way you handle misbehaviors, and learn why they occur in the first place. Come to understand the developmental origins of behaviors and take a fresh look at how you can address them with skill-building techniques that produce real and lasting change. Taking its lead from neuroscience and best practices in early childhood mental health, Bloom offers parents, teachers and care providers the words, thoughts and actions to raise calm, confident children, while reducing the need for consequences and punishment.

What Angry Kids Need: Parenting Your Angry Child Without Going Mad: Anger experts Jennifer Anne Brown and Pam Provonsha Hopkins, western Washington counselors who have worked with angry children their entire careers, have written what has already been described as a comprehensive look at children s anger. In language every parent, caregiver and teacher can understand (even when exhausted and frustrated), it explains why kids get angry, what anger management skills they (and the entire family) can be taught, how adults can model anger management techniques and how adults can cope when nothing seems to work. The authors, who emphasize the importance of patience and practice in developing the ability to handle anger, also explain the options available when more help is needed.

The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children: Screaming, swearing, crying, hitting, kicking, spitting, biting…these are some of the challenging behaviors we see in kids who are having difficulty meeting our expectations. These behaviors often leave parents feeling frustrated, angry, overwhelmed, and desperate for answers. In this fully revised and updated book, Dr. Ross Greene helps you understand why and when your child does these things and how to respond in ways that are nonpunitive, nonadversarial, humane, and effective.

Like these anger books? Find even more engaging book lists for kids with more than 100 book-themed reading lists!

Help your children and students better understand their emotions:

• Feelings and Emotions Cards and Poster
• “The Feelings You Feel” Lyrics for parents to sing to kids
• Emotions Postcards