Books like Cowardly Clyde
By Bill Peet
For the kid who admits they're scared but tries anyway, Clyde is proof that courage isn't about feeling fearless. Funny, gentle, and reassuring, with an underdog you can't help rooting for.
A young penguin named Pip-Pip longs to swim in the sea with his friends, but fear of the water holds him back until he finds the courage to take the plunge.
A poodle growing up among three talented bulldog brothers isn't sure what makes her special — until Gaston's sister Ooh-La-La goes missing in the park and Antoinette feels a pull to find her.
A giraffe named Gerald longs to dance but his crooked knees and thin legs keep tripping him up, until an unlikely friend offers just the encouragement he needs.
A parent looks at a child and wonders aloud, in rhyme, about all the different people they might grow up to be — brave, clever, silly, wise — no matter what.
A dressmaker's daughter sets out alone through a fierce snowstorm to deliver a duchess's ball gown, battling howling wind and deep drifts to complete her mother's errand.
An egg named Humpty Dumpty loves nothing more than watching birds from high on the city wall — until a great fall leaves him terrified of heights, and he must find the courage to climb again.
A gentle pony too plain for the beautiful horses inside the walled city ends up the only one who can save its children when the bridge breaks in half.
A timid squirrel afraid of thunder, hawks, and dark forest paths must carry soup through Buckthorn Forest to her sick Granny Oak, facing creatures who want to help — and some who want the soup.
A champion Italian cyclist who won the 1938 Tour de France secretly uses his bicycle and racing fame to help save Jewish lives during World War II, risking everything without ever telling a soul.
A poem-wish spoken over a growing girl, asking that she be shielded from nightmares at three, false friends at fifteen, and given clear sight and courage for whatever roads lie ahead.
A girl who loves acting out every story she hears sets her heart on playing Peter Pan in the school play, then hears a classmate say she can't — because she's a girl, and because she's Black.
A shy hippopotamus watches from the sidelines as other animals romp in a bog, try on hats, and go jogging together, until she must decide whether to finally say yes and join in.
