Meet Edna, our favourite shy bookworm, frequent library patron and pet lover. Reading is her favourite pastime and she often loves getting lost in the wondrous worlds of story. Even though Edna is the shyest of our four Story Box Library characters, she is strong, brave and courageous. Along with her pets and friends, Edna goes on many adventures out in the world, and in the dreamy world of storytelling, challenging herself to try new things all the time.

Between pandemic lockdowns, environmental catastrophes, and even the grief or loss of a pet or family member, young minds are dealing with a lot. From parents to teachers and other mentors, children need help and guidance to learn how to cope with big feelings, and narrative storytelling can be a powerful tool to help with these lessons. 

Using these stories about bravery and overcoming challenges to help children build resilience, and find tools to grapple with overwhelming feelings when life gets tricky. Educatorscan also use the accompanying resources, such as Activity Time, Classroom Ideas and Student Task Sheets to explore story themes further, and encourage creative thinking and problem-solving.

Littlelight: When bricks start to go missing from the town of Littlelight, the mayor whips his citizens into a frenzy of aggravation. But when the townspeople find the thief, and her motive, they discover perhaps it is the mayor who is the problem.

The Bushfire Book: Read by firefighter Kate Faith, The Bushfire Book is a practical and reassuring story for children, to help them understand bushfires and what action they can take to feel less anxious and more prepared as Australia faces longer and more intense bushfire seasons. 

Magnificent Mistakes And Fantastic Failures: Refreshingly simple and delightfully quirky, Magnificent Mistakes and Fantastic Failures will help kids build resilience. They’ll discover how life’s little upsets can be big opportunities to learn and grow. And how good friends, positive self-talk, creativity and curiosity can help them become more confident.

Teddy Took the Train: A thoroughly delightful story about courage, resilience and imagination, written, illustrated and read by Nicki Greenberg. 

The Red Tree: A story about feelings - feelings that can not always be simply expressed in words. It is a series of imaginary landscapes conjured up by the wizardry of Shaun Tan's masterful and miraculous art. 

Adelaide’s Secret World: A story about courage, change and finding your soul mates - written, illustrated and read by creator Elise Hurst.

All The Ways To Be Smart: It's not just about knowing all the answers. There are so many ways to be smart. From knowing where you're going to picking what you're wearing, every one is smart in their own special way. 

Sarah And The Steep Slope: A whimsical fable about uphill battles and the healing power of friendship.

I’m a Hero Too: An insightful, topical and practical story about a family coping with the changes brought about by Covid 19, written and read by much-loved Jamila Rizvi and illustrated by Peter Cheong. 

Too Much For Turtle: A charmingly sweet story about friendship, community and overcoming shyness from creative duo Cat Rabbit and Isobel Knowles. Storyteller Darren Hanlon does a gorgeously funny reading from his treetop perch!

Girl On Wire: A simple yet brilliantly uplifting allegory of a young girl struggling to build her self-esteem and overcome the anxiety many kids feel growing up.

Family Hugs: Warm, funny and full of love this story feels like a family hug. From first-time collaborators Michael Wagner and Adam Carruthers comes a heartfelt collection of rhymes that celebrate the wonder and joy of family bonds. 

Chalk Boy: Read by singer Isaiah Firebrace, Chalk Boy is a soulful and heartwarming story about what happens when a pavement artist's drawing comes to life.

The House On The Mountain: Remembering Black Saturday. Atmospheric and intensely moving, The House on the Mountain is the story of a family experiencing a bushfire, its devastating aftermath, and the long process of healing and rebuilding.

Tiggy And The Magic Paintbrush: Tiggy's story is one that many children will relate to: worrying about being in an unfamiliar place, making new friends and learning new things. The beautiful part of this inspiring story by the talented Zanni Louise and Gillian Flint is that it encourages children to worry less and to believe in themselves. With themes of friendship, imagination and creativity, this story encourages bravery and resilience.

Rodney Loses It!: A delightful story about a goofy and adorable rabbit who loses his precious pen and his patience!

Howl: “Maggie has had a very bad day.

First of all, the sun was the wrong shape, in a sky that was too blue. 

The spaghetti was too long, and her pyjamas were the wrong kind of pyjama. 

Then Maggie begins to have wolfish thoughts …”

It’s Ok To Feel The Way You Do: Bursting with simple and effective ways that kids can notice and handle difficult emotions like anger, anxiety, and loss and also rejoice in the positive feelings such as joy, empathy and happiness, this is a little story with a big message.

Sporty Kids: Cricket & Sporty Kids: Swimming

With a wonderful underlying message of positivity and determination. Felice's enthusiastic reading perfectly captures the excitement of the story, with all the highs and lows you would expect and plenty of comical fun to boot

My Brother: When a gentle creature sets out to search for a lost brother we are taken on an ethereal journey across land and sea to strange, beautiful and faraway places. To fantastic, floating cities, and mediaeval towns full of dark alleyways and winding staircases - to vast open grasslands and eerie, silent forests - and eventually to a place of timeless beauty and light.

Grandpa’s Big Adventure: Told by comedian Dave O' Neil in his uniquely funny style, this story helps to alleviate childhood fears and inspires a love of adventure.

The Hush Treasure Book: Created for the Hush Music Foundation by thirty children's book writers and illustrators, this book is a treasure trove that will delight and entertain the whole family. Hush is Australia's charity for bringing together music and medicine to bring peace and hope to patients and their families. The Hush Treasure Book is a collection of short stories and illustrations by creators from all around Australia who have been inspired by the Hush vision of better patient care.

A Book About Scary: A charmingly simple encyclopedia of scary things, that is the perfect story to share with children to spark a discussion about overcoming fears or to celebrate Halloween. 

The Duck And The Darklings: A story for children and adults alike, about the coming of hope in dark days, the warmth of friendship and the splendour of a new dawn. 

Girl On Wire: A simple yet brilliantly uplifting allegory of a young girl struggling to build her self-esteem and overcome the anxiety many kids feel growing up.

Mr Huff: Mr Huff is a gentle, poignant and accessible story about dealing with difficult emotions. Written, illustrated AND read by the enormously talented Anna Walker, we follow Bill as he struggles to cope with his mounting worries and anxiety. Told simply, with accompanying emotionally charged and delicate illustrations, Mr Huff is sure to resonate with adults and children alike. 

The Worm Who Knew Karate: From long-time favourite Terry Denton comes this original and funny story of one little worm who's determined that the early bird won't catch him!

Don’t Think About Purple Elephants: An insightful, humorous and thoughtful story for younger children, that provides a wonderful opportunity for discussing and dealing with troublesome thoughts.

Hey Jack! The Worry Monster: Jack is good at maths and art, but terrible at spelling. Spelling makes no sense to him! He decides to worry about the test later, but what will happen if he leaves it too late?

The Deep End: “Are you brave enough to jump in at the deep end??

Poor Becky isn't looking forward to moving up the next swimming level - not if it means she has to swim in the deep end of the pool.”

For more educator and parent resources, visit our tips for helping children process challenging topics.