Why Read BounceBack Books
The BounceBack Books collection offers ideas for books to read and discuss with children. BounceBack Books tell stories that children can learn and grow from. They speak to the child’s imagination and capture attention in ways that set the stage for rich discussion with caring adults.
These stories depict characters that THINK BIG, STAY STRONG, and DO GOOD. The skills and mindset demonstrated in these beautifully illustrated picture books and smart, touching stories can be used to jumpstart conversations, instill values, inspire action, and build hope and resilience.
Research tells us that kids who learn how to BounceBack from struggle or trauma become adults who approach life with a strong sense of hope and resilience. And we know that hopeful and resilient adults can work to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by modeling those skills and mindset.
It is our hope that these children’s books will spark conversations that help children practice considering alternative views and relate concepts in the stories to their own lives.
As children observe characters making decisions based on personal principles, and discuss these observations with caring adults, they may become more familiar and confident with their own ability to bounceback from challenging life events.
Finding BounceBack Books
BounceBack Books are everywhere. The selections in this collection are commonly-found picture books from contemporary and classic authors and illustrators. They are available in families’ at-home collections, at school and public libraries, in classrooms, viewable online as ebooks and audiobooks, and available in bookstores. Use this website to find book ideas, then pick up a BounceBack book and read together today. Use the question prompts for each book as a guide for discussion…no doubt you’ll be amazed and uplifted by the conversation as you work to build a child’s own sense of hope and ability to be resilient.
Each book entry in BounceBack Books displays links to popular booksellers and the World Cat online library database to help you find the nearest copy at local libraries. When available, the book entry links to an ebook version available from OpenLibrary.org.
Discussion Prompts
The richness of the BounceBack Book experience lies in the conversations that emerge from caregiver/child interactions. We’ve provided discussion prompts for every book in the BounceBack collection to help facilitate meaningful discussion and reflection as you read together with a child. Additionally, the following generic prompts can be used with any book to help get to the heart of the story of hopeful and resilient characters.
How did (character) overcome (challenge)?
How did (character) show (other character) (trait)?
Why do you think (character) did (action)? What’s something you would have/could have done in that same situation?
What do you think (character) learned?
This story showed a boy/girl/animal who was very good at (trait). Can you think of a time when you showed (trait)?
(Character) did (action), (action), and (action). What do you think this says about them?
Would you like to have (character) as a friend? Why?
How do you think (character) could have been more (trait)?