Health on the Shelf

‘Health on the Shelf’ in partnership with Libraries Tasmania is a collection of suggested picture and story books for young children and fictional books for young readers. The collection hopes to increase understanding of food, eating, growing up, body confidence, diversity and joyful ways to move bodies through reading. It is a resource for both parents and educators. You can print a copy of the list

Early Childhood and Lower Primary School Age Books

Top tip for parents: Talking and sharing stories with babies and children is important for their development. Don’t worry if your reading’s not the best.

You can give your child a great start by talking, singing, playing and sharing simple books together.

Tips:

use the pictures to tell a story
talk slowly
make sounds and use different voices to create fun and excitement
point to the pictures as well as the words
let children ask questions or guess what’s going to happen in the story
let children turn the pages
make it fun and an enjoyable time together
make some time every day.

Using storybooks, you can talk about:

colour and shape using different vegetables and fruits
togetherness and sharing through stories about eating as a family and with friends
difference by showing how each family and culture does not eat or do things the same way
who we are through understanding what we eat is about culture and history
how food is grown and prepared
looking after the world through exploring food waste and use of water
movement through understanding what our bodies can do.

Books about growing, cooking and eating food, colour, shape and days of the week

Title	Author	About the book
Lunch	Denise Flemming	A hungry mouse eating vegetables and fruit
The Beastly Feast	Bruce Goldstone	A group of animal friends sharing a meal
Eating the Alphabet	Lois Ehlert	All about the ABC's
Growing Vegetable Soup	Lois Ehlert	All about growing vegetables and making soup to eat
The Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle	Eating different foods and days of the week
Strawberries are red	Petr Horacek	Explore colour using fruit
Ten Scared Fish	Ros Moriarty and Balarinji	A book about numbers and animals illustrated with Aboriginal images
I Like Fruit	Lorena Siminovich	About enjoying foods, getting involved in growing foods
I Like Peas	Lorena Siminovich	About enjoying vegetables, getting involved in growing foods
Cook it!	George Birkett	Cooking food
Grow it!	George Birkett	Growing food
In the garden	Leslie Bockol	Children enjoying growing and eating fruit and vegetables
Blueberries for Sal	Robert McCloskey	A girl and her mother picking fruit to store for the winter
Kindy kitchen : where fruit and vegies come to life	Jessica Rossman	Fun and interactive rhymes about food
Handa’s surprise	Eileen Browne	Explore cultural diversity through food
Green Eggs and Ham	Dr Seuss	Humorous book about trying new foods
I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato	Lauren Child	Trying new foods
Gregory, The Terrible Eater	Mitchell Sharmat	Trying new foods
What if vegetables were people	Kate Wengier	Creating fun, positive associations with vegetables
What if fruit were animals	Kate Wengier	Creating fun, positive associations with fruit
What's growing	Kate Wengier	About growing food
At my family table	Mandy Dos Santos	Eating together

Books about active play and having fun outdoors

Title	Author	About the book
Grandpa and Thomas	Pamela Allen	Going to the beach for a play and sharing a picnic
Dancing with Grandma	Rosemary Nastnak	Dancing and dressing up fun with grandma
I Can Do It	Jana Novotny Hunter	Exploring all the things to do on the first day of preschool
Josephine wants to dance	Jackie French	Everyone can have dreams to do what they want
Brontorina	James Howe	A dinosaur who wants to be a ballerina
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt	Michael Rosen	Using imagination and getting active
Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Ride, Ride, Ride Your Bike	Wes Magee	Nursery rhymes to encourage active play
Yes We Can	Sam McBratney and Charles Fuge	Using imagination to encourage being active
The Patchwork Bike	Maxine Beneba Clarke and Van T Rudd	Getting creative and having fun building a bike from scratch
How to catch a star	Oliver Jeffers	A boy working out how to catch a star and not giving up

Books about looking after your body and diversity

Title	Author	About the book
Your body is awesome	Sigrun Danielsdottir	Positive body image and body diversity (all ages)
Shapesville	Andy Mills and Becky Osborn	Body confidence and body diversity
What I like about me!	Allia Zobel Nolan	Everyone is different and that is normal
Love Your Body	Jessica Sanders and Carol Rossetti	Body confidence and body diversity
When I’m feeling loved	Trace Maloney	About love and friendships
I like myself	Karen Beaumont	Body confidence and liking yourself
When I’m feeling scared	Trace Maloney	Understanding feelings
My Friend Bear	Jez Alborough	A book about loneliness and friendship
Round Fish Square Bowl	Tom Skinner	Growing up and and fitting in
The First Day	Margaret Wild	First day a school
The huge bag of worries	Virginia Ironside	How to prioritise everyday worries and how to give them to other people. Managing anxiety.
The Very Best of Friends	Margaret Wild	Friendship and growing up on a farm
The Tooth Book	Dr Seuss	About looking after your teeth
Loving Comfort	Julie Dillemuth	A toddler weaning story
Mama's milk is all gone	Ann Pauline Vernon	Breastfeeding and weaning
Lola's new cousin	Luana Towney	A breastfeeding story (Tasmanian author)
It's okay to be different	Todd Parr	About celebrating difference
The feel good book	Todd Parr	What makes you feel good
My country	Ezekiel Kwaymullina illustrated by Sally Morgan.	A story of country
I'm Australian too	Mem Fox	Families from different places who make Australia home
My two blankets	Irena Kobald	A story of fleeing a war torn country and settling in Australia (comes in multiple languages)
Family Forest	Kim Kane	Celebrating all different types of families using an engaging story
The goanna was hungry and other stories	The Spinifex writing camp with Sally Morgan	Friendship and loyalty and a scary goanna
Charlie the Caterpillar	Dom Deluise and Christopher Santoro	Friendship and difference
I love my hair	Natasha Anastasia Tarpley	Body confidence (about very curly hair)
I don’t want curly hair	Laura Ellen Anderson	A story about not wanting curly hair but grows to accept it
The girl who never made mistakes	Mark Pett	A story about a girl who learns the value in not having to be perfect

Young Readers

Reading is an important skill for children to learn. Through books and stories, children can learn about people, places, different ideas and new things to try. This will help them navigate their way through life and problem solve. These books are suitable for young readers.

Books about life and growing up

Title	Author	About the book
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley	Colin Thompson	Body diversity, acceptance and big picture thinking about life (a picture book suitable for upper primary and high school children)
Diary of a Wimpy kid (series)	Jeff Kinney	A humorous look at growing up and fitting in
Short	Holly Goldberg Sloan	A story of self-discovery and the value of role models
Hello Universe	Erin Entrada Kelly	Kids helping each other when a prank goes wrong
Hatchet Series	Gary Paulson	Series of books about a boys adventure in the wilderness
Boy Overboard	Morris Glietzman	Overcoming adversity to succeed
The first third	Will Kostakis	Family and growing up
The terrible thing that happened to Barnaby Brocket	Boyne	A story about being different and finding ways to overcome this
The lost girl	Ambelin Kwaymullina and Leanne Tobin	A young girl is lost and finds her way home to family. Explores traditional Aboriginal kinship groups.
One photo	Ross Watkins	Explores aging

Books about being active and having fun

Title	Author	About the book
Nips IX	Ruth Starke	Sport and multiculturalism
Play like a girl series	Jo Stanley	A series of books about girls playing sport like Australian Rules Football

Books about diversity and body confidence

Title	Author	About the book
A smart girls’ guide to liking herself – even on the bad days	Laurie Zelinger	Exploring self-esteem in a more complex way
Your body is awesome	Sigrun Danielsdottir	Positive body image and body diversity (a picture book suitable for all ages)
Shapesville	Andy Mills and Becky Osborn	Body confidence and body diversity (a picture book)
Who We Are!: All About Being the Same and Being Different	Robie H Harris	A book about diversity (upper primary)
Smile	Raina Telgemeier	About a girl who has her front teeth knocked out, dealing with body changes and friendships
Sex is a funny word	Cory Silverberg	A comic book that includes children and families of all makeups, orientations, and gender identities
Wonder	R Palacio	The funny, sweet and incredibly moving story of Auggie Pullman. Born with a terrible facial abnormality
Deenie	Judy Blume	About a girl with scoliosis who find out beautify isn’t as important as she was told (12 years and up)
Girl stuff 8-12	Kaz Cooke	Body changes, friendships, confidence and more
Parvana	Deborah Ellis	A story based on real life of a girl growing up in Afghanistan
The Magnificent Toby Plum	Deirdre Cowman and Deirdre Ryan	Celebrating difference and how to stop comparing yourself to others
The Beauty is in the Walking	James Moloney	Jacob has cerebral palsy but in this small town a mystery needs to be solved and justice done, it's up to Jacob