20+ Best-Selling Books That Spark Confidence in Students

It is vital that students learn social emotional skills like confidence, compassion, resilience, and responsibility. This collection from Scholastic features titles that teach confidence to children.

Activists Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab present a poetic anthem to your brilliance, your beauty, your very existence.

In this inspiring tribute to Black girl pride and excellence, a young child discovers her place in a radiant heritage. As she meets twelve extraordinary Black women-historic and contemporary heroines who have blazed a trail for her own future success-she internalizes their strength and sets out to change the world in her own way. Just like them, she can reach her dreams. And readers will discover that they can reach theirs too.

A joyful, poetic celebration and ode to all bright brown baby boys. With bouncing, rhythmic text from New York Times bestselling author Andrea Davis Pinkney and tender, charming illustrations from Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney, this tender affirmation is the perfect way to rejoice and teach your child that they truly are a star!

YOU are your ancestors' wildest dreams. How will you express YOUR greatness? Perfect for fans of I Am Every Good Thing, Little Legends, and All Because You Matter.

This hilarious installment in Ross Burach"s Very Impatient Caterpillar series playfully encourages readers to love who they are, while also illuminating the importance of pollinators to our ecosystem.

A heartwarming and inspirational story about chasing your dreams and never giving up by gold-medal-winning Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez.

In another inspiring and lyrical picture book that deftly dives into the psyche and heart of a child's viewpoint and experience, the creator of Lala's Words, Gracey Zhang, offers confidence to everyone who longs to master something that can be difficult and shows that there is only one way to do something right: that is to do it your own special way.

Dave the bear lives in the shadow of his brother, Clarence. Clarence is tall, handsome, bold, and brave. Dave...isn't. Dave wonders if he'll ever live up to his brother's example, until he finds a special talent that's all his own.

With light-footed rhymes and high-stepping illustrations, this tale is gentle inspiration for every child with dreams of greatness.

Lyrical, affirmational, and bursting with love, We Are Here is a poignant story about Black and brown heritage and community. Full of assurance, tenderness, and triumph, this much-anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling picture book All Because You Matter offers an equally inspirational and arresting ode to all of the Black women and men throughout history who have made momentous contributions from the beginning of time.

Declarative text and bright visuals coach readers to practice empahty. “A lively conversation about individuality, diversity, and acceptance”-SLJ

On a simple trip to the park, the joy of music overtakes a mother and daughter. The little girl hears a rhythm coming from the world around her— from butterflies, to street performers, to ice cream sellers everything is musical! She sniffs, snaps, and shakes her way into the heart of the beat, finally busting out in an impromptu dance, which all the kids join in on!

I Color Myself Different is a joyful ode to Black and Brown lives based on real events in young Colin's life that is perfect for every reader's bookshelf. It's a story of self-discovery, staying true to one's self, and advocating for change... even when you're very little!

Sally notices everything, from the 27 keys on the janitor's ring to the bullying happening on the playground. One day, Sally has had enough and decides to make herself heard. When she takes a chance and stands up to the bullies, she finds that one small girl can change the world.

This celebration of curiosity and creativity, with its funny, joyful illustrations full of kid-friendly details, makes a great gift to commemorate any milestone.

Garden Glen is a very bland place. Every house and every garden looks exactly like the other. That is... until Millie Fleur La Fae comes to town.

When Things Aren't Going Right, Go Left makes an inspiring graduation gift as well as a must-have, uplifting read sure to bring positivity to all who read it and remind us that even when nothing is going right... we can always choose to go left.

Positively bursting with energy and imagination, this ode to self-esteem encourages kids to appreciate everything about themselves, inside and out. Messy hair? Beaver breath? So what! This little girl knows that being proud of being you is the most important thing to remember.

Molly Lou Melon is short and clumsy and has buckteeth and a voice that sounds like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor. But armed with the encouraging words of her grandmother, Molly Lou confidently confronts the class bully at her new school. A not-to-be missed story for the less-than-perfect part of everyone!

In a sweetly appealing tale of overcoming your fears, newcomer Gaia Cornwall captures a moment between a patient and encouraging father and a determined little boy you can't help but root for.

Each heroic figure is interconnected by a united quest for equity, and offers young readers a stirring, inspirational call to action, reminding them that they are mighty too, and can be forces for change when they stand up!

This inclusive picture book rejoices in the specialness of each person's beauty and ability. "Affirming and welcome"-Kirkus

An inclusive poem of self-acceptance is warmed by radiant portraits of young women of color. “Gentle and worthy” -SLJ

Beautiful breaks barriers by showing girls free to be themselves: splashing in mud, conducting science experiments, and reading books under a flashlight with friends.

Drawing is what Ramon does. It's what makes him happy. But in one split second, all that changes. A single reckless remark by Ramon's older brother, Leon, turns Ramon's carefree sketches into joyless struggles. Luckily for Ramon, though, his little sister, Marisol, sees the world differently. She opens his eyes to something a lot more valuable than getting things just "right."

Boo-hoo! Mimi is not having a good day. She can't get her pigtails to sit right, she's not in the mood for her favorite breakfast, and she's far from feeling like her usual self. Mimi has a case of the Blahs, where nothing feels quite right. With the help of Penelope, her magical toy dog and best friend, she sets out to find a way to get rid of this icky feeling. Will Mimi reclaim her spark, or will the Blahs get the best of her?

With a simple, witty story and free-spirited illustrations, Peter H. Reynolds entices even the stubbornly uncreative among us to make a mark, and to follow where it takes us.

Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she never eats them. Why? Because the other kids in her school don't like them. Camilla Cream is very worried about what other people think about her, but at the very moment she most wants to fit in, she becomes completely covered in colorful stripes! Worse yet, she seems to change colors to match whatever is happening around her. When the class says the Pledge of Allegiance, she turns red, white, and blue! Instead of blending in, she's standing out.

In this splashy, rhythmic celebration of the wonders of life, Walter Dean Myer's hypnotic text combines with his son's fresh photo-collage illustrations to create a new picture book about self-esteem and growing up with an urban beat.

Are you brave enough to be your true self? Ikarus Jackson is. But it isn't always easy. The people in his neighborhood point at his wings. The kids at school laugh. The teachers call him a distraction. One girl identifies with him, but she is too shy to speak up. Finally, when his classmates' taunts send Ikarus drifting into the sky, the girl sets out in search of him, and so begins her own journey of self-discovery, leaving both of them transformed.

 Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one,too,so it's probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school,where she's dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends,not-friends,and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session. Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful,charming,and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face - and conquer - her fears.

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached.

This is a gut-wrenching and riveting graphic novel memoir that reminds us to never stop dreaming, and is sure to inspire young readers everywhere.