What’s Inside Your Backpack?

A supportive read-aloud that helps children recognize the emotional ‘load’ they carry from difficult life experiences and find healthy ways to lighten it.

$10.95

Because kids
carry more than
backpacks

$10.95

Brilliant... not only for kids

“I highly recommend this book for any caregiver, teacher, counselor, or psychologist. You'll find gems of wisdom for yourself as well!”

– Kristen

Verified Purchase Amazon Review

“Teaching our youth early how to attune to their bodies and to learn helpful ways to manage the stress associated with their experiences is a powerful tool! What a great resource for parents and educators."

– Kristin Souers

Co-Author of Fostering Resilient Learners

Do you know a child who carries a heavy load?

“Such a sweet book about some big, sad feelings. I believe this will be so helpful to many children and adults. Five out of five stars.”

– TJ

Verified Purchase Amazon Review

Brilliant... not only for kids

“I highly recommend this book for any caregiver, teacher, counselor, or psychologist. You'll find gems of wisdom for yourself as well!”

– Kristen

Verified Purchase Amazon Review

“Teaching our youth early how to attune to their bodies and to learn helpful ways to manage the stress associated with their experiences is a powerful tool! What a great resource for parents and educators."

– Kristin Souers

Co-Author of Fostering Resilient Learners

Do you know a child who carries a heavy load?

“Such a sweet book about some big, sad feelings. I believe this will be so helpful to many children and adults. Five out of five stars.”

– TJ

Verified Purchase Amazon Review

About the Book

Setting Aside What We're Not Meant to Carry

All around us, children are carrying backpacks that are heavy with more than just textbooks. Each day, they also bear the weight of difficult life experiences and intense feelings.

Zoey Harmon just wants to feel light-hearted and carefree. Unfortunately, she keeps getting weighed down by pesky “books” in her backpack, like Worry and Shame. Much to her surprise, she’s not the only one! Zoey learns that the adults in her life deal with difficult feelings too! Luckily, they have some ideas that can help her set aside the books she’s not meant to carry. Will it be enough to help her unload the heaviest book of all?

While there are no quick fixes for all of life’s complex problems, What’s Inside Your Backpack? highlights some of the ways we can nurture resilience in body and mind. Using the metaphor of books and bookmarks, author Jessica Sinarski offers gentle, effective strategies to help children impacted by trauma. By sharing their burdens with people they trust, kids can lighten their load and realize just how strong and courageous they really are!

Loved By

Parents

This book offers a hopeful way to talk about hard experiences and remind children they are not carrying them alone.

Elementary Educators

Helps elementary students name the emotional weight they carry, build empathy for one another, and feel supported in the classroom.

Counselors

Provides a gentle, visual way for children to explore anxiety, shame, and trauma while supporting regulation, trust-building, and healing through connection.

Connection & Belonging

Because every child carries something in their “backpack,” this book helps them feel seen, heard, and supported.

Powerful, emotionally resonant metaphor

Using the image of a backpack to represent feelings like fear, shame, and anxiety, the story makes hidden struggles easier to see and talk about in a safe, age-appropriate way.

Powerful, emotionally resonant metaphor

Using the image of a backpack to represent feelings like fear, shame, and anxiety, the story makes hidden struggles easier to see and talk about in a safe, age-appropriate way.

Relatable experiences that spark meaningful conversations

Zoey is facing real-life challenges that resonate with students, which can open the door to honest conversations about big feelings.

Relatable experiences that spark meaningful conversations

Zoey is facing real-life challenges that resonate with students, which can open the door to honest conversations about big feelings.

Brain-based and trauma-informed

Rooted in emotional regulation and attachment science, the book helps children make sense of their own reactions while reinforcing the importance of safe, supportive relationships.

Brain-based and trauma-informed

Rooted in emotional regulation and attachment science, the book helps children make sense of their own reactions while reinforcing the importance of safe, supportive relationships.

Flexible for multiple settings

It works beautifully in classrooms, small groups, therapy sessions, and school-wide SEL efforts. It can be read aloud once to encourage dialogue or used repeatedly to guide reflection and healing.

Flexible for multiple settings

It works beautifully in classrooms, small groups, therapy sessions, and school-wide SEL efforts. It can be read aloud once to encourage dialogue or used repeatedly to guide reflection and healing.

Coping with Big Feelings

This straight-forward story arms parents and educators with a tool for talking with children about the heavy feelings they’re carrying. It’s an incredibly timely book that’s so relatable, which means it’s bound to help start important conversations of hope and healing for many.

– Julie Beem, Executive Director, Attachment & Trauma Network, Inc.