Resources for Families Affected by IncarcerationLike this list

24 items

• Missing Daddy

  Kaba, Mariame

  Add Missing Daddy to your for later shelf

• Far Apart, Close in Heart

  Being a Family When a Loved One Is Incarcerated

  Birtha, Becky, 1948-

  Add Far Apart, Close in Heart to your for later shelf

  This book is an excellent entry to discuss incarceration in an age-appropriate way or as a tool for children as they work through their complicated feelings.

• Visiting Day

  Woodson, Jacqueline

  Add Visiting Day to your for later shelf

  This picture book for children tells the story of a young girl and her grandmother visiting the girl's father in prison.

• The Night Dad Went to Jail

  What to Expect When Someone You Love Goes to Jail

  Higgins, Melissa, 1953-

  Add The Night Dad Went to Jail to your for later shelf

  This picture book for children tells the story of a young child whose father has been incarcerated.

• Knock Knock

  My Dad's Dream for Me

  Beaty, Daniel

  Add Knock Knock to your for later shelf

  In this picture book for children a boy wakes up one morning to find his father gone. At first, he feels lost. But his father has left him a letter filled with advice to guide him through the times he cannot be there.

• Mama Loves Me From Away

  Brisson, Pat

  Add Mama Loves Me From Away to your for later shelf

  This picture book for children tells the story of a mother and daughter separated by the mother's incarceration and the special way they keep their loving relationship alive.

• Sunny Holiday

  Paratore, Coleen, 1958-

  Add Sunny Holiday to your for later shelf

  In this children's chapter book, spunky third-grader Sunny Holiday tries to make the best out of every situation, and even though her father is in prison, she and her mother count their blessings and manage to find joy in every day.

• All the Things You Are

  Sheinmel, Courtney

  Add All the Things You Are to your for later shelf

  This children's chapter book is written in an easy style and features interesting relationships. It accurately portrays the process of arrest, a prison experience, and the resulting issues that come up with friends, family, and neighbors. The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Year the Swallows Came Early

  Fitzmaurice, Kathryn

  Add The Year the Swallows Came Early to your for later shelf

  In this chapter book for children, 11 year old, Groovy Robinson must decide if she can forgive the failings of someone she loves, after her father is sent to jail.

• Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart

  the Story of Amber and Essie Told Here in Poems and Pictures

  Williams, Vera B.

  Add Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart to your for later shelf

  In this chapter book for children, two sisters help each other deal with life while their mother is working and their father has been sent to jail.

• Freaky Fast Frankie Joe

  Clifton, Lutricia

  Add Freaky Fast Frankie Joe to your for later shelf

  This children's book is about Frankie Joe, whose mother goes to jail, and he must move from Texas to Illinois to live with his father and four half brothers. Frankie Joe is an appealing, resilient character who, in spite of his resentment and anger,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Harry Sue

  Stauffacher, Sue, 1961-

  Add Harry Sue to your for later shelf

  This children's chapter book is about tough-talking Harry Sue who would like to start a life of crime in order to be find her incarcerated mother, but first she must first protect the children at her neglectful grandmother's home day care center…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• What Will Happen to Me?

  Zehr, Howard

  Add What Will Happen to Me? to your for later shelf

  This book for teens and adults brings together photographic portraits of 30 children whose parents are incarcerated, along with their thoughts and reflections, in their own words.

• Mexican Whiteboy

  de la Peña, Matt

  Add Mexican Whiteboy to your for later shelf

  In this teen chapter book, sixteen-year-old Danny searches for his identity amidst the confusion of being half-Mexican and half-white while spending a summer with his cousin and new friends on the baseball fields and back alleys of San Diego County,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• After Tupac and D Foster

  Woodson, Jacqueline

  Add After Tupac and D Foster to your for later shelf

  This teen chapter book takes place in the New York City borough of Queens in 1996, three girls bond over their shared love of Tupac Shakur's music, as together they try to make sense of the unpredictable world in which they live.

• Do Not Pass Go

  Hill, Kirkpatrick

  Add Do Not Pass Go to your for later shelf

  In this chapter book for older children and teens, Deet's father is jailed for using drugs, Deet learns that prison is not what he expected, nor are other people necessarily the way he thought they were.

• The Not-just-anybody Family

  Byars, Betsy Cromer

  Add The Not-just-anybody Family to your for later shelf

  In this chapter book for children, Maggie and Vern try to settle family problems, including a young brother in the hospital, a grandfather in jail, and their mother traveling with a rodeo, .

• Tyrell

  Booth, Coe

  Add Tyrell to your for later shelf

  In this chapter book for teens, fifteen-year-old Tyrell, who is living in a Bronx homeless shelter with his spaced-out mother and his younger brother, tries to avoid temptation so he does not end up in jail like his father.

• Doing Time Together

  Love and Family in the Shadow of the Prison

  Comfort, Megan

  Add Doing Time Together to your for later shelf

  Doing Time Together vividly details the ways that prisons shape and infiltrate the lives of women with loved ones on the inside.

• Sesame Street- Incarceration Toolkit

  View on sesamestreet.org

  The incarceration of a loved one can be very overwhelming for both children and caregivers. Here are some tools from Sesame Street to help you with the changes your child is going through.