Tender Press Books

Tender PRess Books

MISSION

Tender Press Books is a coalition of social workers and psychologists from the University of Michigan and Arizona State University who have specialized interest and training in supporting relational health, from conception through adulthood. Our aim is to support caregivers of young children in meeting the emotional needs of infants and young children. We began by developing a coloring book, Cecilia and the Long Walk, for children who were separated from their parents as a result of the 2018 family separation immigration policy. We have now released a new coloring book to address children's fears, worries and misunderstanding about COVID-19, Georgie and the Giant Germ.

In upcoming weeks and months, we will continue to post materials aimed to help little children and their caregivers talk about and manage big emotions.

Cecilia and the Long Walk

A children’s story - Cecilia and the Long Walk - is meant to help children understand their recent experience of being separated from their parents/hearing about other children being separated from their parents, providing language to help organize internal confusion and terror. The story is presented as a coloring book, with version available in both English and Spanish.

Georgie and the Giant Germ

Children may struggle to understand COVID-19. In the absence of concrete explanations, in words they can understand, children can often imagine the worst, and blame themselves for the changes they are experiencing. Georgie and the Giant Germ was developed to support caregivers and children in having conversations about the pandemic and to give children a way to express and manage their worries.