The Children and Young Adult Department of BookCity Institute—a major cultural organization in Iran known for its public‑facing social responsibility programs—has released a new resource titled “A Guide to Supporting Children and Adolescents During and After Crisis,” along with a list of recommended books in Persian. This list is provided freely to families and the general public so they may obtain the books from any bookstore or source they prefer.
Research shows that during periods of crisis, maintaining familiar routines and spending time in safe, reliable environments can help reduce anxiety and restore a sense of security. For many families, a bookstore can serve as such a place: a calm setting for walking among the shelves, pausing to browse, talking together, and discovering books that open the way to conversation, empathy, and comfort.
This guide has been created for booksellers, educators, and families to help them select suitable books for supporting children and adolescents during difficult times. An appendix to the guide presents a curated list of 100 children’s and young adult titles from 34 different publishers, all in Persian. These books address themes such as recognizing and expressing emotions, resilience, hope, friendship, and coping with challenging experiences.
Reading can give children and teenagers a safe space to better understand their emotions, talk about what they feel, and realize that they are not alone in these experiences. Stories, in particular, offer a well‑established way to momentarily step back from daily pressures and can even become a bridge to better understanding what is happening within and around us.
The Children and Young Adult Department of BookCity hopes that this guide—together with the efforts of booksellers and families—can play a small role in strengthening dialogue, empathy, and resilience among children and adolescents in difficult times.
You can download the complete guide and the list of recommended books (in Persian) from the link below:
https://www.bookcity.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/BookCity-Recommended-Books.pdf
If you find this guide helpful, BookCity warmly encourages you to share it with family networks, friends, and colleagues so that more people can access appropriate resources for supporting children and young people.
Children and Young Adult Department
BookCity Institute
April 2026
