On April 23, 2025, on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day, the “Books that are good for you” project sponsored by APS CiaoLapo ETS in collaboration with CiaoLapo Foundation came to light.
“Books that are good for you” is a project to promote well-being and care for oneself and others through books and reading.The project is the result of a decade-long work in the field of psychological support and bibliotherapy with adults, expectant parents and families with young children, during which we have used essays, novels, picture books, poetry collections from time to time.
The #librichefannobene project brings together a rich selection of books that we use in our daily practice to accompany parents, families, and children in the delicate moments of life, such as pregnancy, bereavement, and the first thousand days, and practitioners in their training, refresher and supervision courses: there are almost two hundred titles that we have read, studied and field-tested over the past ten years.
We use #booksdogood in our bibliotherapy projects, in psychoeducation meetings, in training for practitioners, and more generally on all occasions when we realize that a book, that book, can make a difference to the well-being of the people in front of us.
It is with much joy that we finally offer our selection, the result of much work and great attention to all the details, to everyone: you can support our work by choosing your #librichefannobene in exchange for a donation.
The project
#librichefannobene is divided into six sections:
- PAROLEMADERS
- GOING THROUGH GRIEF
- MINDFULNESS
- ARCOBALENO
- POEM
- TRAINING
Each section may contain essays, novels, picture books, wordless books, poetry collections, and illustrated fiction.
Each book was chosen for its literary quality, for its ability to tell a story while accompanying the reader and leaving space for reflection, for its evocative ability, and for its ability to promote enrichment, blossoming and transformation.
Parolemadri
What are parolemadres?
I invented this word ten years ago after wondering for a long time what my favorite books had in common. The answer I came up with was the abundance of wordemadres.
“Mother words” are living, vital words; they are like seeds in spring, ready to sprout, bloom and transform the landscape.
“Mother words” are generating words: they contain deep meanings within them, and can generate new ones in those who read them.
The “wordsmiths” are simultaneously the festive garden in spring and the open windows that allow us to look out over the garden and watch it change as the daylight and seasons change.
The “wordmasters” are the keys we need to open the door and enter the garden, in all weather and conditions, helping us to fully inhabit it.
Finally, “wordmothers” are powerful symbols and metaphors, endowed with great evocative abilities, capable of taking us anywhere while we sit and hold a book on our lap.
The selection of illustrated books, graphic novels, poems, and novels you find in this section have in common an abundance of “parolemadres”: stories carefully told and words chosen to keep us company in all seasons and in all weather conditions.
Going through Grief
What does it mean to go through grief?
Can a book really help us process great grief?
We have selected books that are as precious as little lights in the midst of darkness.
Mourning is a profound experience that touches every part of us: mind, body, emotions, relationships. There is no one-size-fits-all way to deal with this transformative, painful and complex experience: each of us walks at our own pace, in our own shoes, at our own pace, and that’s okay. To go through grief, however, it is important to have a map to understand what path we are taking, a compass to orient us when we feel lost, and a small survival kit to take care of us, our bodies and our souls. Books, whether novels, essays, poetry collections or picture books are an essential part of the survival kit: they are safe spaces to find shelter, where we can pause, reflect, recognize ourselves and flourish, even in the midst of the storm. Books about mourning help us to name grief, to welcome it without judgment, to gently transform it. Reading in grief is an act of healing: the words written by others, the pictures drawn by others can become lights on our map, and illuminate our path, restoring a margin of meaning to the most senseless of human experiences.
Mindfulness
What is mindfulness?
Can I really learn it by reading?
Here you will find books for making space, centering and finding yourself.
Books for cultivating well-being, moment by moment.
Mindfulness is a very ancient practice: born as a sati in the Buddhist tradition, thanks to its benefits it has spread all over the world and is currently used as a therapeutic tool for the treatment of disorders such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain, and more generally for stress management and promoting well-being. Numerous scientific studies emphasize the benefits brought by mindfulness during pregnancy, in the first thousand days, to both adults and children: bringing mindfulness into daily life helps reduce stress, increase awareness, and improve emotional well-being. Mindfulness teaches us to bring our full and kind attention to the present moment, without automatism or judgment: it teaches us to slow down, to breathe mindfully, to observe what is happening inside and outside of us, with curiosity and acceptance.
In this section you will find essays, picture books and poetry collections that are real tools for practicing mindfulness and reducing the impact of stress on our lives. The books I have chosen are silent companions at times when we need to find our center again.
Reading with attention and presence is itself an act of mindfulness. Good practice.
Rainbow
What does a parent look like?
When is a baby born?
When does one become a parent?
What does it mean to expect a baby?
What happens to parents if a child is missing from the roll call?
And for subsequent siblings, what does it mean to be born after bereavement?
A thousand questions and very few answers are generated around birth, childbearing and parenthood: birth still retains a part of mystery, parenthood is a road that is not always linear, the desire for a child does not necessarily correspond to the arrival of a child, and the desire is hardly matched by the arrival of the child exactly as we had thought and dreamed it.
What we have long known is that children are born in the minds of parents, in the form of desire, sometimes conscious, sometimes not, long, long before their actual birth.
We have long known that the first thousand days, those from conception to two years after birth, are extremely important, both for children and parents: it is during that time that the foundations are laid for the mental, physical and social health of children, but also for the well-being of their caregivers.
For this reason, pregnancy, the time of waiting, is not a passive time, but rather it is a time full of movement: in pregnancy there are revolutions, fantasies, sometimes fears or ancient pains that come back to visit us, and all this happens, in the everyday, even if we do not think about it. Pregnancy is the time when the desire, the child imagined in the imagination takes shape and grows, and it is the time when parents prepare for the changes that inevitably small children, bring with them, in every case and in every situation.
Expectant parents still make a journey into the depths of existence: they need a village and books that are really good for them to enjoy their journey fully.
Poetry
What is poetry good for?
Exactly as with picture books and especially wordless books, poetry can initially have a repelling effect, seeming too complicated, too lofty, too strange.
Instead, poetry is above all words that become a gift, whispers that make space, silent embrace.
Poetry has a unique potential: it can say the unspeakable, it can restore form and rhythm to what we perceive as confused, fragmented, silent. It does not offer answers, but, if anything, asks the right questions; it does not explain anything, (it is not an instruction booklet), but it opens. In poetry, language is essential; words are stripped of the superfluous and all the affectations we use in everyday life and resonate in their exact authenticity. Reading (and writing) poetry is also an exercise in deep meditation and connection with oneself and the world, a way to listen to oneself, to observe the world from new angles, to make subtle and deep connections.
Poetry spans, integral and vital, times, cultures and existences, and is capable of accompanying every stage of life, from sorrow to joy, from emptiness to rebirth. It is intimate but also shareable, personal and universal. Poetry reminds us that a few words, carefully chosen, can leave lasting traces and allow us to return home.
Training
What is perinatal psychology?
Is it really necessary to know how to work on trauma and life stories to care for parents and children?
To delve into the vast and varied world of perinatal psychology is to gain a close understanding of the delicate emotional, relational, and neurobiological processes that accompany birth, parenthood, and coming into the world. Perinatal psychology is a relatively young area of psychology, yet it cannot be improvised and requires continuous, lengthy and in-depth study. To work in the perinatal field, it is very important to acquire specific skills as in-depth as possible, but also to cultivate attentive and deep listening, a genuine interest in all the life stories we encounter in the word room. Knowing and understanding perinatal trauma-which can touch parents, children, caregivers-is essential to providing respectful, informed, and truly transformative care. Psychotraumatology applied to the perinatal period helps to recognize the signs of distress, to accompany without invading, to support without judging. In this selection of texts you will find tools, research and clinical looks capable of combining theory and practice, science and human presence.
When we work with people, and especially when we meet people in difficult moments of their lives, studying with care and dedication is an act of responsibility: starting from the texts left to us by the teachers and teachers who have dealt with perinatal care before us helps us build a solid foundation for working alongside families, in their most intense and vulnerable moments, with respect, expertise and heart.
Support our work, choose your #librichefannobene in exchange for a donation, at this page.
