If you are a parent and…

…your child is incessantly fighting a cold–and I mean incessantly–I can certainly empathize! Every week it’s a new sniffle, a different cough, or a virus you never knew existed.

You watch the tissues creep to the top of the trash can, ready to cascade down and flood the bathroom. Your toddler has literally sneezed on your face more times than you can count. And you’re tired of hearing the dreaded five words when scooping up your feverish child from daycare early: “He can’t come back tomorrow.”

Now you feel as if your whole house needs to be dipped in vinegar to sanitize it, you haven’t slept more than two hours at a time in weeks, and in addition to the germs you’ve all developed serious cabin fever from being bedridden and quarantined.

Maybe, like me, you just need some enthralling picture books to brighten your day and help pass the time. Check out some of these stories about being sick. They’ll comfort your little one and remind you that you’re not the only one who feels one more sniffle might send you to tears!

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead

We love this one–a Caldecott Medal winner for illustrator Erin Stead. From the inside flap: “Amos McGee, a friendly zookeeper, always made time to visit his good friends: the elephant, the tortoise, the penguin, the rhinoceros, and the owl. But one day–‘Ah-choo!’–he woke with the sniffles and the sneezes. Though he didn’t make it into the zoo that day, he did receive some unexpected guests…”

Here are some other heartwarming titles:

Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson

Llama Llama Home with Mama by Anna Dewdney

The Flea’s Sneeze by Lynn Downey

A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon