A sense of self - books for kids to learn about "me"

We've been working very hard recently updating our page of children's booklists, adding a few extra book titles to those already there, and creating some completely new lists. Two of these are aimed at helping children to identify and develop their sense of self. Thanks to my colleague Iain Riley for creating these.

All about me Many children want to know “All about me” and there are picture books to encourage the youngest children to explore their sense of self - the "Charlie and Lola" book shown, for example, in which Lola likes to think she’s independent. Big brother Charlie knows that being all on your own isn’t always much fun, but Lola has to work that out for herself. There are also poetry books for older children and, moving from the philosophical to the anatomical, a section on looking at the human body in novel ways.

Dear diary Get students to write about their own lives, perhaps in a diary format. This list has some books we hope will inspire them. For younger children, there are picture books such as Jackie French's  Diary of a wombat. The wombat sleeps, eats and scratches. She trains humans to be better pets. It's the diary of a wombat with attitude! For older children, the Jacqueline Wilson title shown is included. It's an exciting account of her teenage years, full of revealing diary extracts – perfect for her many thousands of fans.

Library staff hope you find these suggestions helpful - we are always interested to hear about titles we could add to these, or any of our lists, or suggestions for new themes we could cover. Just let us know!