This article describes how literature works therapeutically to help children cope with feelings of fear and other strong emotions. The author highlights three examples of children's literature that helped her reframe her own experiences and use the characters as models for personal development. The article highlights the research of Robert Brooks at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Gavin Francis, who is both a physician and a writer. Other insights from the folklorist Maria Tatar and the writer A.S. Byatt are provided as support for the main idea that we are drawn to stories as narratives of hope that help us process our lives.