Books & Resources

Coach Ben teaches boys something most adults are still learning: asking for help is its own kind of strength.

A picture book for early readers — and a conversation starter for the families who read it with them.

Kirkus Reviews·Featured in Rolling Stone
Meet Coach Ben
Dr. Munib Rezaie
A Picture Book — Ages 4–8

A picture book about asking for help — before boys are too old to think that's allowed.

A boy is struggling, and he doesn't know how to say it. Coach Ben shows him something simple that turns out to be rare. For ages 4–8. A Kirkus-reviewed story about emotional courage — the kind that makes real strength possible.

Order the Book →Read more
About the Book
I wrote Coach Ben because I couldn't find the book I wanted to read with my sons.

Meet Coach Ben is a picture book for young readers (ages 4–8) about a boy who's struggling and doesn't know how to ask for help. Coach Ben — the kind of adult every child deserves — models something simple but rare: asking for help is strength, not weakness. That it's safe. That it works. That the people who matter will show up when you do.

I wrote it because the work I do with older boys always surfaces the same question: where was this earlier? The beliefs that make it hardest to reach teenage boys — that showing vulnerability is dangerous, that needing help means you're weak, that asking means failing — those aren't formed in high school. They're formed much earlier, in quiet moments, in the messages that come from the adults around them and the stories they're told. Meet Coach Ben is an answer to that question. It's the conversation that can start in the living room, years before a boy needs a counselor.

Why It Matters
Starts Early

The ideas in this book — that men ask for help, that strength includes vulnerability, that needing someone doesn't make you weak — are worth planting early. Very early. The research on emotional development is clear: the window for shaping these beliefs is wide open in the years before school, and it closes faster than most parents expect.

Starts a Conversation

This isn't a book you read once. It's a book you read together, come back to, and talk about. It's a way into a conversation most adults don't know how to start — what it means to ask for help, what makes it feel scary, what changes when you do it anyway. That conversation is worth having before it becomes urgent.

Backed by Research

The emotional skills in this book are the same ones the research consistently says predict better outcomes for boys — in school, in relationships, and in adulthood. Emotional literacy, the ability to name and regulate internal states, and trust in adults are among the strongest predictors of resilience. This book is a first step toward all three.

About the Author
Dr. Munib Rezaie
Dr. Munib Rezaie
PhD, Communication · MA, School Counseling

Dr. Munib Rezaie is a former school counselor and principal with a PhD in Communication and a master's in school counseling. He has spent more than a decade working directly with boys in K–12 schools — in individual sessions, classroom settings, and whole-school programs. He is the creator of the Redefining Masculinity curriculum and the author of coaching resources for parents and families.

Meet Coach Ben grew out of his work with boys in schools and his experience as the father of two boys. He wrote it because the question he kept hearing from parents — how do I get him to open up? — deserved a better starting point than middle school.

Ebooks for Parents & Educators

Practical guides for the adults in the room.

Evidence-informed ebooks for parents navigating day-to-day challenges and adults who want to model something better.

For Parents
Raising Better Boys

A comprehensive guide for parents navigating day-to-day challenges with boys — from emotional regulation to communication to building the relationship that lets you stay in the conversation.

Get the guide →
For Fathers & Mentors
Modeling Masculinity

A CBT-informed guide for the men in a boy's life — how to model the emotional availability, accountability, and self-awareness you want your son to develop. The work starts with you.

Get the guide →
For Educators & Parents
Helping Boys Grow

A 4-week self-guided workbook — an earlier version of the curriculum adapted for individual use. Good entry point for parents who want a structured process to work through with their son.

Get the workbook →