A Small Kindness

A Small Kindness by Stacy McAnulty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kindness is like "a game of tag," and every one of us can pass it on to someone else.

A delightful story, with illustrations reminiscent of Trudy Ludwig's The Invisible Boy, where kindness spreads color as the tale progresses. It's set at an elementary school with a very diverse class of students (and teacher) with varying hair and skin colors, as well as a child who uses a walker and another with a hearing aid.

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The Rabbit Listened

The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When birds knock Taylor’s magnificent building block creation down, Taylor’s animal friends come by one at a time to offer comfort, but it isn’t until Rabbit snuggles up and sits quietly that Taylor feels ready to process the grief, going through all the stages and techniques suggested by the previous animals. “Through it all, the rabbit never left. And when the time was right, the rabbit listened to Taylor’s plan to build again.”

I hope I can be someone’s rabbit. 

This is one of the loveliest books about coping with grief that I've ever seen. 

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The Three Billy Goats Buenos

The Three Billy Goats Buenos by Susan Middleton Elya
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This lovely rendition of the three billy goats gruff has the third goat asking *why* the troll is so unhappy and mean. Instead of just tricking her, he gets the first two goats to help him pull a thorn from her toe and make a salve to put on it, then bring her some apples to eat (instead of goats!). It becomes a story of kindness, compassion, and friendship.

The text is mostly English but with many key words in Spanish. I love the rhythm and rhyming scheme and how the Spanish words flow seamlessly within the structure, letting young readers figure out many of the bilingual words based on context. The author also provides a glossary at the beginning.

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Listening With My Heart: A Story of Kindness and Self-Compassion

Listening With My Heart: A Story of Kindness and Self-Compassion by Gabi Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Esperanza finds a heart-shaped rock and is inspired to share love and kindness, which comes full circle when she makes a mistake and needs help remembering to show herself kindness and compassion as well.

It's a sweet story with a direct message that models simple ways even children can demonstrate compassion. A bit more plot or character development would have bumped my rating to 5 stars, but the message earns every bit of the 4 stars! I absolutely love that nearly all the characters have varying shades of brown skin. It's a very positive, healing book to read with children.

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The Girl and the Bicycle

The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely LOVE this sweet, wordless book about a girl who spies a bicycle in a store window and does chores all year to earn money to buy it, only to discover it's no longer available. She chooses kindness and generosity to her little brother instead, despite her overwhelming disappointment. And there is a surprise waiting for her at the neighbor's house when the children return home.

I checked this out from the library last week, and my son has been fetching it, asking to read it to me--yes, I have my kids tell ME what's happening on each page--every single night since then. That makes my librarian-mama's heart so happy!!

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Enemy Pie

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a story about a little boy who experiences jealousy when a new boy moves in next door to his best friend and invites the friend to play but not him. He decides the new boy is his enemy. Thankfully, he has a wise father who suggests feeding the new boy Enemy Pie, which is guaranteed to get rid of enemies. The catch is, he has to play nicely with the boy all day first, before they eat the pie. Unsurprisingly, playing all day teaches the boy that the new kid is not that bad...in fact, he's pretty great! Enemy pie becomes friend pie that the boys and the dad share together after dinner--delicious!

Ultimately, this is a story about how kindness and spending time getting to know a stranger breaks down barriers and heals misunderstandings. I read (watched) the TumbleBooks version of this book, so I'm not sure what the static pages look like, but it looked to me like the characters were all white males, although hair and eyes were brown, so it's hard to tell for sure.

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We Don't Eat Our Classmates

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Penelope Rex is nervous about her first day of school--will her classmates like her? Poor Penelope has a hard time making friends, especially when she keeps eating her classmates (because children are delicious!). It's not until the class goldfish gives her a taste of her own medicine that Penelope learns how to treat others as she'd like to be treated.

This book is HILARIOUS, as per usual for Ryan T. Higgins' books. I bought it just before my daughter started kindergarten, when she was getting nervous about what school would be like. It is a great way to teach empathy and kindness through humor, and there is so much to look at on every page that it bears endless re-readings.

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