Children's Books discussion

In February, we'll explore some inspiring and heartwarming books about Kindness and Generosity (February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day.)

This is the Master List and General Discussion for books on that theme.

Three books I've used in my classroom that are great:

How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids

Each Kindness

Kids' Random Acts of Kindness

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson


The Lady in the Box by Ann McGovern

The Kindness Quilt (6+)

Hank Finds an Egg (4+) (wordless)

Fly Free! (7+)

Because of You (4+)

Celia and the Sweet, Sweet Water (5+)

Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace (3+)

Age suggestions are from Amazon, and I take no responsibility.

Harlequin and the Gift of Many Colors by Remy Charlip One of the most beautiful books ever. The story is sweet - a story of friends giving unselfishly - a story that will warm your heart.

I love Each Kindness which has already been nominated. Here are some titles from my library catalog...most of which I haven't read.

Baby Be Kind. A board book, definitely aimed at babies/toddlers
One Winter's Day
The Berenstain Bears: Kindness Counts
Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed
Pinduli
How Kind!
Nico & Lola: Kindness Shared Between a Boy and a Dog
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids
Fly Free!
All for Me and None for All

I second the suggestion of Each Kindness, very impactful book. Other books I can think of:
Because Amelia Smiled
Rabbit's Gift
Enemy Pie
Beegu.

(Actually, among the first books to come to my mind were Crow Boy and either one of A Home for Bird or A Sick Day for Amos McGee, but then we are in Caldecott territory, so maybe not appropriate, right.)

I loved Enemy Pie.

I second Hank Finds an Egg
and How Kind!.

Brave Jack and the Unicorn also shows how kindness wins the day

Here are some I've found:

I See Kindness Everywhere

How to Heal a Broken Wing

One Smile

Miss Tizzy

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners

The Bear Who Shared

The Potato Chip Champ

Melissa Parkington's Beautiful, Beautiful Hair

Fritz and the Beautiful Horses

The Gold Coin

I know it's past the deadline for nominations, but I didn't see the 'vote here' post, so I'm hoping that these are still in time...

Dolly wrote: "I know it's past the deadline for nominations, but I didn't see the 'vote here' post, so I'm hoping that these are still in time... "

Absolutely, and thanks! :-) I was hoping to add a few of my own and then the "add book/author" link wasn't working on my old computer so I had to postpone until I could get my hands on the laptop. Sorry for the delay, everyone!

A few of my favorite books highlighting kindness:

Horton Hears a Who!

Mrs. Crump's Cat

Boxes for Katje

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch

What Do You Say, Dear? (perhaps a bit more about "politeness" than "kindness"--but I feel the two are related)

It is now time to VOTE for the five books you would most like to see chosen for our "Kindeness" themed reads.

Please choose from our official list above (messages 2-12) and list your top five choices in a comment here.

Votes will be accepted until January 22rd. Thank you!

My votes go to:

Brave Jack and the Unicorn
Each Kindness
Horton Hears a Who!
Fly Free!
Hank Finds an Egg

There were so many good ones! It was hard to choose this time.


Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch
Harlequin and The Gift of Many Colors
Fly Free!
The Lady in the Box
Each Kindness

my votes:

The Lady in the Box
Fly Free!
Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace
The Gold Coin
One Smile

My votes:

Hank Finds an Egg
How Kind!
Brave Jack and the Unicorn
Boxes for Katje
Horton Hears a Who!

Each Kindness
Brave Jack and the Unicorn
Fly Free!
Boxes for Katje
Pinduli

Each Kindness
Hank Finds an Egg
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch
Fly Free!
Pinduli

The votes are in! Here are the books we will read together in February:

Random Acts of Kindness Day is February 17th, and February the Picture Book Club will read books about kindness:

Brave Jack and the Unicorn

Each Kindness

Fly Free!

Hank Finds an Egg

Boxes for Katje

Sixth/Alternate (has a Valentine's focus, too):
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch

Best wishes in securing the titles and I look forward to our discussion in February!

This thread is now the Master List and General Discussion for the "Kindness" theme. Please feel welcome to continue posting suggestions and/or reviews of books that fit that theme.

Here are some more kindness books:

Three Magic Balloons by Julianna Margulies
The Fairiest Fairy by Anne Booth
Tucky Jo and Little Heart by Patricia Polacco
One Good Deed by Terri Fields

The Trees of the Dancing Goats
Chicken Sunday
Those Shoes
Florina and the Wild Bird
Listening With My Heart: A Story of Kindness and Self-Compassion
The Apple Tree: A Cherokee Story
Brother Juniper
A Chanukah Noel

I love Here Comes Valentine Cat -- it shows both kindness and generosity (and generosity of thought, such as not being prejudiced or thinking poorly of someone before you get to know them).

A Chair for My Mother is a long-time favorite.

I haven't read these but they look good

Good People Everywhere

What Does It Mean To Be Kind?

Last Stop on Market Street

The Invisible Boy

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference

(We read both Chair for Mother and Market Street as award-winners, so ppl choosing nominations should probably skip those, please.)

Cheryl wrote: "(We read both Chair for Mother and Market Street as award-winners, so ppl choosing nominations should probably skip those, please.)"

I included them because I like to have a robust list here of titles relevant to the theme especially for future reference or because. new members are always joining the group and may not have read them with us in the past. Still, I agree it's most fun when it comes time for voting to choose books that we haven't read yet in the group so thanks for pointing that out.

It's now time to VOTE for the six books you would most like to read for our Kindness and Generosity theme.

To vote, please choose six books from our official nominations above and post them in a comment below. Votes will be accepted until January 26th. Thank you!

(Any of the books from our official nominations list above are technically open to voting, but we have read the following as a group in the past so I would encourage members to seek out those old threads and view/participate in the discussions there vs. voting for them now:

Brave Jack and the Unicorn

Each Kindness

Fly Free!

Hank Finds an Egg

Boxes for Katje

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch

A Chair for My Mother

Last Stop on Market Street)

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

Brother Juniper

Tucky Jo and Little Heart

The Apple Tree: A Cherokee Story

Those Shoes

The Kindness Quilt

Tucky Jo and Little Heart by Patricia Polacco
One Good Deed by Terri Fields
The Fairiest Fairy by Anne Booth
Three Magic Balloons by Julianna Margulies
Here Comes Valentine Cat by Deborah Underwood
Brother Juniper by Diane Gibfried

Here are the books we will read together in February:

Tucky Jo and Little Heart

Brother Juniper (the one by Diane Gibfried)

Here Comes Valentine Cat

The Invisible Boy

How Kind!

One Good Deed

(I really like the premise for Listening with My Heart: A story of kindness and self-compassion but there are so few reviews I'm thinking it may not be widely accessible and it's not available through my library, darn. Actually, most of the ones Gundula and Beverly voted for aren't in my library so I had to pick a few that are!)

And funny, but since I only picked those books that are available at my library, I will only be reading two of the selections, as there is no way to do ILL at such short notice (it usually takes a month or more).

I really wanted to choose One Good Deed, but the library copy is MIA and it was listed as costing more than I want to spend on Amazon.

I have now read both Those Shoes and Listening with My Heart: A story of kindness and self-compassion.

However, while Those Shoes was realistic, nuanced and quite engaging, I have found Listening With My Heart, although sweet and with important messages, much too annoyingly preachy.

Just today I read Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness by Donna Janell Bowman

This wonderful story tells how William "Doc" Key lifted himself up out of slavery to become a successful businessman. Along the way, he was always kind to animals and rescued many. One year he rescued a mare, and when she was healthy again bred her to a racehorse. Instead of a potential racehorse, the foal was small and weak. Doc Key kept him anyway, raising him with kindness and compassion. He eventually noticed that the horse was copying the dog as the dog was being trained. Eventually, through kindness and tons of patience, Doc Key trained this horse to do amazing things like count, recognize letters, and many other incredible feats. The two went on the road and put on shows for many years. An inspiring story on how kindness can impact animals. Another book about this inspiring pair is Wonder Horse: The True Story of the World's Smartest Horse by Emily Arnold McCully.

Glad to see this master list growing!

I haven't seen this book yet; it just showed up on a list of recent purchases by my library system:

Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller

I was very disappointed with The Kindness Quilt, much too preachy and I really despise the illustrations.

Absolutely love and most highly recommend The Apple Tree: A Cherokee Story, great story, sweetly told (dual language English/Cherokee syllabics, with a ledgend for the syllabics included), kind of like a better version (in my opinion) of The Giving Tree. Everything about this story shines, including the fact that the little Cerokee boy planting his apple tree is shown and described as just a little boy and not some exotic entity in Native American costume.

Oh, I'll add Apple Tree to my lists immediately, ty.

Cheryl wrote: "Oh, I'll add Apple Tree to my lists immediately, ty."

I really loved this.

The Boy and the Banyan Tree provides a lovely message of friendship, of paying it forward and is with the tree giving advice and teaching self sufficiency etc. a great antidote to The Giving Tree (which I know is a classic but which I have always found disturbing). Highly recommended with a wonderful combination of text and images.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Invisible Boy is very sweet and sadly relatable. I was definitely a Brian - not even that cool. At least he draws his act of kindness giving Justin a drawing, paves the way for the kindness back from Justin and being seen.

QNPoohBear wrote: "The Invisible Boy is very sweet and sadly relatable. I was definitely a Brian - not even that cool. At least he draws his act of kindness giving Justin a drawing, paves the way for ..."

I was also somewhat a Brian, but I would also have rather been invisible, as I was far too noticeable and easy to pick on.

The Mango Monster

Found this a lovely picture book with a nice message of kindness and sharing (shown at first primarily by the father and then imitated by his daughter and niece, a message that is perhaps a bit didactic, but my inner child loves the combination of text and images and how Marianne an d Zoe through problem solving and teamwork try to figure out who or what is making off with their mangos). Part of me kind of wishes the father had right away mentioned that he was taking some of the mangos to food banks etc. but of course if that were the case there would not be a story.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness

This was great! I happened to see a reenactment of Doc and Jim Key (a puppet) at a recreation of the St. Louis World's Fair at a local historic house museum. I looked them up but this book has a lot more in-depth information on how Doc acquired his horse, trained him and how Doc's early years spent as an enslaved person gave him the empathy he needed to train the horse effectively. We still don't know how the horse did some of his tricks! The one thing I didn't know that made me uncomfortable was Doc's medicines he was peddling. I'd love to know what was IN those medicines.

This book doesn't shy away from discussing racism, slavery and animal cruelty.

The illustrations are excellent and evoke the woodcuts of the period.

FAQ and cut information on the author's website
https://www.donnajanellbowman.com/201...

Sign the kindness pledge
https://www.donnajanellbowman.com/wp-...

QNPoohBear wrote: "Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness

This was great! I happened to see a reenactment of Doc and Jim Key (a puppet) at a recreation of the St. Louis Wo..."

I read this book several years ago and loved it! I'm so glad you thought to post here. Thank you!

It's OK to be Different: A Children's Picture Book About Diversity and Kindness


Pretty simplistic text and images combination, but the book does celebrate differences and advocates for universal acceptance and kindness. However, considering that for It's OK to be Different ALL differences are supposed to be celebrated, well, in particular my adult reading self thinks that text and images for It's OK to be Different not showing and thus also of course not celebrating cultural, philosophical, political, religious, educational and gender/sexuality variations is a bit problematic.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...