Kindness
Kids high in kindness show care and compassion for others. They exercise this strength when being generous with time, care and thoughtful acts, being empathetic, or being helpful or sympathetic with others. They may also come across as nice and friendly. Kind people like being helpful and believe that others are worthy of their care and attention, rather than operating from a place of duty.
Underuse of kindness may look like selfishness, mean-spiritedness, unkindness to oneself, or being indifferent to others, while overuse of kindness may look like compassion-fatigue and too strong of a focus on others.
The books below demonstrate and explore kindness in many different forms, from being compassionate to listening to a friend in need, performing good deeds to caring for those around them.
A little girl is overjoyed to finally have her sister’s old red coat, a beautiful piece of clothing that she has long wanted and awaited. On the walk to school, she notices a little girl and mother homeless and shivering on the street, and considers her different feelings. The story explores the joy we get from beautiful things and the joy we get from giving and performing beautiful acts.
Artist: Séverine Vidal
This is a gentle book with beautiful illustrations that explores big themes, like kindness, happiness and integrity with an open-ended subtlety inviting repeat readings. Annabelle finds a box of colorful yarn and knits herself a sweater. Finding there’s still extra yarn, she keeps knitting—for a dog, kids in her class, a grumpy teacher, mom and dad, neighbors, trees, cars, houses, and so on. Word about the girl and her incredible gift spreads and an unscrupulous archduke gets involved, offering to buy the box for millions of dollars.
Artist: Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
Extra Yarn
Explores listening as a strong component of kindness. When Taylor’s block tower crumbles, her concerned friends come over and try to help out in various ways, such as talking it out, getting angry, looking for solutions, and so on. Finally a bunny comes along and takes the time to listen and pay quiet attention to just what Taylor needs. Cathartic, comforting and good for repeat readings. A helpful reminder for caring kids and parents, too.
Artist: Cori Doerrfeld
The Rabbit Listened
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed
This feel-good story shows kids how one small and ordinary kindness can spread into something big and profound. Visualizes the power of everyday and ordinary kind acts, like sharing fruit with a neighbor or helping someone with luggage, and how they create a chain reaction that makes a difference on a large scale. The drawings of Mary and the world around her are so sweet and charming.
Artist: Emily Pearson and Fumi Kosaka
