Today is author E.B. White’s birthday. He wrote Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and Trumpet of the Swan, among others. I loved these books as a kid and what I remember most about them is the kindness shown throughout them. My 4 year old is little too young to sit still for these books, however, there are lots of picture books with kindness themes that he and I can enjoy together.
Finding Kindness by Deborah Underwood — In this beautifully illustrated book, 2 children witness small acts of kindness throughout their neighborhood. One act of kindness leads to another, and soon everyone, no matter how small, finds a way to be kind.
- Watch this read-aloud of the book from the author: https://youtu.be/zHzA1mT85ng
- The publisher put together a free KINDESS activity kit: https://images.macmillan.com/folio-assets/activity-guides/9781250237897AG.pdf
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead — I love, love, love this book! My son and I have read this several times together and I have shared it at library storytime because it is such a sweet story about the power of kindness. Amos McGee works as a zookeeper, where he befriends an owl, a turtle, an elephant, and a penguin. When Amos gets, his friends return the kindness he gave them, and the animals travel to Amos’ house to take care of him. The soft illustrations are perfect for this gentle story.
Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli — Mr. Hatch is a lonely man who keeps to himself. He gets a surprise package on Valentine’s Day containing candy and a note that says “Somebody Loves You.” This act of kindness changes Mr. Hatch’s whole outlook on life! He starts doing kind things for his coworkers and neighbors, and becomes truly happy until he learns that the surprise package was delivered to him by mistake. Mr. Hatch goes back to being alone, believing no one loves him after all. His neighbors and new friends come together to show Mr. Hatch how much they really do love him and how much they appreciated his kindness. This story shows how a little kindness can make a world of difference to somebody.
- Watch this read-aloud from Storyline Online: https://youtu.be/AGAS_Aj85cA
Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss — is there any storybook character more kind than Horton? In this rhyming story, Horton the elephant discovers that a speck of dust contains a miniature world, Who-Ville. When the other jungle animals think Horton is making the Whos up, they set out to prove Horton is tricking them. Horton is determined to keep the Whos from harm. This moving story ends with the smallest of Whos making the biggest difference as Horton finally proves that the Whos are real. The other jungle animals finally understand that a person’s a person, no matter how small.
Check your public library for these fantastic books!
They can also be purchased online, through Amazon by clicking on the book pictures. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s affiliate program, which pays advertising fees to sites that advertise and link to Amazon’s products. So if you buy the book through my site, I get a small percent from the sale.
