March 2018

Be Kind

Pat Zietlow Miller
Illustrated by Jen Hill

How Two Simple Words Can Change the World

You can only imagine my excitement when I discovered this recently published picture book.  As we are deep in our unit on kindness, I found it in one of the many children’s book blogs I frequent.  When I found out this was written by the author of Sophie’s Squash (a CHP favorite!), I immediately ordered the book. When it arrived, I read it and was smitten. 

The story of Be Kind begins when a friend sees her classmate Tanisha spill grape juice all over her new dress.  The friend watches the other children laugh at Tanisha and all she wants to do is help her.  Tanisha is so sad because, no matter how hard she tries, she cannot make her feel better.  This was the moment that sparked her to ask the question:

What does it mean to be kind?

The book discusses the concept of giving, doing nice things for people, helping a friend, cleaning up, reaching out, listening, and recycling.  It talks about how the quickest way to be kind is by using people’s names when you talk with them. I just love that!  And this is a hard one: Sticking up for someone when other children are not kind. Hard to do but so worth the effort.

With each turn of the page, you see kindness growing.  Small acts of kindness spread from schools, to towns, across the country, even around the world and … right back home again. 

Being kind to others is empowering and this concept is not lost on young children.  Read this book with your child and talk about the power of kindness. Then pass it on.