Kind - a book about kindness

Alex Scheffler asked 38 kind illustrators to contribute to this book which was published to support Three Peas - a charity who provide vital help to refugees.

Some names you may recognise among the 38 illustrators are listed here. I've put one book title after each name but of course there would be many more you could explore.

• Beatrice Alemagna (On a magical do nothing day)
• Michael Foreman (War and Peas)
• Sir Quentin Blake (Mr Magnolia)
• Axel Scheffler (Books by Julia Donaldson such as Room on the Broom and The Gruffalo)
• Steve Antony (Please Mr Panda)
• Brigitta Sif (Swish and Squeaks noisy day)
• Ken Wilson-Max (Astro Girl)
• Britta Tecentrup (Kindness Grows)
• Nick Sharratt (Books by Jacqueline Wilson and picture books such as Pants by Giles Andreae)
• David Roberts (The Dunderheads)
• Chris Haughton (Shh! we have a plan)
• Lydia Monks (What the Ladybird heard)
• Guy Parker-Rees (Giraffes can't dance)
• Helen Stephens (How to hide a lion)

You can see some pages from this book here.  Here are a set of teaching ideas from the publisher Scholastic.

Here are some examples of the text which these illustrators were given:

"Imagine a world where everyone is kind. How can we make that come true?
Here's a good place to start - just give someone a smile!
There are lots of good ways to be kind.
We can listen to people, especially when they're sad.
We can give them a hug if they're feeling lonely."

"Sometimes people have lived through very hard times. They've had to leave their homes and their countries because of danger. They are brave and amazing and have extraordinary stories to tell."

This is a book to treasure in a library or a home. I love books where a number of illustrators are able to showcase their work in this way.  Here are some other books that follow this format:

I first saw Kind about four months ago at the Westmead Children's Hospital Book Bunker. On that day it was a brand new addition to the collection so I decided to wait a few weeks before borrowing this book so it could be shared with the children. Sometimes we loan books in the hospital to patients with infectious diseases. When this happens we cannot take the books back and so we either gift them to the child or sadly need to destroy the book. Yesterday, when I visited the Book Bunker our replacement copy of Kind had arrived. You have probably guessed what happened to our original copy. I have loved spending time exploring this book and I look forward to putting it into the hands of a child in the hospital over the coming weeks.

If you can find a copy of this book in a shop or a library take a look at these pages. The pages illustrated by Cindy Wume (she is new to me); David Barrow; Susanne Gohlich (an illustrator from Germany); Lucia Gaggiotti (she is new to me); Helen Stephens; Melissa Castrillon (her page is about making a kindness jar); Philip Waechter; Pippa Curnick (she is new to me) and David Roberts.