Simple acts of kindness that warm the heart. Kirkus
When you read this book with a preschool aged child you need to be prepared to linger over every page. The rhyming text is appealing but so much more in happening on each page. Kindness comes when we help others - a ladybird trapped inside is released; a cat stranded at the top of a tall tree is rescued; a lady is given a seat on the train; money is shared with a busker; holding open a door; and taking some soup to a neighbor. On each page it feels as though a camera is quiety filming each scene while people, with no need for prompting, beautifully express kindness in so many perfect and often practical ways.
You can watch a video of the whole book here. In this blog post for Nerdy Book Club Deborah talks about the writing of this book. Students of English literature might like to know rhyme in this book is called anapestic verse. I have a Pinterest collection of picture books on the theme of Kindness. Here are my favourite lines from this book:
"Kindness is sometimes just taking a break or sitting with someone who's sad, forgiving yourself when you've made a mistake or forgiving a friend who got mad."
Deborah Underwood is the author of some of my favourite books - The Quiet Book; The Loud Book; and The Christmas Quiet Book.
You can see some art from children's books by Irene Chan here.
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