I walk with Vanessa: A story about a simple act of kindness by Kerascoet

 

Begin with the subtitle - a simple act of kindness. The act of kindness in this book is not simple, it is brave, it is powerful, it is heroic, and it is wonderful AND there are no words in this book!

Vanessa is new. She sits alone during play time. She sets off for home alone. But along the way she is confronted by the class bully. He shouts at her and hurls abuse (keep in mind there are NO words in this book). When the bully walks away little Vanessa is left in tears. BUT this incident has been observed. Her young classmate watches Vanessa heading home then she heads back to tell her friends exactly what she witnessed.  That night both girls can be seen in their rooms. You are left to imagine that poor little Vanessa still feels upset but more importantly her classmate is thinking and thinking hard about the action that needs to be taken. 

The next morning she knocks on Vanessa's door and invites her to walk to school. As the pair of new friends walk through their neighbourhood other children join them. The crowd grows bigger and bigger as everyone steps up to walk with Vanessa.

A wonderfully illustrated, hopeful book that can help caregivers tackle an emotionally fraught subject with even very young... Kirkus Star review

Kerascoët’s perfectly constructed wordless picture book powerfully demonstrates the feeling of being overlooked and ignored, the emotional toll of being bullied, and how an act of bullying affects even those not directly involved. Celebrate Picture Books (A very detailed review well worth reading)

What can one person do after all? But there is something one person can do. One person can bring together lots of people, and together they can really bring about change. Looking Glass Review

Silent, wordless or textless books should not be "read" on a video but in this production the images are simply accompanied by music. My only small criticism would be the page turns come a little too quickly. 

About the authors:  Kerascoët is the joint pen name of the French illustrators Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset. A married couple, they met while attending art school. They chose their pen name in 2000 after the hamlet of Kerascoët in Névez, Brittany where Pommepuy grew up.

Take a look at my Pinterest collection of picture books about Kindness.  And my collection Say No to Bullies. Here are a couple of Kindness titles I have talked about recently:

Finding Kindness

Be Kind