@ Your Library: Teach kindness to kids with these books

Kindness is one of the most important character traits, but sometimes kids need an extra reminder about the best ways to be kind to others, or why kindness matters. These new books, just added to the collection at the Cordova Public Library, provide that reminder in creative and appealing ways.

 

Each Kindness (A Jane Addams Award Book) by Jacqueline Woodson

What It’s About: This story is about a new girl at school, named Maya, and how Chloe, who has gone to the school for a while, reacts when she arrives. Chloe is not welcoming towards Maya, and excludes her from the group games. Maya leaves and Chloe is left feeling full of regret.

Why It’s Important: This story does not have the happy ending that so many books do, but teaches a critical lesson. Every choice we make affects others in either a positive or negative way, and we do not always have an opportunity to fix our negative actions.

 

Advertisement

Rude Cakes by Rowboat Watson

What It’s About: This book is about a cake, who is very rude. He never says please or thank you, never listens, and doesn’t share well. One day a giant cyclops takes the rude cake and wears him as a hat. The cyclops has great manners, but the cake hates being a hat. After finally getting away from the cyclops, the cake becomes much more polite.

Why It’s Important: Although this book is quite out there, it teaches how far good manners and behavior can go toward getting what you want.

 

Enemy Pie (A Reading Rainbow Book) by Derek Munson

What It’s About: This is about a boy who is having a great summer until Jeremy Ross moves in down the street. Jeremy excludes people from birthday parties and laughs when they strike out in baseball. The narrator’s father makes enemy pie to help defeat Jeremy Ross. In order for enemy pie to work, the boys have to play together all day. By the end of the day they are good friends and enjoy the pie together.

Why It’s Important: This tells a classic story of judging a book by its cover, or making judgments about people based on insignificant details. After spending quality time together, the two enemies learned that they actually got along quite well.

 

Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson

What It’s About: This story is about an average girl who decides to pick some blueberries for her neighbor. The neighbor bakes blueberry muffins and gives plates of them to five other people. This good deed turns into a chain of strangers doing kind things for other strangers. Eventually Mary has someone do something nice for her whose kind actions can be traced back to Mary’s blueberry picking.

Why It’s Important: This is another book that shows the important your actions can have on others, but it also shows the ways your actions can ripple out to affect total strangers.

 

The Cordova Public Library is open:

Tuesday – Thursday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday Noon – 5 p.m.

Advertisement