Open Your Heart: Top 5 Must-Read Books About Kindness

Books are some of children’s first teachers. Colorful materials, such as books about kindness, would already catch their attention, teaching them more about kindness before any adult would.

What Literature Contributes to Child Development

Any time is the best time to crack open a book, especially for children still learning to navigate the world. In an age where memorizing words is deemed more important than doing something valuable or knowing the ABCs is more prioritized than knowing what’s good from bad, how do children learn and nurture virtues that facilitate their growth?

There’s no doubting the importance of kindness, particularly in a society that seems to be running out of it. However, regardless of how kindness is spoon-fed or blatantly thrown for people to practice, it still requires diligence to inculcate it within children.

Kindness is a broad concept. It’s not something that can be measured over particular behaviors. Instead, it’s an all-encompassing virtue that also encloses other relative values as a total principle to embody. To children, this means it isn’t only observed in how they interact with their family or other children. Instead, this also includes how they connect with those critters that are different from them.

Hence, developing kindness isn’t elusive. It doesn’t have to be about strictly setting rules and seeing whether children break them. Kindness is commonly taught through kindness, setting examples, and acknowledging behaviors. Practicing it doesn’t have to be challenging. Children don’t need to be intimidated by it even before they can wholeheartedly channel it.

Rather than seeming like a taxing endeavor, practicing kindness should be a stable cruise—a consistent and meaningful journey. And what better way to do this than through literature?

The Magic of Words

Reading doesn’t only make children smarter. With the right materials, it can also help mold children to be better individuals adept at life. Books about kindness will not only touch children’s hearts but also transform their perspectives. These words are valuable enough to make them believe they can change the world, an ideology that would surely motivate them through their days.

It’s logical to believe that the materials children are exposed to will influence their growth and how they relate to others. So, if kindness and empathy are the goal, adults can offer them books about kindness that’ll resonate with them.

Must-Read Books About Kindness

Most, if not all, children’s books will have traces of kindness woven into their narratives. Books about kindness model what compassion looks like in the physical world. These are valuable means of sharing practical and inspiring examples of kindness and its influence on others.

TheLitPerspective has compiled a list of the best books to foster children’s empathy and kindness. These books have beautiful illustrations to capture their attention and are informative and educational materials.

The Nice Book

This book by David Ezra Stein is what its title says. It teaches children what “being nice” actually means. Often, they’re always told to be nice, but not much is clearly taught about what this encompasses. This book helps build manners in children, a perfect introduction to kindness. What makes this one of those excellent books about kindness is that the examples listed here don’t limit the value to human interactions. Instead, they include animals and how children can connect with them.

Bing

Speaking of children’s connection with animals, Bing by Sarah Gourd teaches children about the purest form of kindness. How should they interact with those who can’t give anything back to them? The book illustrates a beautiful friendship formed and nurtured by kindness alone. Without expecting anything in return, this follows a young boy who saves and cares for an injured baby duck. What started as him nursing the duck blossoms into a beautiful friendship.

The Invisible Boy

Almost similar to Bing’s premise, only that this time, the critter needing kindness is another boy, The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig teaches children how even the smallest gestures matter. The book follows a kid who nobody seems to notice until a new kid comes along. This shows the flowery path children cultivate when they’re kind to each other and sensitive about their actions and words for one another.

Extra Yarn

This is one of those books about kindness that shows the virtue’s expanded influence. It not only shows how kindness transforms people’s lives but also its impact on children’s community and society. Mac Barnett narrates about a young girl offering her magical yarn box to transform her community.

A Chair for My Mother

Children wouldn’t be taught about kindness without being shown an example of what it does to their families. This book by Vera B. Williams follows a young girl who saves coins to buy her mother a new chair. It shows how children can be considerate and what they can do to show their love and appreciation to those around them.