Each Kindness
by Jacqueline Woodson
She was unkind to the new girl. The new girl stopped coming. Now what.
For you if
your child needs to understand that small cruelties matter and that some moments don't come around again
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$19 MSRP
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Maya joins Chloe's class mid-year and tries to be friends. Chloe and her friends turn her away, again and again, small cruelties that cost nothing in the moment. Then Maya stops coming to school. The teacher drops a stone in water and talks about how kindness ripples out — and Chloe realizes that unkindness ripples too, and that some chances don't come back. Woodson does not give this book a happy ending. The missed opportunity stays missed. It is the most honest picture book about regret ever written for small children, and the one that most clearly shows them that cruelty has a cost even when nobody is watching.
Where This Book Lives
- Setting
- North America
- Voice
- Written by a North America author
Same pattern, different era
Different time, different place. The same thing keeps happening.
For the grown-up bookshelf
Same idea, written for a grown-up. Good for the adult in the room, too.
