Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill - ESSENTIAL

Be Kind
by Pat Zietlow Miller illustrated by Jen Hill
. PICTURE BOOK Roaring Book Press. 2018. $18. 9781626723214

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL, MS, HS - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

When Tanisha spills grape juice on herself in class everyone laughs at her. The main character does not laugh, but instead starts brainstorming ways to be kind to Tanisha to help her feel better. Told in first-person free verse, the child narrator thinks about what it means to be kind. Does it mean helping or giving or paying attention? 

The narrator relates that being kind isn't always easy, but through small things, kindness builds and comes back to you. This book is wonderful for all ages. Children from kindergarten to high school need reminders of what it means to be kind. The main character will usually read as female and white, but androgynous clothes and black hair make them more ambiguous. Tanisha is black, and the other children and characters in the story are illustrated as a wide variety of ethnicities. 

Rachel, Elementary School Librarian

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to Kiss the Book Jr.!

Welcome! Kiss the Book Jr. is for board books, picture books, early readers, and chapter books.  Also, any novels and non-fiction that we ag...