As spring goes on and the school year gets closer to its end, there are some fun new books that are great for teacher gifts, story time at home and so much more! Today we are sharing three books -- a board book and two picture books -- that share kindness, culture, family, friends and school. We will start with the board book. It is ABCs of Kindness at School by Patricia Hegarty and illustrated by Summer Macon. It is recommended for ages 0 to 3 and is part of the Books of Kindness Collection.
About the Book:
Give the gift of kindness this school year with this sweet ABC's board book, in which every letter is a lesson in being kind. Join a parade of bunnies, bears, and other cute animals as they discover how to spread joy and generosity every day at school.A is for arriving to start a brand new day.
B is for being brave as we find our way.
C is for classroom, where we know to wait our turn.
D is for discovery—we love to look and learn!
Little ones can learn their ABCs with the bestselling Books of Kindness series. With shiny foil on the cover, this rhyming board book is a wonderful gift for little ones heading off to school.
Joyful school scenes showcase moments of friendship and generosity,
making this a great tool for fostering kindness in the youngest readers.
The series' adorable cast of animal characters is back and, together at school, they learn valuable lessons about kindness in the classroom.
From Me:
This book is perfect for the preschool or lower elementary classroom. It goes through the alphabet with things that happen at school. It makes a wonderful book to help get children ready for their first day of school or to read on the first day and beyond. It includes things like opportunities, being brave and so much more. It will help little ones learn what to expect at school and it will also teach the alphabet to them!
I can see this book being read both at home and at school. I can see it becoming a favorite as kids are starting school or getting ready to. The students and teachers are naimals and the illustrations are adorable. It is a fun board book!
Our next book is an interesting tale about a boy, a tree, and friends. It is Nice Work by Nicholas Day and illustrated by Hala Tahboub. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
About the Book:
A wise and tender story about the patience needed for a tree–and a friendship–to grow, from award-winning author Nicholas Day.All he wanted was a peach tree: Because when you eat a ripe peach, you get sticky and sweet, and if you don’t wash up, you stay sticky and sweet. And you feel like summer.
But when the tree arrives in the spring, it isn’t a tree. It’s a stick. Nice work, the boy tells his parents. You bought a stick. Even his friend Maya agrees. It’s a stick.
Though what happens when you plant a stick, and it grows leaves? What happens when your best friend moves away? What happens when everything that was once clear starts to change?
Here is a story of growth, the enduring power of friendship, the persistence of rabbits—and a single, glorious, impossible peach.
From Me:
A young boy is offered to plant a tree in his yard. Since a marshmallow tree doesn't exist, he goes for a peach tree. However, the peach tree his parents plant looks like a stick. His friend and he decide to plant other sticks in the yard as well. He makes sure to water the stick forest. While he waits for peaches the friend has to move away. He gets a new neighbor who is an older woman. She keeps giving him cookies and tells him about her tree from when she was a child. When there is finally a peach, he has hope and shares it with his new friend and writes to his old friend all about it!
This book offers so much to discuss. It has the roots of the tree and patience it takes to wait for the peaches. It has the idea of people taking root and being more rooted in a place. It discusses family connections as well as the connections of friends and neighbors. It is a wonderful book for introducing the growth of trees to a class but also just to have discussions about the changes in life and the patience it all takes to watch a tree grow and make friends.
Our final book is a wonderful story about the Native American cultural traditions in welcoming a new child. It combines the traditions of Mandan, Hidatsa, and Dine. The book is Stories Are the Heart of the World by Laurel Goodluck and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
About the Book:
Award-winning Indigenous author Laurel Goodluck weaves an intertribal celebration of traditions and stories that help Indigenous children—and all children—understand who they are as they enter and discover the world in this tender picture book.When we begin our lives, stories help us understand who we are.
Drawing on tribal Nations’ traditions including Mandan-Hidatsa and Navajo/Diné, this lyrical picture book carries us through the milestones of a beloved child’s life, from birth and their first laugh to entering young adulthood and understanding their place in the community and the world.
Each ceremony that marks a special moment comes with a story—and each story reminds us of the beauty and responsibility to the land we call home, the powerful ancestors who came before us, and the amazing people we can grow up to be.
An Indigenous author-illustrator duo, the award-winning Laurel Goodluck and rising star Nicole Neidhardt, have gorgeously captured the rituals and stories that shape our lives.
From Me:
This is a beautiful book that shares the various traditions of story and more in Native cultures. It shares a creation story, naming ceremony, umbilical cord burial, laughing party, first snow celebration and so much more. It shares how one's community and family gather for different things in a child's life to celebrate the various milestones. It shares different traditions and mixes different tribal nations rituals. It is a wonderful book and truly shows that stories are at the heart of our understanding and world.
At the end of the book are pages some questions for readers to think about in their own life. Things like how they got their name, where their family is from, favorite family traditions and so much more. This book is perfect for introducing different Native American cultures and stories. It is also a great introduction for gathering family traditions and a look at family history and genealogy. I can see it being a wonderful book for new parents as well as a classroom.
