What the World Needs Now. . . : The Kindness Book by Todd Parr

WHAT IS KINDNESS?

KINDNESS IS THINKING ABOUT OTHERS' FEELINGS AND HELPING THEM FEEL GOOD.

There are kind deeds--opening the door for someone, giving food to a food bank or flowers to someone who needs cheering up, or saying thank you, or welcoming someone new.

It can be avoiding doing things that hurt people's feelings or just being there when someone needs not to be alone. Kindness can be NOT doing things like making fun of someone having a bad hair day or sometimes letting people just be themselves. Kindness is saying, "I'm sorry" when you are not kind. Kindness can be just a smile or a wave to someone you know, or someone you don't know. Kindness can be helping plants grow or being nice to animals.

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DON'T FORGET TO BE KIND TO YOURSELF!

Author-illustrator Todd Parr, the emperor of emotions and professor of feelings, spreads the word in his recent The Kindness Book (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), designed to display the ways to spread good will to all. Parr's signature simple figures delineated with wide black lines show the many ways to be good to others and to ourselves, and are especially in tune for preschool and primary-age youngsters. Share this one with Parr's The Feelings Book.

The Right Time: Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Kindness by Kimberley and James Dean

"KINDNESS IS KINDA MY THING," SAYS PETE.

Pete the Cat is in good company in this celebration of kindness as a philosophy of life in Kimberley and James Dean's latest, Pete the Cat’s Groovy Guide to Kindness(HarperCollins, 2020).

For your kind consideration, Pete the Cat has curated some quotes about kindness from all of time and all over the world.

"NO ACT OF KINDNESS IS EVER WASTED." -- AESOP.

"BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO BE." -- GANDHI.

"OUR FINGERPRINTS NEVER FADE FROM THE LIVES WE TOUCH!" -- JUDY BLUME.

"NEVER BELIEVE THAT A FEW PEOPLE CAN'T CHANGE THE WORLD. FOR INDEED, THAT'S ALL THAT EVER HAVE!" -- DALAI LAMA XIV

And Pete the Cat knows that a kind meow can keep the peace, warm the heart, and sometimes save the day in his groovy guide to everyday goodness. And as Pete always says, "It's all good!"

What? Me Worry? The DON'T WORRY Book by Todd Parr

Easy for you to say!

To a small child it must seem as if the world is coming at them with the force of a fire hose. New sights, loud sounds, new people, new words, strange places, strong feelings, scary news.

Worrying happens when you think too much about a problem or feel afraid that something bad is going to happen.

You have to go to places you don't choose--school, the doctor's office, or on big, noisy vehicles. It gets dark, even in your own room. People get angry, sometimes at you! You have so much to do!

Todd Parr's latest little mental health picture book recognizes some of the sorts of events young children encounter, The Don't Worry Book (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), and he offers some coping strategies that are good to know about when you need them:

Keeping yourself busy, like talking to someone special.
Exercising.
Reading a book.
Wearing underwear on your head.

(And remember: you can wear underwear on your head while exercising, reading a book, and talking to a friend!)

Parr advises talking about worries with people who love you and remember to have fun--and DO SOMETHING, good advice for people of all ages (even being silly occasionally, all the while using his jolly faux naif blackline drawings of kids taking that advice done in bright primary colors.

Other books by Todd Parr include The Goodbye Book, It's Okay To Be Different, (Todd Parr Classics) The Feelings Book and among others, a good one for this time of year, The School Book.

Much Given, Much to Give: Jumping Mouse: A Native American Legend of Friendship and Sacrifice by Misty Schroe

Long, long ago, there was a mouse.

She had heard a story the old ones told about somewhere, the High Places, where life was good.

So all alone she went to find the High Places.

But how could a mouse, the smallest of the small, hope to reach the high place, far above her desert home? She soon reaches a stream too wide to cross. Lamenting, she hears a low voice.

"I am Grandfather Frog . Your journey will be long and hard, but because of your great longing, I will give you a gift to help you. Close your eyes."

And when Jumping Mouse opens her eyes, she has long, long, jumping legs. She leaps over the water and quickly crosses the wide grassy plain at the foot of the high mountain. After a while she meets with a blind buffalo, unable to find his way, and thinking of Grandfather Frog's gift to her, she offers him her eyesight. Buffalo rises and carries her on his back as far as he can go to the foot of the mountain. Smelling the cool mountain air ahead, Mouse follows her nose until she stumbles upon a sad wolf.

"I have lost my sense of smell," said the wolf. "Without my nose I cannot hunt. I will die."

Kind Mouse gives the wolf her sense of smell and she agrees to carry Mouse up the mountain to the tree line. There Wolf must go no higher, and Jumping Mouse is left with only the touch of her feet on the rough rock of the peak. She has given away too much to make it to the High Places.

And then she hears the voice of Grandfather Frog once more.

"Jump! As high as you can."

And Jumping Mouse leaps and is transformed, in Misty Schroe's reshaping of this Native American legend, The Story of Jumping Mouse celebrating personal sacrifice and gratitude, and illustrating the sense of the saying, To whom much is given, much is required. Mouse's transfiguration as an eagle both fulfills her hopes and rewards her self-sacrifice as such fables should. This powerful story was due a retelling, since John Steptoe's 1985 Caldecott Honor-winning version is now available only in paperback. Author-artist Schloe's work is strikingly illustrated with her clay animal sculptures overlaid on color photographs of the western landscape in a setting fitted to the origins of the story itself.

Pants On Fire! Pig The Fibber by Aaron Blabey

PIG WAS A PUG,
AND I'M SORRY TO SAY.

HE'D OFTEN TELL LIES
TO GET HIS OWN WAY.

Pig is a pug who wants it all, and he'll say anything to get it. Fibs roll off his tongue like water off a duck's back. And when faced with the truth, he'll always deny it.

HE WAS AWFULLY CLEVER.

WHEN PIG GOT IN TROUBLE,
HE'D ALWAYS BLAME TREVOR.

Pig's co-pet Trevor the dachshund is too timid to cross the burly Pig and mostly tries to make himself scarce when Pig misbehaves. But somehow Pig often manages to make Trevor the fall guy. Pig chews up a bridal gown right out of its box, and once more the blame goes to poor little Trevor.

But then Pug spots a big bag of dog treats hidden carefully on a high shelf, and immediately begins to plan his next caper. He's got to get the house to himself for a while to carry out this maneuver, and the means, it seems, is right there!

AND WITH THAT HE LET OUT A RIP.
IT WAS STINKY AND GRIM.

THEN HE POINTED TO TREVOR
AND SAID "IT WAS HIM!"

Trevor is quickly leashed and led hastily out for a good "airing," and Pig goes into his plan of action, visions of gobbled treats dancing in his head. He pulls up a chair and jiggles the treat bag toward the edge of the shelf. But there's something on top of the treats that Pig can't quite see--a big, heavy, pink bowling ball!

BONK! CLONK!

The punishment fits the crime, and Pig appears to be a reformed former fibber, in the just published American edition of Aaron Blabey's Pig the Pug Fibber (Pig the Pug) (Scholastic, 2018), joining the other popular titles in this slapstick series. Pig is prone to relapse in his progress toward being a good co-pet, and we can only hope there are more Pig the Pug stories ahead by Aussie author-illustrator Aaron Blabey. With their hilariously portrayed comic characters and rhythmic rhyming couplets, these stories are great for reading aloud or for newly independent readers. For other books in this series, see my reviews here.

Reminders: Dear Girl, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Paris Rosenthal

Dear Girl,

Make you room awesome. Make it YOU!

And while you're at it, make your bed!

There are plenty of things we want to say to a beloved child, things we hope are helpful, memorable, and hopeful. There is a world of good counsel here--like "Know when to say NO," or "You won't be invited to every party," or "It's okay not to feel sparkly all the time." If you need to cry, go ahead. You can color outside the lines if you like, but don't forget to clean up your room. You need friends, but you also need to be alone sometimes.

There are no rules, but... I'm giving you some points to remember, just in case. Listen to your heart, be brave when you can, and when you can't, I'll be there for you.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal and her daughter Paris Rosenthal had created a little book for daughters or granddaughters or any much-loved girl, Dear Girl, (Harper, 2017), filled with all the things we want to say to a child, those truisms that rarely get said. Artist Holly Hatam adds spare but expressive illustrations that flesh out Rosenthal's sweet text with free-flowing action. A fine gift for a special girl, and a first choice for library shelves.

Someday.... When I Grow Up by Tim Minchin

"T0MORROW! TOMORROW!
I LOVE YA, TOMORROW!" sang the moppet in the red dress in the Broadway musical "Annie."

And now comes another strong-minded girl character, Matilda, from the Broadway play of the same name with much the same wishes for her future.

Matilda, the feisty creation of Roald Dahl in his eponymous children's fantasy novel, Matilda, is a young girl in an unenviable position, a pupil in a Kindergarten class run by an ill-concealed genuine witch, one who clearly hates children, especially spirited girls.

But possessed of the power of telekinesis, the doughty Matilda is not to be outdone by any teacher, and Tim Minchin's theme song tells it like it's going to be when Matilda reaches her majority!

When I grow up I will be
Tall enough to reach the branches I have to reach
To climb the trees
You get to climb,
When I grow up!

Matilda the Musical (billed as "By the Brilliantly BATTY Roald Dahl :) won multiple Oliviers and five Tony Awards, had a near five-year run at the Schubert Theater, and is still on the boards on a world tour, so composer-lyricist Tim Minchin's just published jolly picture book, When I Grow Up (Scholastic Books, 2018), based on the play's anthem, is a fine choice for introducing preschoolers to the classic fantasy novel and to the movie and Broadway musical. Author-illustrator Steve Anthony (creator of Please, Mr. Panda (A Board Book) and other popular picture books, (reviews here) provides the dancing, frolicking kids of the cast and the lead player Matilda, who is the anti-Peter Pan of musical theater, determined that she will grow up in charge of herself and take charge of the world besides.

Welcome to Our World! Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers

To my son, Harland.

This book was written in the first two months of your life as I tried to make sense of it all for you.

These are the things I think you need to know.

Who wouldn't want to give their child the wisdom of the universe?

Oliver Jeffers wisely elects to limit himself (with just a hint of the Milky Way) to the solar system, which he sketches out for Harland, with special emphasis on Planet Earth, for good reason. As he points out, "It's all we've got."

We're glad you found us, as space is very big.

Jeffers decides to divide the planet into two realms--land and sea, and the creatures that dwell thereon--or thereunder, as the case may be. He pencils in all sorts of weather--storms and sunshine, day and night, and various creatures--beginning with persons of various physical types.

But don't be fooled. We are all people.

You are a person. You have one body. Look after if because most parts don't grow back!

Use your time well. It will be gone before you know it.

In his usual wry voice and sketchy, scratchy illustrations and lettering, author Jeffers offers baby Harland good advice, along with some of his trademark humorous touches. In his treatise on the sky he labels the atmosphere and the stratosthingy. Explaining the diurnal cycle, the describes the daytime as when "we do stuff." In his two-page spread depicting the variety of Earth's creatures, he sticks in the dodo, who admits in a speech balloon that "I'm not supposed to be here." and when he generalizes that animals don't talk, a cheeky parrot pops up to say "I do!" And when it's time for getting deep into the details, Jeffers offers a promise: : "We know a bit about the sea, but we'll talk some more about that once you've learned to swim."

By the multiple award-winning Oliver Jeffers, Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (Philomel Books, 2017, Am. ed), is the creation of a children's author whose picture books, like this best-seller, speak to both children and the adults in their lives. Great for a birthday, great for Earth Day, this book is filled with Jeffers' mind-opening illustrations and those tidbits of worldly wisdom you wish you could give your children about living on our place in space--if they would sit still for it--and now, with this book, maybe they will!

As Publishers Weekly sums it up, "Moments of human intimacy jostle with scenes that inspire cosmic awe, and the broad diversity of Jeffers's candy-colored humans—-musicians, hijabis, nuns, explorers, potentates—underscores the twin messages that 'You're never alone on Earth" and that we're all in this together.'"

It Takes All Kinds: Most People by Michael Leannah

MOST PEOPLE LOVE TO SMILE.

MOST PEOPLE LOVE TO SEE OTHER PEOPLE SMILE AND LAUGH, TOO.

MOST PEOPLE ARE GOOD PEOPLE.

It takes all kinds to make a world. People don't always look the same, or dress the same, or act the same. Some people are boisterous, walking down the street with a group, all talking and laughing at the same time. Some people are reserved, quietly sitting on a bench alone or feeding a baby or walking a dog.

There are plenty of differences in Michael Leannah's Most People (Tibury House Publishing, 2017). Artist Jenifer Morris portrays all those visible differences in size and shape and color and dress and subtly suggests other differences between individuals. But there are also similarities.

MOST PEOPLE WANT TO HELP WHEN THE SEE PEOPLE IN TROUBLE.

A burly tattooed man helps an elderly lady go ahead of him, up into a bus. A man stops to help a girl who has fallen off a bike.

SOME PEOPLE DO BAD THINGS. THEY YELL BAD WORDS.

But the good people outnumber the bad, and most people respond by trying to help, in Leannah's little essay on human nature. Morris' illustrations feature realistically but charmingly rendered backgrounds, a cityscape and landscape where kids and dogs play, with gently colorful cartooning that celebrates humanity in all its many faces.

Says Michael Palaccio, author of the best-seller Wonder in the New York Times Review, "...perfectly pitched for its young audience, who will enjoy piecing together the story-within-a-story of the two main characters as they illustrate the messages of the text within the context of their own lives, “Most People” works especially well because it doesn’t just tell children to “be” good. It shows them how to “do” good."

Nobody's Perfect? The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubenstein

For Beatrice Bottomwell, Friday begins just like any other day.

She matched her socks.

She made a sandwich for her brother Carl's lunch. She used exactly the same amount of peanut butter and jelly.

She's does it all just right, with a smile.

But Beatrice has an unusual problem. She has never, in her admittedly short life, done anything wrong. (Her Number Two pencils have impeccably perfect pink erasers, never used.) Her fans and curious news media folks question her closely every morning on her way to school. No, she didn't forget to make up her bed. Nope, she didn't forget her homework. She's famous as the Girl Who Never Made Mistakes.

It's actually a burden that weighs heavily on Beatrice's shoulders. In cooking class in school that day, she has quite a fright.

At school Beatrice was on on a cooking team with her best friends, Millie and Sarah. Beatrice went to get four eggs when... she slipped. The eggs went flying! Beatrice was about to make her first mistake.

But she didn't. She caught one in her mouth, two in her hands, and one with her right foot.

It is an amazing catch--a perfect catch, really. But to Beatrice, it is too close for comfort. Her confidence is blown.

And coming up that night is the school talent show, and Beatrice is set to do her juggling act--with water balloons, yet. The pressure is on, and if Beatrice drops one, it's going to be a doozie!

KABLOOOOOIE!

When Beatrice makes a mistake, it's a perfectly spectacular, in Mark Pett's and Gary Rubenstein's The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2016), and it's actually a great relief for Beatrice. Being perfect is quite a responsibility and Beatrice Bottomwell's comedown and resulting release from her own perfection is unmistakable! Like King Midas and his perpetual golden touch, Beatrice finds that keeping up perfection is no fun. Says School Library Journal, "Pett's beady-eyed cartoon illustratons are expressive and winsome, a perfect complement to this story of a girl finding out that it's okay to be imperfect."

What to Be...: Be Happy! by Monica Sheehan

SING AND DANCE!

That's a good place to start, in Monica Sheehan's just revised compilation of cartoons from Real Simple magazine, Be Happy: A Little Book to Help You Live a Happy Life (Little, Brown, 2014).

And if sitting quietly is more your cup of tea, Sheehan has a single-frame panel advising that you just READ A BOOK. Her little spotted pooch is seen engrossed in a doggy tale by F. Spot Fitzgerald.

In feel-good one-frame comic vignettes Sheehan urges that you follow your bliss, whatever you particular pleasure is--doing what you love, following your heart, shown as a red heart with stick legs, leading the way

Other admonitions are to do the right thing--being kind, sharing, not comparing yourself with others but being the best you know how to be, by being open to making mistakes as you stay true to your dreams, and being thankful for what you have.

With short captions and funny depictions of cartoon characters--people, animals, and anthropomorphized objects--this book is good as a pick-me-up read for both grownups and kids.

And if a little book cannot totally "help you have a happy life," at least this little book can make you smile. And that's a start.