Lean On Me! Nook by Sally Ann Garland

NOOK WAS SMALL AND GENTLE.

SHE LIKED TO SIT WITH HER BACK PRESSED FIRMLY AGAINST SOMETHING SO THAT SHE COULD FEEL SAFE.

Indoors, she chose to sit in corners and in large, pillowy chairs and watch the others play together, and outdoors...

... HER FAVORITE PLACE WAS THE HOLLOW OF AN OLD TREE.

From her comfy spot, Nook watched the other youngsters play alone and with each other. Sometimes they asked her to join them, but she preferred to stay in her safe spot. The others knew that spot was Nook's place.

BUT HER SPIRIT FOLLOWED THE OTHERS WHEN THEY WENT BACK TO PLAY.

But one morning, everything changed. There was a big, grumpy badger sitting in her place against the tree, who snarled out a warning.

"MINE!"

Nook felt terrified, standing all alone, out in the open with nothing around her. But then she heard a strong voice behind her.

"THAT'S NOOK'S PLACE!"

Bear, Fox, Squirrel, and even Mouse stood right behind her, staring at the intruder. Badger refused to budge.

So Squirrel and Fox each took one of Nook's hands and led her off to the middle of the playground to play.

"YOU'RE WITH US!" THEY SAID.

In Sally Ann Garland's sweet story of shyness and friendship, Nook - A Book About Kindness, Inclusion, Confidence, Trust, and Friendship (Sunbird Books, 2021), timid Nook discovers that with friends who "have her back" she is not shy or fearful anymore.

Author-illustrator Garland's theme is a simple one of friendship and safety in numbers, and her appealing artwork, done in textured colored pencil and paint, portrays her timorous but charming little white lop-eared bunny perfectly, a true shrinking violet blooming in the warm light of friendship. It's a hopeful note for all the faint-hearted, which most of us are at some time in our lives, and especially affecting for those retiring preschoolers and primary graders who find it hard to venture right out into the middle of things.

Looking for Love In All The Wrong Places! Tiny City, Big City by Tim Miller

Nothing is so lost as a very small kitten in the big city. The sidewalks are owned by lots of legs, gazillions of feet, all trying to get where they are going. The streets are full of swishy, honky cars, all trying to get where they are going. Speedy kitty dodges among the shoes and crosses streets, hiding from the shrill, clanging firetruck and yowling back at a trio of barking dogs, pulling at their leashes.

He climbs on top of one of the library lions, eluding the dogs.

BRAVE KITTY.

Between one stone lion's sun-warmed paws, he takes a catnap.

But even brave kitties get hungry, and a fishmonger makes him a lunch of sardines. Kitty chases the pigeons, who scold him for interrupting their lunches on the sidewalk, until snow begins to fall. As the sidewalks turn white with a light snow, the sun sets, and the kitty sits down with the people listening to a street jazz band play.

SINGING KITTY

The crowd applauds the kitty, and as one boy strokes his head, he purrs.

And soon there's a kind family with one newly contented calico kitty, in Tim Miller's loving story of a formerly homeless kitty with a new home, Tiny Kitty, Big City (Balzer and Bray, 2021). Miller's simple, childlike blackline illustrations appear spot-art style on otherwise white pages, or fill colorful double-page spreads with Where's Waldo-type crowd scenes, where savvy kids will spot the boy who finally takes Kitty home. In a celebration of the sights and sounds of city life, author-illustrator Miller's brief text and beautifully simple illustrations tell the old story of a lost and found kitten, a tiny creature who finds loving care in the midst of the busy city. Says School Library Journal, "This clever book will appeal to all children, as adventure, beginning reader, or even as an inviting cityscape to pore over."

Chain Reaction! A Small Kindness by Stacy McAnulty

 

IT WAS LIKE A GAME OF TAG.

ALICE SMILED AT LUCAS...

It's a drab day as a group of preschool kids line up in front of the school with their teacher, Ms. Jones. She gives them her best welcoming smile.

As the kids put away their things in their cubbies, Alice passes along that smile, which moves Lucas to give a welcoming wave to Jasmine, who, in the morning circle willingly passes a turn to hold the class hamster along to a patiently waiting Xavier, who returns the favor to Ms. Jones by holding the door to the Art Room.

It's a chain reaction, as one good deed deserves another through the day. Xaxier's gentlemanly act helps Ms. Jones keep her cool and joke with Henry when he spills blue paint on the floor, and as the school day goes on, each child in turn is moved to pass along small kindnesses and helpfulness until all the class is smiling, cooperating, and high fiving. It's a really good day for Ms. Jones' class, in Stacy McAnulty's just published A Small Kindness (Roaring Press Kids, 2021). Artist Wendy Leach moves from an opening sepia page to a soft rainbow of coloration which spreads from child to child to teacher and even the custodian in the hall in a rainbow of good will which continues on the playground until every student is shown in full color, symbolically brightened by small kindnesses, compliments and courtesies, in the spirit of paying it forward that motivates each of them to share.

AND EVERYBODY WON!

A delightful cooperation between author and illustrator makes this a good book for the first day of school or any dreary day that needs a bit of brightening goodwill.

Says Booklist, "A clever visual conceit helps demonstrate the simple power of paying kindness forward in this gentle, encouraging picture book."

Arctic Rescue: Pup and Bear by Kate Banks

In a sudden thaw, a lone wolf pup is separated from his pack alone on an ice floe. As the wind blows him further from the land, he jumps into the sea and swims back to the shore. Freezing and exhausted, he falls asleep in the shelter of a snowbank.

HE WOKE TO THE FEEL OF A COLD NOSE.

."YOU ARE A POLAR BEAR."

YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER." SAID THE LITTLE WOLF.

"NO," SAID THE BEAR, "BUT I CAN CUDDLE YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE."

"POLAR BEARS EAT WOLVES," HE SAID FEARFULLY.

>"NOT THIS ONE!" SHE SAID.

So the little wolf climbed up on the polar bear's wide back and slept warmly with her in her snug den. The next morning she takes him across the tundra and down to the sea to teach him to catch fish and show him the seals, lemmings, the geese and puffins, and a walrus. She washes him clean with her rough tongue and teaches him how to play, rolling head over heels down the snowbanks. Slowly the air grew warmer.

"I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER, BUT I KNOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO."

And with a last nuzzle, the young wolf walks away into the world, where the he finds other wolves and in time becomes the leader of a pack. And then one day, he comes upon a lost little polar bear, shivering and afraid, all alone.

"YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER," SAID THE COWERING CUB.

"I AM NOT...," SAID THE WOLF. "BUT I CAN CUDDLE YOU AND KEEP YOU WARM."

"YOU CAN STAY WITH ME UNTIL YOU ARE BIG ENOUGH TO BE ON YOUR OWN."

One kind deed deserves another, in Kate Banks beautiful story of a kindness that begets yet another, Pup and Bear (Schwartz and Wade). In lovely language, this charming reworking of the famous fable of care for others tells an emotionally moving story, supported by artist Naoko Stoop's beautifully simple illustrations of the snowy northern landscape that plays an important role in this parable of caring. Share this one with Matthew Cordell's 2018 Caldecott Medal winner, Wolf in the Snow. (Read my review here.)

School Library Journal says, "The lyrical writing makes this a wonderful read-aloud. This story of extraordinary kindness may also prompt a discussion of diverse families."

Watch for It! Finding Kindness by Deborah Underwood

KINDNESS IS SOMETIMES A LADDER, A TRUCK, AND A TREE.

How can that be?

To a cat stuck in a tree, a firetruck and ladder are a welcome sight to see!

To hungry birds in winter, seeds and a feeder are the best things that can be!

Kindness can be a ride to where you need to go.
It's a friend who visits when you're feeling low.

It's a wiggly puppy you get to cuddle.
It's a helping hand when you're in a muddle.

Kindness can even be a replacement dip of ice cream when one falls off the cone. It's a homeless kitty to adopt when she's left all alone.

Popular author Deborah Underwood's picture book, Finding Kindness (Henry Holt, 2919), celebrates the smallest of kindnesses, even helping a stranded lady bug fly out the window. Doing the kind thing, no matter how small, gets a charming and rhyming exposition in author Underwood's latest look at the lowly good deed. Underwood, author of books tailored to young children such as The Quiet Book, Here Comes Valentine Cat,  Here Comes the Easter Cat, and The Panda Problem. is paired with fine artwork created by illustrator Irene. "Chan's illustrations are featured on expansive spreads, with bright, bold colors that pop. Depicted is a tight-knit community with members of varying races, ages, ethnicities, and genders," says School Library Journal.

A Friend Indeed: Lost and Found by JiWon Beck

An indigenous girl makes her way through the snowscape to her hole in the ice, where she catches three fish, and with them over over her shoulder, confidently heads toward home. But a blinding snowstorm suddenly blows in, and she is lost in the vast expanse of white.

Through the windblown snowflakes she spots a fisherman's igloo, but when she takes shelter inside, she sees a young polar bear has gotten there first.

But the two see themselves in the same situation. The bear is friendly, and sensing that he is hungry, she gives him her fish, and the two share her little blanket through the cold night.

When the storm ceases, she catches more fish for her friend, and as the snow begins again, he escorts her, even giving her a ride on his back until she spies her little house ahead. The two say goodbye with a nose rub and a hug, and seeing that the young bear is reunited with his mama, the girl runs toward her own mother, their front door open wide for her.

In his wordless picture book, JiWon Beck's Lost and Found (Peter Pauper Press, 2019) tells a moving story of kindnesses shared, with strikingly lovely illustrations done in the spare colors of the arctic scene, gray, white, black, and the red of the child's mittens. Telling the same timeless story of kindness between unlikely friends as Aesop's ancient fable of the lion and the mouse, Beck's tale does it without text, but with the language of beautiful artwork that speaks volumes.

Share this one in the snowy season with Matthew Cordell's 2018 Caldecott winner, Wolf in the Snow (read review here).