10 Books to Teach Your Child Kindness

Books fuel a child’s creativity, and they serve as windows to the outside world. We can use books as a primary tool to help our children learn particular values and ideas and reinforce it further.

Kindness is a trait that you cannot just ‘talk’ your child into--it is something he must be able to see and observe from us, first and foremost, and from people around him. This is when books become handy because they get invested in the stories' characters--they want to be the friend, they want to live in that world. Use that captured imagination to encourage sympathetic and caring attitudes. Here are some great reads he will love.  

1. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, illustrated by Charles Santore

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This classic children’s book show how acts of kindness can go a long way! After circumstances and selfish characters drag him down, the velveteen rabbit gets the love he deserves through the kind words and acts by the Skin Horse and the Fairy. 


2. The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig, illustrated by Patrice Barton

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This one is a story about paying kindness to the quiet and unnoticed kid in school. It will help your child learn how to reach out to them and even empathize. The illustrations are great, too!

 
3. Tiktaktok at Pikpakbum by Rene O. Villanueva, illustrated by Renato Gamos

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This is a story of two sibling dogs who are so different from each other that they always end up fighting. You may want to let your kids who always get into squabbles and petty fights read it to learn to resolve their differences.

 
4. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

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Make sure to expose your child to this less popular Dr. Seuss book, written in classic Dr. Seuss rhyming scheme. It shows a child the consequences of a wasteful and uncaring attitude towards the environment--and how it affects us humans. 

5. Ang Barumbadong Bus by Rene O. Villanueva, illustrated by Jo Ann Bereber-Gando

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If you notice that your child has not been treating other people around him nicely, this is a book that will help your child think about his behavior towards others. It tells the exploits of an arrogant and inconsiderate bus whose actions result in inconveniences..for him and other people as well. 
 

6. A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead

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Amos McGee sincerely cares for the animals in the zoo. When he’s the one who becomes sick, the animals come and pay him a visit. In this well-drawn tale that will surely interest children, it shows that kindness and sincere care can really touch other hearts and will help you earn friends who have the same virtues, too.


7. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

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This classic tale can help your child understand the value of unconditional generosity and the joy in giving without asking for anything in return. This book can spark meaningful discussions between child and parent about giving and also, how to behave when receiving kind acts.


8. Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

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The main character in the story, a cow, is depicted as a bully who doesn’t have any kind words for the other animals around him. The story plays with words in a witty way and will help a child see how hurtful words can affect others and promote a cycle of meanness and cruelty.


9. The Fables of Aesop 

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This particular illustrated edition compiles some of the classic stories of Aesop, and contains the oldest narratives in this list, which go back to the ancient Greeks. In the traditional but quick and clever fashion of these fables, a child can learn not only wise ideas but also the consequences of one’s kind and unkind actions.


10. Momotaro: Peach Boy, illustrated by George Suyeoka

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A classic Japanese folk tale, Momotaro will appeal to your child’s sense of adventure. Momotaro has been a role model for Japanese children for centuries, showing that one can be brave while being gentle and kind at the same time.