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4.42 AVERAGE
4.42 AVERAGE
Dammit [a:Jacqueline Woodson|74640|Jacqueline Woodson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1327352477p2/74640.jpg]! This is the second of her books I have read and it is the second to make me cry. I love how she is able to realistically capture childhood and tackle issues with grace and honesty. She doesn't shove the "moral of the story" in the readers face, but it is there and cannot be avoided. Amazing that she kept it real and didn't give this a necessarily happy ending.
Although a different story with different characters, I consider this to be a companion to [b:The Other Side|129771|The Other Side|Jacqueline Woodson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311279727l/129771._SX50_.jpg|264086] as the subject matter, tone, and artwork are compatible. ([a:E.B. Lewis|104923|E.B. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1273604805p2/104923.jpg] you are amazing).
This should be considered a modern classic.
Although a different story with different characters, I consider this to be a companion to [b:The Other Side|129771|The Other Side|Jacqueline Woodson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311279727l/129771._SX50_.jpg|264086] as the subject matter, tone, and artwork are compatible. ([a:E.B. Lewis|104923|E.B. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1273604805p2/104923.jpg] you are amazing).
This should be considered a modern classic.
Lovely illustrations and a beautiful sentiment, but I'm not certain kids are this introspective.
Quietly told book about the power of kindness given (or withheld). The illustration style is of a kind that isn't my favorite.
There are a lot of books about kindness for kids. Most of them are very positive and show the benefits of being kind. This book isn't like that. It's filled with regrets and ends on a bittersweet note. Yet I think this is something that all of us, child or no, can feel deeply. What about all the kind things we never did? What if you never have a chance again? How does that knowledge change you? I'd like to see this book in more classrooms. It's beautifully written and has engaging artwork, but the overall message touched me most of all.
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Each Kindness is the painfully in medias res story of a young girl who doesn't befriend a new girl in her class. However, unlike many other books in this genre, the narrator doesn't realize the error of her ways in time to make amends and make friends. Instead, the new girl moves away and the narrator is left to realize that she never extended the kindness she would have wanted someone to extend to her. Woodson's book is startlingly honest and unresolved and works the better for being both. Most books that left so unsatisfying an ending would likely fail, however this book succeeds in part because of the universality of the experience. Everyone has missed an opportunity to be kind at one time or another and every child is concerned at least on some level with the making and keeping of friends.
Great book with a good message about being kind to others.
Jacqueline Woodson is one of my favourite authors no matter what age group she's writing for. I'm a primary school teacher so I read lots of picture books for myself, and for children. I haven't shared this with a class but I would if I were in a classroom right now. It doesn't have an ending wrapped up in a bow and this makes the feelings raw and too familiar at times.
It reads from the perspective of a young girl (maybe 10?) and when a new girl comes to school this girl and her friends aren't very nice to the new girl. It's not out and out bullying but there is a lot of excluding going on. It taps in to those feelings you have as a kid, that you want to hold on to what's yours, even if it hurts others (what you learn more in retrospect). Like I said, there's no happy ending, this is a snapshot in time. It's to us to imagine what might happen with the protagonist next. There is no outright moralising nor sermonising, all that adds to the book's power.
It reads from the perspective of a young girl (maybe 10?) and when a new girl comes to school this girl and her friends aren't very nice to the new girl. It's not out and out bullying but there is a lot of excluding going on. It taps in to those feelings you have as a kid, that you want to hold on to what's yours, even if it hurts others (what you learn more in retrospect). Like I said, there's no happy ending, this is a snapshot in time. It's to us to imagine what might happen with the protagonist next. There is no outright moralising nor sermonising, all that adds to the book's power.
This book was awful! It had no storyline and nothing exciting happened! My entire class, minus about 3 kids, could not stand it!