Finding Kindness

Friends, neighbors, and family members in a variously diverse neighborhood are seen engaging in quiet acts of kindness. A child appears at her window, releasing a ladybug using the cup-and-card trick: “Kindness is sometimes/ a cup and a card.” On the next page, a firefighter rescues a cat from a tree: “or a ladder,/ a truck,/ and a tree.” A boy rakes leaves for an elderly woman, and his kindness is repaid with a cookie. Elsewhere, a woman is seen giving up her train seat to another passenger with a baby; a child leaves a tip for a bear performing on a unicycle; and two children plant trees in a park: “It’s dirt and a shovel,/ petunias and pails,/ it’s trees that will someday give shade.” Chan illustrates in a loose style that captures a feeling of warmth, community, and goodwill. One act of kindness begets another, Underwood gently conveys, including acts of self-care and forgiveness. Ages 4–8. [em](Oct.) [/em]