Each Kindness

written by Jacqueline Woodson

illustrated by E.B. Lewis

©2012. New York, NY. The Penguin Group. Realistic Fiction.
Lexile Measure: AD640L
Picture Book. Written in the past 4 years. 

There's a new girl in school, Maya, who is friendly to everyone. She smiles at them, invites them to play, and is always kind. But no one is kind back. The other students ignore her, and talk about her and the clothes she wears and the food she eats. Then one day, Maya is gone.

This book is so different than many children's books I have read. It is not a book with a happy ending, but it is deep and it is meaningful. It's an important book for children to read in order to understand the full impact of their actions towards others. 

I would give this book a 27/32 and this is why. The book has beautiful illustrations, and represent a full range of diversity, however, the book did lack achievement of diverse peoples, and I wouldn't necessarily the messages to be self-affirming, but rather they are critical messages about kindness and acceptance that are really important. I think that this book is very culturally relevant, however, and that the author is knowledgeable and wrote this book with a lot of consideration and thought. I would recommend this book for 2 through 5 grade.

Literary elements in this book include:

Italics: Rather than quotations for speech, this book contains italics. for example-- This is what kindness does, Ms. Albert said.

Beginning, Middle, and End: This book has a clear beginning, middle, and end. In the beginning, a new student comes to school--Maya. In the middle, Maya shows kindness to other students but the students do not show kindness to her. And at the end, Maya is gone, and the main character regrets not being kind to Maya.

Theme: This book has a really important message in it about kindness. The teacher describes kindness as a ripple effect.

For a mini lesson on theme, have the students write what they think the theme or the message of the story is, and write why the theme or message is important. Have students compare the theme to another book about kindness, such as The Quiltmaker's Journey by Jeff Brumbeau, and consider the different ways that the stories convey a similar message.

Social Justice Theme: Poverty