Kindness & Gratitude
In this column, I'll continue a mini-series on values in children's books. This time, I'll focus on kindness and gratitude. Of course, kindness is one outworking of love, which is a key commandment, and gratitude is often a response.
Stories of Kindness
Here are a few of the many books featuring kindness. Time for Horatio, by Penelope Colville Paine, is set in England. A small, scared kitten is picked up by a boy who, with his father, takes tourists on trips down the Thames. During a stop at Greenwich, the boy and kitten tour the Royal Observatory and learn about mean time. On the way back, the boy has a dream that the kitten has climbed to the top of Big Ben to stop the bells, because he doesn't want there to be "mean time." Instead, there should be "kind time." The boy then reflects on all that "kind time" would signify in the world. Lovely.
In James Herriot's Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb, set in the English countryside, a young lamb crawls under a fence and gets lost, then is covered by a late snow. A kind and observant girl finds him and brings him back from near-death with a hair dryer and milk, and then finds his owner.
John Steptoe's Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters is an African tale of two sisters, one of whom is selfish and mean-tempered, and one who is kind to all, even to a small garden snake she finds in her garden. When the king summons the most beautiful women in the land to come to the palace so he can choose a queen, the selfish sister rushes off, never stopping to help a hungry boy, and then discovers a great snake in the palace and runs away. The kind sister, having no ambition, takes time to help the hungry boy, and then discovers that the king was both the boy and the garden snake, and he loves her for her kindness.
Marjorie Barker's Magical Hands tells of four hard-working men who regularly meet for lunch. One man admits to a longing for a little free time on his birthday, and then the others also share their special desire for their birthdays. The cooper (barrel-maker) makes each wish come true by rising early and doing a special thing on each of his friends' birthdays. Not expecting anything in return, he is treated to a great surprise when his own birthday comes.
In The Children of the King, Max Lucado tells the story of a village whose residents learn that the king is coming to adopt five orphans. The villagers assure the children that if they want to be adopted, they must impress the king. So they all begin working hard, except one girl, who spends her time caring for village animals and speaking kindly to beggars and strangers. When a stranger comes, he reveals himself to her as the king, but the other orphans are too busy even to
notice him.
A few other good stories on kindness are: Celia and the Sweet Sweet Water by Katherine Paterson, The Magic Boat by Demi, Leah's Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich, A Song for Lena by Hilary Horder Hippely, and The Old Man and His Door by Gary Soto.
Stories of Gratitude
One simple, classic story of gratitude is James Daugherty's Andy and the Lion, which retells in 1930s America the ancient tale of Androcles and the Lion. On his way to school one day, a boy named Andy encounters a lion and pulls out a thorn that's hurting him. Later, when the lion escapes from the circus and terrorizes people, Andy is able to bring the grateful lion under control.
Kiss the Cow! by Phyllis Root is a comical story of a girl in a very large family who goes off to milk the cow one day but fails to give the cow the required kiss of gratitude, so the cow stops giving milk to a hungry bunch.
Rosemary Wells's Forest of Dreams is a lovely visual reminder of all the things to be thankful to God for through the seasons.
Brother Juniper by Diane Gibfried tells the story of a Franciscan friar who, when left behind to care for a church while the other brothers are away, gives everything in the church to the needy. When the friars return to find everything gone, they are initially unhappy, until all the people who benefitted from Brother Juniper's generosity come to express their gratitude.
Kathie Johnson has always had a love for children's books. She collected many as a teacher and began sharing them with other teachers. In 1986, she opened a children's library in her home, and it has continued to expand over the years. Many home-schooled and schooled children borrow books from it, and she takes great pleasure in finding the "right" book for a child. She attends First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley.
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