Teaching Character Through Literature: Kindness & Respect

Have you had a chance yet to talk with your kids about this month’s character traits — kindness and respect? Sometimes getting the discussion going can be tricky or feel forced. A quality book can be a gateway to powerful conversations. Pick a book from the suggestions below and ask some intentional questions or simply enjoy the story. For a few discussion starter questions, check out last week’s Character Issue.

Kindness: Recognizing that relationships are core to who we are becoming, and therefore being tender, courteous, helpful, forgiving, and compassionate towards others and self. Looking for the goodness in all. Being unselfish and generous.

Catch Phrase — Be nice.

Respect: Showing high regard, value, and appreciation for authority, others, self, and property.

Catch Phrase: You don’t have to like or agree with everyone, but you do need to treat them with respect.

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

A grouchy ladybug doesn’t want to share and challenges everyone she meets to a fight, regardless of size or strength. How will she learn kindness and respect?  Eric Carle’s beautiful illustrations bring this story to life and teaches the importance of kindness to others. (Ages 2+)

If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson, winner of the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, presents a beautiful picture book about the power of even the smallest acts. If You Plant a Seed demonstrates not only the process of planting and growing for young children but also how a seed of kindness can grow into friendship. (Ages 2+)

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

A beautiful retelling of Aesop’s fable, with minimal text and stunning illustrations that tell the story of a lion who allows a captured mouse to escape, only to then be rescued by that same mouse when he gets caught in a trapper’s net. Caldecott Award-winning picture book. (Ages 2+)

Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller

After Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate tries to figure out how to make her feel better and what it means to be kind. From asking the new girl to play to standing up for someone being bullied, this thoughtful story explores what you can do to be kind, and how each act can make a difference. (Ages 3+)

Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli

Beautiful illustrations are the highlight of the picture-book biography of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist who received the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. In brief, poetic lines that have a folktale tone, the book describes how “wise Wangari” helped Kenyan village women solve problems from hunger to dirty water with the same solution: “Plant a tree.” (ages 4+)

Brothers at Bat:  The True Story of an Amazing All Brother Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick

In this true story, the Acerra family had sixteen children, including twelve baseball-playing boys, enough to field a baseball team.  They went on to be the longest playing all brother team in history. The Acerra family loved the game, but more important, they cared and supported each other through the years and different struggles.  A great read to teach the importance of respect in a family.  This book is on the Battle of the Books list for grades 4-6. (Ages 5+)

The Name Jar by Yangsook Chai

 Unhei, having just moved from Korea, is nervous that American kids will like her. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she tells the class that she needs help choosing a new name. Her new classmates are excited to help her out by filling a glass jar with names for her to pick from. Encouraged by her new friends, Unhei eventually chooses her own Korean name and helps everyone pronounce it—Yoon-Hey. (Ages 4+)

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes 

A tender story with a timeless message of compassion and understanding. At its heart is Wanda Petronski, an immigrant girl in an American school, who is ridiculed for wearing the same faded dress every day. When she tells her classmates that she has one hundred dresses at home, she unwittingly triggers a game of teasing that eventually ends in a lesson for all. A Newbery Honor book in 1945. (Ages 9+)

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Trees can’t tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .

Red is an oak tree that is known as the neighborhood “wishtree”―people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with a crow named Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this wishtree watches over the neighborhood. You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experience as a wishtree is more important than ever. Funny, and deep, a great read about friendship and kindness.  (Ages 10+).

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket—and comes out with a dog. A big friendly dog that she names Winn-Dixie. With the help of Winn-Dixie, Opal learns how to make some unusual friends, have a few adventures, and recognizes that she has a lot to be thankful for. This book is on the Battle of the Books list for grades 4-6. (Ages 10+)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

In a racially divided small Alabama town in the 1930s, a little girl learns valuable lessons about empathy as her widowed father defends a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Pulitzer Prize winner in 1961. (Ages 13+).