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30th out of 95 books
—
697 voters
Each Kindness
Each kindness makes the world a little better
Chloe and her friends won't play with the new girl, Maya. Maya is different--she wears hand-me-downs and plays with old-fashioned toys. Every time Maya tries to join Chloe and her gang, they reject her. Eventually, Maya plays alone, and then stops coming to school altogether. When Chloe's teacher gives a lesson about how even sm...more
Chloe and her friends won't play with the new girl, Maya. Maya is different--she wears hand-me-downs and plays with old-fashioned toys. Every time Maya tries to join Chloe and her gang, they reject her. Eventually, Maya plays alone, and then stops coming to school altogether. When Chloe's teacher gives a lesson about how even sm...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
October 2nd 2012
by Nancy Paulsen Books
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This is a difficult story - one that rings so true, but is probably a bit hard for many children. But it's an important story, too, whether a child is on either side of the story. The book is about bullying, but it's the subtle kind of bullying, the ignoring and whispering and refusal to acknowledge someone. I think this kind of bullying can be the worst, because there's no physical harm, but the emotional scars can be even deeper.
We read this story together and our girls were so sad. They coul...more
We read this story together and our girls were so sad. They coul...more
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Love Jacqueline Woodson. Did not like this book.
I think I'm the only one.
From page one, the tone of this book put me off. Even though she wasn't making a speech, it felt so didactic I just couldn't like it. In my mind, the narrator droned on in a depressing monotone. The story was entirely hopeless. There was no spark of light at the end, no spot of hope. My imaginary last line was, "And then the entire rest of my life sucked, too."
Harsh. Yes, I know. It felt harsh when I read it. It's The 100 D...more
I think I'm the only one.
From page one, the tone of this book put me off. Even though she wasn't making a speech, it felt so didactic I just couldn't like it. In my mind, the narrator droned on in a depressing monotone. The story was entirely hopeless. There was no spark of light at the end, no spot of hope. My imaginary last line was, "And then the entire rest of my life sucked, too."
Harsh. Yes, I know. It felt harsh when I read it. It's The 100 D...more
5 likes · like · see review
What I love about this book is that it doesn't have a happy ending. To open this lesson I had the students take out a piece of paper and then crumble it up. Then I asked them to smooth it out so that there were no wrinkles. Then we discussed how the wrinkles are like imprints. That when we insult and hurt it leaves wrinkles and no matter how many "sorries" or things we do to "smooth it out" the scars are still there. At the end of the book we had a brief discussion about kindness, but also our r...more
This was the story of classic bullying. A new girl comes to school and because of her clothes being second-hand she is made fun of and shunned by the rest of her class. The girl who's point of view is being used in the story is one of the people making fun of Maya, the new girl. One day Maya does not show up for school and it happens to be the same day that their teacher is discussing how much kindness can affect people and how good it feels to be nice to others. The little girl feels terrible a...more
Each Kindness tells the story of a girl who learns the importance of actions towards others. Bullying or treating someone with disrespect is not always a mean action; sometimes when we are bystanders we are doing just as much harm. Maya is a new girl in Chloe's class, and she doesn't dress like Chloe and her friends. It is clear that she is from a less privileged home. When Maya shows interest in wanting to be Chloe's friend, Chloe simply chooses to ignore her. After a lesson from her teacher ab...more
My husband read this to my daughter's fourth grade class recently, and they were disappointed by the ending. I, however, think that is one reason it is such a great book. Not only does it demonstrate to kids that their actions have consequences, but it also shows them that sometimes you don't get a second chance to make things right when you make the wrong choice. Every time they leave a child out, it hurts.
I had personal experience with changing to a new school in fifth grade and being not only...more
I had personal experience with changing to a new school in fifth grade and being not only...more
Why do children have to be so cruel to each other? It is clearly something they learned from their parents.
This books tears at my heart...the new girl with the second hand clothes and worn out toys is the outcast and no one will talk to her or play with her.
Then after a few week the new girl didn't come to school for several days. During the days the new girl was absent the teacher taught about kindness . How a rock in the water makes a little ripple, and so does each little kindness. The girl...more
This books tears at my heart...the new girl with the second hand clothes and worn out toys is the outcast and no one will talk to her or play with her.
Then after a few week the new girl didn't come to school for several days. During the days the new girl was absent the teacher taught about kindness . How a rock in the water makes a little ripple, and so does each little kindness. The girl...more
Each kindness makes the whole world a little bit better.
When a new student Maya arrives in school one day dressed in shabby clothes and broken shoes, all of the students shun her. No one says hello after she in introduced to the class. Chloe even scoots away and moves her things away when Maya sits next to her. Every day Maya brings a small toy to class in hopes of sharing it with classmates and gaining a new playmate, but they all ignore her. Eventually, Maya just keeps to herself and jumps rop...more
When a new student Maya arrives in school one day dressed in shabby clothes and broken shoes, all of the students shun her. No one says hello after she in introduced to the class. Chloe even scoots away and moves her things away when Maya sits next to her. Every day Maya brings a small toy to class in hopes of sharing it with classmates and gaining a new playmate, but they all ignore her. Eventually, Maya just keeps to herself and jumps rop...more
I will have to look at it again...can you tell from my reviews that I looked at the award books real fast?...but I think it is too long for a casual storytime, except possibly with 3rd graders or thereabouts. I loved this book. It will be perfect for bibliotherapy. Hand this to a teacher or parent who feels the class or kid needs a message about being kind to newcomers, or just being kind, period. It gets the message across without quite dropping the anchor on the kid's head. It would certainly...more
This children's book written by Jacqueline Woodson is the account of a young girl named Maya who moved to a new school. Maya was very nice. Each day when she walked in she would smile at the class, but never got a smile in return. Countless times she would ask other girls to play at recess only to be rejected. The old and rugged clothes Maya wore made her the main subject of whispers and other students making fun of her behind her back. She even got the nickname "Never New" because everything sh...more
When a new girl appears in their class, the other students don't accept her. She seems different - her clothes always look secondhand, and she eats strange food for lunch. Even when she invites the other children to play with her, they refuse. One day Maya doesn't come to school, and that is the day that the teacher speaks with them about kindness. When Maya never returns to school, the narrator of the book regrets her behavior and wishes she had been kinder to Maya.
I was not a big fan of this s...more
I was not a big fan of this s...more
This one made me cry a little. One day Chloe's school principal brings a new little girl named Maya into Chloe's class. Her coat was open, her clothes were old and ragged, and her shoes were spring shoes not suitable for snow and one strap was broken. The little girl was poor but friendly and tried to be friends with Chloe who refused to smile back or speak and turned her body away from Maya and moved her chair from hers.She did it day after day as Maya tried to be friendly.
As time goes by, Chl...more
As time goes by, Chl...more
1 like · like · see review
Maybe because Maya's new, maybe because she seems a little different from the rest of her classmates, or maybe for some secret, never-revealed reason, Chloe and her friends ignore the new girl's offerings of friendship. They refuse to play with her or even return her smiles and call her names because of her hand-me-down clothes. When Chloe fails to appear for class on the same day that the students' teacher gives a lesson on the ripple effects of our actions, Chloe realizes too late that she has...more
Chloe turns her back on the new girl at school named Maya. Maya tries to engage Chloe in friendship many times by sharing things she's interested in, but Chloe gives her the cold shoulder. One day, Maya isn't at school and Chloe's teacher introduces a unit on kindness. She uses a stone and a bowl of water to illustrate the growing effect of kindness, how even the smallest kind gesture can grow to have a big effect. Chloe realizes her many wrongs in relating to May, but the time to right her wron...more
Nov 06, 2012
Margaret
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Margaret by:
E.B. Lewis
Shelves:
picture-book
11/6/2012 ** I had the fantastic opportunity to meet E.B. Lewis and Jacqueline Woodson last June in New York at BEA. Lewis told me about a wonderful book that he'd just finished illustrating for Woodson - this one. I was so disappointed that it wouldn't be out until October 2012. I was finally able to get it on Friday, 10/26 at Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville. Wow!
I read it aloud to my 4th graders today. My kids immediately picked up on things that Chloe and her friends said that they thoug...more
I read it aloud to my 4th graders today. My kids immediately picked up on things that Chloe and her friends said that they thoug...more
Richie’s Picks: EACH KINDNESS by Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis, ill., Penguin/Nancy Paulsen, October 2012, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-24652-4
“I hope when you decide
Kindness will be your guide
Put a little love in your heart
And the world will be a better place
And the world will be a better place
For you, and me, you just wait and see”
--Jackie DeShannon
“The next day, Maya’s seat was empty.
In class that morning, we were talking about kindness.
Ms. Albert had brought a big bowl into class and filled it wit...more
“I hope when you decide
Kindness will be your guide
Put a little love in your heart
And the world will be a better place
And the world will be a better place
For you, and me, you just wait and see”
--Jackie DeShannon
“The next day, Maya’s seat was empty.
In class that morning, we were talking about kindness.
Ms. Albert had brought a big bowl into class and filled it wit...more
We're reading Estes' The Hundred Dresses for book club in December, so this new picture book immediately struck me as similar. They're both stories about a new girl in school who is treated as an outcast because her clothes are shabby and she seems culturally different from the other kids. And (spoiler alert) in both books the poor bullied girl moves away before the mean girls can realize how terrible they've been and apologize.
I think what makes Each Kindness special is that it distills the es...more
I think what makes Each Kindness special is that it distills the es...more
On a quiet, cold, snowy and muted winter morning the classroom door opens and the principal enters holding the hand of Maya, the new girl. Her "coat was open and the clothes beneath it looked old and ragged. Her shoes were spring shoes, not meant for the snow. A strap on one of them had broken." Maya is looking down. She can't face being that new girl. But when she sits down in the empty seat, she turns and smiles at the girl across the aisle. Maya will offer her friendship in many small ways as...more
TEXT:
1. Do the pages seem to turn in the right places? yes.
2. Does the text flow naturally when you read it aloud? yes.
3. How does it sound? Are there pleasing sounds, rhymes, rhythm, or repetition? no obvious rhythm. Written like speech, like actually telling a story instead of reading one.
4. Are there elements of patterned language? no.
5. Are there sentence or plot structures that make the story predictable?
6. Are there examples of familiar words or actions interspersed with less familiar? som...more
1. Do the pages seem to turn in the right places? yes.
2. Does the text flow naturally when you read it aloud? yes.
3. How does it sound? Are there pleasing sounds, rhymes, rhythm, or repetition? no obvious rhythm. Written like speech, like actually telling a story instead of reading one.
4. Are there elements of patterned language? no.
5. Are there sentence or plot structures that make the story predictable?
6. Are there examples of familiar words or actions interspersed with less familiar? som...more
I have the feeling the majority of readers will identify most closely with Chloe, the story's main character, when reading Each Kindness. Her habitual tendency to shrug off the proffered friendship of the new girl, Maya, when she arrives to join her class in school, is a realistic response most people would struggle not to have, preferring to stick with the groups of friends they already know rather than going out of their way to form relationships with people who are a little different. For re...more
This past Wed, while working in the classroom, our 4th grade teacher read this story to the class and followed up with a moving discussion that left me silently crying in the back of the room.
Yes, this is a story about bullying but it's haunting in the lesson the teacher leaves with the students... even small acts of kindness can change the world. Each person in our lives represents an opportunity to show kindness and maybe make a friend. That even being present and doing nothing can be hurtful...more
Yes, this is a story about bullying but it's haunting in the lesson the teacher leaves with the students... even small acts of kindness can change the world. Each person in our lives represents an opportunity to show kindness and maybe make a friend. That even being present and doing nothing can be hurtful...more
Each Kindness reminded me very vividly of The Hundred Dresses, and it's perhaps a sign of how rarely this lesson comes up in children's books that The Hundred Dresses was the ONLY readalike I could think of.
The lesson, of course, is that if you're super mean to people, and later regret your behavior, there is 100% no guarantee you're going to be able to fix your mistakes.
Here, Chloe And Class are nasty as only little children can be, ignoring their (impoverished) new classmate Maya and her atte...more
The lesson, of course, is that if you're super mean to people, and later regret your behavior, there is 100% no guarantee you're going to be able to fix your mistakes.
Here, Chloe And Class are nasty as only little children can be, ignoring their (impoverished) new classmate Maya and her atte...more
2 likes · like · see review
Sep 30, 2012
Sade Nobels
added it
Jacqueline Woodson has enticed readers with her non-traditional children’s picture book entitled Each Kindness. Woodson uses a very familiar child experience seen in many children books but adds a certain twist to the story line that leaves readers uncertain, uncomfortable and even distressed. Readers will be led to have feelings of empathy towards the main character, Maya, while also being encouraged to ensure that they will never be in the same situation as the narrator. This realistic childre...more
Primary. Realistic Fiction. Coretta Scott King Award 2011. Text to Self.
This book tells the story of a little girl who learns the importance of kindness after she is not able to make up for mean things she has done, once Maya, the girl she had been bullying, suddenly leaves school. In the book a teacher asks students to drop a rock into water to show the rippling affect in the water. The teacher compares this to the affect of kindness. When asked what kind thing she has done, even a small thing...more
This book tells the story of a little girl who learns the importance of kindness after she is not able to make up for mean things she has done, once Maya, the girl she had been bullying, suddenly leaves school. In the book a teacher asks students to drop a rock into water to show the rippling affect in the water. The teacher compares this to the affect of kindness. When asked what kind thing she has done, even a small thing...more
This story is about a new girl that attends a new school and looks like she doesn't have much. What little she has she tries to share and play with the other kids. No one wants to play with her every time she asks. She gives wonderful great smiles every day to the student next to her in class, but she just looks the other way. Until one day she doesn't come to school and after weeks and weeks the teacher said she moved away. The teacher gives a lesson up front about dropping a stone (which repre...more
This story is incredibly mournful and poignant. I was near tears throughout this book; I would have been as deeply affected when I was a child. It reminded me so much of the short children’s novel The Hundred Dresses, which touched me deeply as an elementary school student. Maybe it’s because I just read this picture book, but at the moment it feels like an even more powerful story to me.
I do wish the teacher had done the kindness exercise earlier, preferably immediately noticing what was happe...more
I do wish the teacher had done the kindness exercise earlier, preferably immediately noticing what was happe...more
This book is absolutely lovely and haunting at the same time. The pictures are reminiscent of The Other Side which is not a surprise since E. B. Lewis is the illustrator for both books. This book will be a perfect read in my classroom for so many reasons. First, we are bringing to a close our first look at theme, and this book will provide many wonderful conversations. Then, it will be a perfect book for the empathy unit we are going to begin in January, starting with Wonder as the read aloud fo...more
Chloe has a new student arrive in her class. She does not treat this new girl nicely, and as the weeks go by, she distances herself more and more from this new girl, until one day, the new girl does not arrive at school. That is the day that Chloe's class learns about kindness.
I picked this book up because the message it teaches is one that all of us need reminding of: Kindness goes out into the world like ripples from a rock dropped in a pond. In the same way, ripples are also formed when we ch...more
I picked this book up because the message it teaches is one that all of us need reminding of: Kindness goes out into the world like ripples from a rock dropped in a pond. In the same way, ripples are also formed when we ch...more
As I have shelved it, this is a children's fiction book (juvenile easy), but the message would be most effective for a slightly older child (and is a wonderful reminder for all of us).
The story is told first person through the eyes of a child who treats a new girl very poorly--what one reviewer called "subtle bullying." Through an object lesson done by her teacher, she comes to realize how important each kindness we do matters and effects life. Her heart changes to want to at least be a little k...more
The story is told first person through the eyes of a child who treats a new girl very poorly--what one reviewer called "subtle bullying." Through an object lesson done by her teacher, she comes to realize how important each kindness we do matters and effects life. Her heart changes to want to at least be a little k...more
“Each Kindness” is a picture book written by Jacqueline Woodson.
I really enjoyed “Each Kindness.” The story is told from the perspective of Chloe. Through Chloe we learn Maya is the new girl in school. She comes to school in ragged clothes and shoes that are more appropriate for spring not winter. Maya tries to make friends with children offering to play ball with them but the children shun her.
The teacher, Ms. Albert, has the students do an assignment where they have to state something kind the...more
I really enjoyed “Each Kindness.” The story is told from the perspective of Chloe. Through Chloe we learn Maya is the new girl in school. She comes to school in ragged clothes and shoes that are more appropriate for spring not winter. Maya tries to make friends with children offering to play ball with them but the children shun her.
The teacher, Ms. Albert, has the students do an assignment where they have to state something kind the...more
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I used to say I’d be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when I grew up but even as I said these things, I knew what made me happiest was writing.
I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories a...more
More about Jacqueline Woodson...
I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories a...more
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“This is what kindness does, Ms.Albert said. Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world.”
—
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