Kindness and Wonder

Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever by Gavin Edwards

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you grew up in any time from the 60’s through the 2000’s there is a very good chance that you are familiar with Fred Rogers from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The Neighborhood was a slow-moving island of wonderfully warm and life-affirming television in a sea of noise and chaos outside, hosted by a man with a unique charm and ability to bring calmness to every moment.

His gentle manner, his complete honesty and sincerity and desire to help children have made him a beloved figure that touched the lives of millions of people. Almost 20 years after his death, his reach has extended to many of the adults who now have children and grandchildren of their own.

Kindness and Wonder is an attempt to explain the man whom many hold in such high regard. It is an easy book, only 236 pages, divided into 2 sections. The first is about Mister Rogers’ life and career. The second is a 10-step chapter by chapter run through of the ways that a person can take the lessons from Mister Rogers’ amazing life and apply them to their own. There are stories, there are lessons, and for fans of the man that many of us TV watching kids grew up with, it is enough.

It is a quick read that is probably more of a snapshot of a life, but it duly hits all the major points. Fred Rogers’ apparent simplicity was hard to understand if you didn’t see the show or meet him in real life. The chapter on how he dealt with people who made fun of him was instructional. I wonder how he might have dealt with the current online world with all its trolling and awfulness, but I get the feeling that Twitter would be no match for his disarming and unflagging ability to stay calm and see the goodness in everyone.

It’s a terrible world out there. But Mister Rogers spent his life trying to make it better.









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