Thank You, Helpers: Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Grocery Workers, and More Who Care for Us

by Patricia Hegarty, Michael Emmerson (Illustrations)

Help make our new reality a little less scary for kids with this joyful tribute to all the helpers of today. Perfect for parents, caregivers, and teachers looking to model appreciation and thankfulness.

With all the talk of germs, social distancing, and the pandemic, it's easy for kids to be confused or overwhelmed. Help reassure by encouraging them to see all the amazing ways people are keeping each other safe. From healthcare workers to delivery people, grocery workers, teachers, and more, kids can learn about the heroes in our communities taking care of us all.

With a joyful rhyme scheme made for reading aloud, this is the perfect book to read together and foster an appreciation of those around us.

In conjunction with the publication of this book, a contribution will be made by Random House Children's Books to Americares to benefit health workers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2020

About the author

Patricia Hegarty began working in children's publishing more years ago than she cares to remember and is now Editorial Director at Caterpillar Books and Little Tiger Kids. As an author, the range of subjects has been wide-ranging—pirates, princesses, trees, and bees have all become firm favorites.

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

This book is a pretty generic book that does what it says on the tin -- but I read it because I had seen someone Tweet, recommending it as "a book about community helpers WITHOUT COPS," which it is and which I appreciate.

I also appreciate that it highlights people/roles that often don't get discussed -- the book names: doctors, nurses, paramedics, "hospital worker[s]" in general (the illustrations include cleaning staff, etc.), caregivers, delivery people, "workers in vehicles and shops" (the illustrations showing a bus driver, someone driving a vehicle loading boxes at a pharmacy, etc.), grocery workers, teachers, and volunteers.

The actual text is rhyming and only a few lines per role, but there is "Meet Some Heroes" backmatter which briefly outlines what each role does (e.g., "Warehouse workers handle the safe packing and deliver of millions of goods from all around the world to our shops and homes.", "All the staff in hospitals have an important role to play, from the kitchen staff to to the porters and the cleaners.").

Some, but not all, of the characters are wearing masks -- which marks it as a covid-19 era book, but also feels somewhat weird to me (why aren't all of them wearing masks? sometimes people are, e.g., at home, but unmasked paramedics wheeling a masked person on a gurney is a particularly odd visual).

[Ashlynn]

In this story the author take us through many different occupations and says thank you to all of them.
The characters within the story are people with "helping" occupations. Like doctors and nurses, teachers, grocery workers, custodians and many more. The text structure is very basic . It has a rhyming pattern and has very minimal words. There really wasn't anything I didn't like about the book. I could use a book like this to teach about gratitude during thanks giving and follow it up with my students writing thank you notes to the important "helpers" in their lives.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Community helpers and how they help us is an important topic for our younger students. As the book starts, "The world is full of heroes. And when the going gets tough, those heroes all get going. We can't thank them enough." Doctors, delivery people, nurses, teachers, paramedics and more are included. I like how the author includes what each helper does in their role at the end of the book. Two thumbs up for this book!

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank You, Helpers is a warm and uplifting book that highlights all the people in our community who help make the world a safer and kinder place, doctors, nurses, grocery workers, delivery drivers, teachers, and more. It was written during the pandemic, but the message still feels relevant: gratitude matters, and children can learn to appreciate the everyday heroes around them.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book thanks the helpers (essential workers) and has a nice rhyming text and excellent illustrations. It talks about thanking them and what the helper workers do-doctors, nurses, teachers, grocery workers, and more. Very nice.

[Pennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a heart-warming book praising all the front-line workers who have been working hard through the pandemic.

I saw it in the bookshop, and bought it, as it is essentially '2020: The Picture Book'.

[Ian McHugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. Great to celebrate the ‘helpers’ with children. Allowing youngsters to see doctors and nurses and teachers and care givers as fantastical is brilliant to reinforce reflection on the society in which they live and also to think about what makes a happy, fulfilled, life.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Perfect book for kids to understand the pandemic

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book that highlights the many people who have kept our world running during the pandemic. Recommended.

Q2020 book.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rhyming book about community helpers which was great.

[Bridget Johnson (Jameson)]

I thought this was a Thanksgiving book but it is a pandemic book.