February
13
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Ten Books for Teaching Kids the Importance of “Taking Care of Others” by Laura Weakland
Every Thursday, teachers across our building read aloud a picture book to their students with themes of “taking care of ourselves, each other, and our world.” As an educator and parent, I am strongly committed to the idea of teaching the “whole child.” This means not only educating them in how to think and learn, but also teaching them how to be empathetic, kind, compassionate, persistent, and more. The single greatest way to teach these skills to children is through “modeling.” And the more models the better! Picture book characters can also serve to “model” these important life skills. We now have over 160 books in our Taking Care collection of mentor picture books with these themes! Picking just ten books to share on this blog post was incredibly difficult! They are listed in no particular order, except Wonder of course is first, because it is the king of Taking Care read alouds!
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Wonder is the only chapter book in our collection. Wonder was my inspiration for starting our Taking Care collection. This book is so incredibly powerful for leading rich discussions with students about taking care of others. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge a boy by his face!
“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.”
If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson
If You Plant a Seed combines a simple kindness message with incredibly beautiful illustrations. Children and adults alike will enjoy this beautiful book.
“If you plant a seed of selfishness, in a very short time, it will grow, and grow, and grow into a heap of trouble. But if you plant a seed of kindness, in almost no time at all, the fruits of kindness will grow, and grow, and grow, and they are very, very sweet.”
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
Each Kindness deals with a real life problem – things don’t always have happy endings and our actions (positive and negative) have consequences. Students will learn that their actions spread like ripples into the world!
“This is what kindness does. Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, in to the world.”
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
What a great message about friendship in Enemy Pie! Kids sometimes are so quick to judge. The dad in this story is very wise and knew if they just gave it a chance, they could be great friends! Students and teachers will just love the ending!
“Enemy pie is the fastest known way to get rid of enemies.” “In order for it to work, you need to spend a day with your enemy. Even worse, you have to nice to him!”
Mr. Peabody’s Apples by Madonna
Teachers in our building use Mr. Peabody’s Apples a lot to teach kids the power of words in taking care of others. The story is inspired by a 300-year-old story about the power of words and how we must choose them carefully to avoid causing harm to others.
“Don’t be so quick to judge a person. And remember the power of your words.”
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy
This book has an incredible message for kids on the importance of taking care of ourselves by having the courage to be who we are and stand up for what we believe in. It also teaches us the importance of taking care of others by treating others with kindness.
“Remember when you treat others with love and kindness, you are doing the right thing.”
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
This book is so incredible for teaching kids to include everyone. So often the “new kid” or the “quiet kid” or the “creative kid” gets left out. There is nothing worse in elementary school than the isolation of being left out. You know that awkward moment when the teacher says to find a partner?
“Maybe, just maybe, Brian’s not so invisible after all.”
Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Bully provides us with a strong “taking care” message. The words are few, but the message is powerful. It’s also important for helping students to develop empathy for the “bully” and possibly understanding the bully’s motivation for why he or she acts as they do.
“Bully?
Sorry….. Wanna play?”
To the Sea by Cale Atkinson
To the Sea is a whale of a tale on friendship! Students will love this unlikely friendship and learn important lessons on how to take care of our friends.
“Friends don’t let friends down.” “He should not, he could not, he would not let his friend down.”
Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler
Mrs. Ruler teaches her students that “kindness is cooler!” The class quickly learns how easy it is to fill up their “kindness board” ‘with acts of kindness. “Okay, hooray!” shouted Mrs. Ruler when they met their goal of 100 acts of kindness. Just maybe you will join us in spreading kindness to your students through reading aloud books that teach students to “take care of ourselves, each other, and our world!”
“A slice of nice makes a mile of smile!”
Laura Weakland is a 4th grade teacher in South Lyon, Michigan. She is a huge advocate for teaching kids how to “take care of themselves, each other, and the world”….one book at a time! She encourages teachers to do the same by reading aloud picture books with strong character education messages EVERY week. If she’s not curled up somewhere reading a good book, she can be found writing about the books she reads at http://journaloflaura.weebly.com/featured-books or tweeting about her reading selections using the hashtag #TakingCareThurs.
Nerdy Book Club 
Thank you so much for sharing these fabulous titles and their messages. When my kids were younger, I read them a lot of picture books along these lines. I also liked ones about resilience like “The Bird with the Broken Wing”: http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/How-to-Heal-a-Broken-Wing-9781406307160
I read that to my kids after I’d had an extensive stay in hospital.
xx Rowena
Thank you! We have “How to Heal a Broken Wing” in our collection too! Love that one!
Thank you for this list~ these sound like wonderfully-told stories and great ways to start important conversations!
Thank-you for reading and helping to share the Taking Care message!
Great post. I’m going to recommend these to my kids’ librarian.
Thank you! The kids will love being able to check these out of your library!
I would love a copy of your complete list of titles to help grow a new shelf dedicated to this theme in our school library!
Absolutely! Click on this link to see our complete list. I have added more books this year, but won’t update the list until next summer. http://journaloflaura.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/9/4/23947667/dolsen_taking_care_of_others_ourselves_book_inventory_aug_30_2015.pdf
I would love your complete list of titles so we can grow a shelf in our school library addressing this theme. Thank you!
So important. What I took from Michel Moore’s new film is that the immense inequality and poverty, the failure of the USA to provide free universal health care, free college tuition and paid vacation as basic human rights are evidence that in our culture (as compared to many other countries) the dominant ethic is to take care of ourselves and let other members of the community fend for themselves. In addition to books encouraging individuals to care for one another we need books showing that not only historically but in the present day there are many people working to create a kinder and more caring world — by marching against police brutality, for a living wage, for a new playground, for low cost housing, etc. Children observe social inequalities and injustices. No child is too young to learn another kinder world is possible.
I agree Ann! No child is too young to learn another kinder world is possible!
Thank you so much for sharing this list! They all sound like powerful stories and I’m excited to add the new title to my To Be Read list. I love Wonder!
Thank YOU for taking the time to read the post and add these books to your reading list! We love Wonder too!
Your fourth graders are lucky to have you! Keep sharing wonderful books with them.
Thank you so much Carol! I will continue to share books and more books! Love books with a Taking Care message!
What a great list! Thank you for posting!
Thank you Beth! And thank YOU for reading! 🙂
I had a Kindergarten class in my library and they loved If You Plant a Seed. We had some very good discussions too. Great list!
Thank you! Isn’t If you Plant a Seed a beautiful book?!
I teach an elementary self-contained room with a group of students ranging in age from 7-11. Each day we struggle with understanding the importance of good character traits. I was so happy to come upon this list of books that will help me teach how important it is to show good character traits and will give other’s points of view for students to relate to instead of the one that I give them on a daily basis. I feel as though some days they think I am a broken record repeating things that they should and should not do. I want them to understand the importance of being good students, friends, brothers, sisters, etc. I just wish there was an easier way to teach them this! The importance of being a good person is something that I do hope they get from my class if they take nothing else with them. I will be going to the library and checking out these books for my students to read very soon! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you so much Tristin for all you are doing to teach these important character traits! Sometimes, I feel like a broken record too, but they are hearing the message! Check out my blog, as I try and feature new books every week so others can building their Taking Care collections!
I didn’t have a few of these in our collection, so thanks to you, I have ordered them. Cheers from China
Cheers to China! Thank you for taking the time to read. Enjoy your new books!
I loved the book Each Kindness when my children read it for a book club. I also love The 100 Dresses that it’s based on. We would love for you to link up this post with us at the Literacy Musing Mondays Linkup #LMMLinkup http://www.foreverjoyful.net/?p=859
Each Kindness is a great book! We also love 100 Dresses! Great story too! I would love to link up! Need to figure out how to do that!
We’re getting a lot of good conversation with Last Stop on Market Street. Paul Fleischman’s Seedfolks is wonderful for older kids.
Just bought Last Stop on Market Street! What a great message to teach kids the importance of seeing beauty in the world and being a positive person! I need to check out Seedfolks.
So wonderful! It’s the basic blocks of what the next generations need..and adults maybe even moreso! Maybe we should open these books up instead of the 6 o’clock news.
Great idea Liz! I love the idea of opening up books instead of the 6 o’clock news! 🙂
Would love an easy source to order all mentioned for a gift…any easy site?
Liz, I don’t know of an easy way to add them all to order. Would have to search on Amazon and add to cart individually. That would be awesome, if we could!
Thank you for this post!
Thank you for reading and help spread the Taking Care message!
I think this list may just save my class. My school is really working towards creating leaders. I have been looking for books that really show how to accept people and how to be kind.
I agree it really is about educating the whole child. We should want our children to be ready for life and working with others.
This post is amazing! My school is trying to develop kindness, leader, and responsibility. I have been trying to find books that fit what I want my students to learn. I really like The Invisible Boy. Recently my class has had a new student join and my other students aren’t taking to her like they have each other. I really think this book in particular will help. Thanks so much for sharing.
My school is doing Leader In Me and really trying to get our students to become responsible leader in school, at home and in the community. I agree that we have to educate the whole child. I love this book list. I really think these books would benefit my students. Are these books easy to find? Do you do a mini lesson with them or just a class discussion?