In addition to being the unlucky Friday the 13th of ancient lore, I prefer at The Snuggery to focus the spotlight on today as “World Kindness Day.”

As I understand it, World Kindness Day is a global day promoting the importance of being kind to oneself, one another and the world.

Its purpose is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together.

It has the power to heal and help bridge the “gap between nations.”

Pretty big task, right? But perhaps not if we break it down to its elements and let it begin with ourselves, in how we perceive and gently treat ourselves with a bit of compassion and understanding, instead of rigor and self-judgment.

If we then extend THAT to our own families and try to model it in our every day interactions with those closest to us and by extension to the myriad people with whom we come into contact with on a daily basis, the ripple effect can be enormous.

Globally, our world is ever more interconnected, and the domino effect of this may even take hold, as we interact over oceans and continents with one another.

Well, maybe not now exactly on the levels shared.

But the pandemic and the political vitriol, awash in the culture currently, certainly provide a perfect experimental seeding ground for “kindly interactions” to take place.

What are the things you can’t see that are important?

I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion and love.

                                         Former President Jimmy Carter

And so, here is where the picture book can shine that not only entertains, educates, but can also model kind behaviors to young readers at home facing some of life’s biggest and smallest challenges.

Here is a list of suggested books for young readers that I believe can model,  not only kindness, but even resilience, patience and perseverance in the face of this uncertain and ever-changing world:

Each Kindness – by Jacqueline Woodson; illustrated by E.B.Lewis

 

If You Plant a Seed – by Kadir Nelson

 

The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade –  by Justin Roberts; illustrated by Christian Robinson

 

Amos and Boris –  by William Steig

 

The Hundred Dresses – by Eleanor Estes; illustrated by Louis Slobodkin

 

Below is a link to a site with suggestions for “Random Acts of Kindness” that you and your young readers can use going forward to allow World Kindness Day to continue 364 other days in the year

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/