Using picture books in the classroom is a great way to help children learn important social and emotional skills that can be carried into their own personal lives. Books are a great way to bring up difficult conversations with our students that address topics such as kindness, empathy, and acceptance.
Today I’m sharing my top 15 picture books to about kindness and empathy for children.
Empathy and Kindness Picture Books
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1. Enemy Pie By Derek Munson
Your students will love to follow along with the story of a boy who has decided that Jeremy Ross, the new boy down the street, is now his number one enemy! As it turns out, his dad has the perfect way to get rid of an enemy…bake an enemy pie! While the pie is in the oven, Dad gives him an assignment to spend the entire day with his enemy as part of this scheme. As you can guess, this plan DOES get rid of his enemy – just not in the way he had expected.
Ideas for using ‘Enemy Pie’ Book in the Classroom: After reading and discussing the story, your students might like to create their own enemy pie recipes. (A cup of kindness, anyone?)
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2. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
A classroom favorite, Chrysanthemum is the story of a mouse who is in LOVE with her beautiful name…until she starts kindergarten and the other students tease her for it. This book clearly illustrates the power that our words can have, both in a negative way AND positive way.
Ideas for using ‘Chrysanthemum’ Book in the Classroom: This would be a wonderful book to share at the beginning of the year, when everyone is learning each others’ names. A fun extension is to ask students if they know the meaning or story behind their name. This helps to illustrate the importance of names and the fact that we should treat each others’ names with respect.
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3. The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
This is a sweet story about a boy named Brian. At first, he seems to go unnoticed by his class and feels invisible. Brian feels badly for a new boy, Justin, who is being teased, and reaches out to him in kindness. As a result, Justin takes notice of Brian and reaches out to include him in activities.
Ideas for using ‘The Invisible Boy’ Book in the Classroom:This book sparks a great discussion about the importance of kindness through inclusion. As a class, you can create an anchor chart of words that showcase what a student might look like when they feel included and ‘seen’ rather than invisible.
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4. Nobody Hugs a Cactus by Carter Goodrich
A cranky cactus learns an important lesson in this book, as he gradually realizes that his unkind behavior has pushed everyone away and that he actually DOESN’T want to be left alone. After the cactus makes the decision to reach out in kindness instead of being grumpy, the book ends with the cactus sharing a “sticky” hug with a tumbleweed.
Ideas for using ‘Nobody Hugs a Cactus’ Book in the Classroom: This book could serve as a fun introduction to this cactus kindness writing and craft activity, where students write about how they can “stick” with kindness!
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5. I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët
This is a wordless picture book that takes you through a young girl’s internal struggle of seeing a classmate being bullied. After thinking about it all evening, she wakes up with a plan to help her classmate using kindness. Since this is a wordless story, it’s a great way to spur discussion with your class.
Ideas for using ‘I Walk with Vanessa’ Book in the Classroom: This wordless picture book is great for sparking discussions about bullying and what it means to become allies instead of bystanders. You can provide each group of students with a list of different scenarios in which a classmate is being bullied. Students will work in their groups to discuss how they would react to the scenario and become allies rather than bystanders.
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6. Taste Your Words By Bonnie Clark
In this story, a cranky Amera is warned by her mother that she needs to taste her unkind words before she lets them leave her mouth. After this warning, Amera begins tasting the unkind words that she was using with others. She then gets to experience the delicious taste of kind words as she apologizes to her friends and family.
Ideas for using ‘Taste your Words’ Book in the Classroom: The students in your class could have fun associating some delicious tastes to kind words using simile. You could even create an anchor chart of delicious words to use in your classroom!
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7. If You Plant a Seed By Kadir Nelson
This simple story about the fruits of our actions has beautiful and engaging illustrations. This book opens discussion about how kindness can lead to more kindness.
Ideas for using ‘If You Plant a Seed’ Book in the Classroom: This book can be used as a springboard into social or emotional goal-setting. Students can choose the seed they want to plant (goal) and what actions they need to take to nurture that seed and accomplish the goal. They can actually plant a seed and label the pot with their goal.
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8. Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler
In this story, Mrs. Ruler tries to teach a lesson to a small group of students who have been acting unkindly to their peers. She gives them an assignment to perform acts of kindness to others and report back. The story shows how these acts of kindness create a ripple effect throughout their class.
Ideas for using ‘Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler’ Book in the Classroom: This story sets the stage perfectly for a class kindness challenge! This 30-day kindness challenge for students can be used during the month of February.
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9. Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
If you are looking for an open-ended book that creates discussion about empathy, compassion, and kindness, this is a great option! In this story, a boy wants to squash an ant but the ant is pleading its case as to why the boy should consider otherwise. The great thing about this book is that it doesn’t reach a conclusion. In fact, the reader is asked at the end of the story what should be done.
Ideas for using ‘Hey, Little Ant’ Book in the Classroom: This story can serve as a writing prompt for persuasive or opinion writing, as students can answer the question about whether or not the ant should be squished.
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10. How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer
Would you like to introduce your class to the concept of being bucket fillers? This picture book about kindness and empathy serves as an illustration of this concept, as Felix learns about the invisible buckets of those around him (including himself). As the story progresses, students are able to see the positive and negative effects that actions can have on others.
Ideas for using ‘How Full is your Bucket?’ Book in the Classroom: This book serves as an introduction to a class-wide kindness initiative that will encourage your students to be bucket fillers! You can set up a class-wide bucket and pebbles are added each time your students are caught being kind, ‘bucket fillers’. Once the bucket is full, students receive a class-wide reward. This can also work as a small-group incentive!
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11. The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
An important lesson in empathy and kindness is that everyone feels and reacts differently to emotion. This story is a great illustration of this concept, as Taylor becomes upset when his block tower falls down. Multiple animals approach him and each want to help him process his emotions in a different way. Eventually, Taylor is approached by a rabbit that simply listens and provides space for Taylor to process his emotions when and how he chooses.
Ideas for using ‘The Rabbit Listened’ Book in the Classroom: This book is a great reminder for students that, sometimes, the best form of kindness is to listen. Students can role play different scenarios and model what it looks like to be an active listener.
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12. The Buddy Bench by Patty Brozo
Many schools take part in the buddy bench initiative, but it’s always a great idea to discuss as a class why the buddy benches are such a powerful tool for kindness and inclusion. Having seen what being left out is like, children in a classroom convincing their teacher to let them build a buddy bench to help spark change.This book takes the reader through the experience of one class as they discover a need for students to show their desire to play without having to use words.
Ideas for using ‘The Buddy Bench’ Book in the Classroom: If your school doesn’t have a buddy bench, this book could open the discussion about selecting a “buddy spot” that your class could use. This would be a helpful activity at the beginning of the school year!
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13. The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Strelitz Haber
In this story, we’re introduced to the traits that make a monster using an acrostic of sorts – M stands for MEAN! Unfortunately, the monster in this story is worried because he has lost his M! Your students will enjoy following along with Onster as he tries to navigate life after losing his “mean” and has to choose kindness instead!
Ideas for using ‘The Monster who Lost his Mean’ Book in the Classroom:There are many important discussions about kindness and inclusion that can be inspired by this book. For example, your students might notice how the other monsters tease Onster when he is not acting like “everyone else” in their group. Students can create an acrostic poem for the word FRIEND, using qualities that make a good friend. This monster craft and kindness writing prompts go perfectly with this book!
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14. One Drop of Kindness by Jeff Kubiak
Gus, a one-time orphan who goes through life thinking that hurtful words and actions are the only way to behave and communicate with others. Interestingly, Gus lives in a town that holds a mysterious secret which finally gets unlocked by something that was hidden away. By unlocking this secret, you too can join the ripple effect of kindness that Gus, along with his school and town, is experiencing with the rest of the world!
Ideas for using ‘One Drop of Kindness’ Book in the Classroom: You can demonstrate the ripple effect of kindness to your students by filling a cup with water and placing a drop of food coloring inside (drop of kindness). Students can see how the drop of ‘kindness’ has an effect on the entire water cup.This can lead to a discussion on how one person’s kind actions can positively influence others to do the same.
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15. The Starkeeper by Faith Pray
When a girl finds a fallen star, she decides to keep it hidden. But this star encourages kindness and needs to shine, so it comes out from the shadows. She soon discovers that sharing helps brighten the star, she starts doing good deeds wherever she can. Soon, this kindness leads to a chain of good works that light up the once-dreary town. A beautiful book that celebrates the beauty of humanity.
Ideas for using ‘The Starkeeper’ Book in the Classroom: Students can brainstorm different ways in which they can help others. They can write their ideas on strips of paper. Connect all of the strips to create a ‘chain of kindness’ and hang it in the classroom.
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Check out these Five Kindness Activities for Elementary Students to engage your students during Kindness Week!
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I hope that these empathy and kindness picture books will spark helpful conversations in your classroom! I’d love to see which of these books you use with your students, so be sure to tag me on Instagram: @SweetToothTeaching!
If you love to use picture books to teach and reinforce concepts in your classroom, be sure to check out this post with my favorite picture books to teach fractions.
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