“Each Kindness” by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Paulsen Books, New York, 2012, 32 pages, Grades K-3.
Frequently, people go through life without thinking a great deal about their actions. Sometimes, this just means that they are too busy or preoccupied with daily affairs to think much about their meaning.
But sometimes, we have events happen to us that change our lives. The point really is the direction these events take us. Do we choose to be charitable to others or do we seek our own satisfaction? How can not choosing to do something affect ourselves and others? Why is it so important to make each event in our lives mean something? Jacqueline Woodson has written a telling story about the consequences of our actions on others. It is entitled, “Each Kindness.”
A young, poorly-dressed girl enters a grade school classroom. The teacher announces to the students that this new student, named Maya, will be joining the class. Maya looks different from the other girls in the classroom. Her clothes are not attractive, and her lunch box is filled with odd-looking food. The teacher, Ms. Albert, places Maya next to Chloe in the classroom. Maya immediately tries to make friends with Chloe, but is rebuffed. Chloe returns Maya’s smiles with indifference and looks away. As the days go on, Maya reaches out again and again to the girl. But Chloe couldn’t care less and continues to stare out the window.
When the girls go out to the playground, Maya tries to join. But the girls have their cliques and want to have no part of Maya. Finally, Maya brings her birthday present of jacks and a red ball and invites the girls to play the game with her. Once again, they ignore her. In spite of her repeated attempts to play with the other girls, she is rejected. Chloe in particular does not want to be seen as Maya’s friend.
Finally, Maya begins to jump rope on the playground without asking any of the girls to join her. Her jumping is quite fantastic and impressive. A few days later, the teacher tells the children that Maya has left the school.
On the day of the announcement telling that Maya won’t be returning, the classroom lesson is about kindness. Ms. Albert brings a bowl of water into the classroom and has each student drop a small stone into the container. She carefully explains that all of our actions are like the ripples the pebbles make in the water. The ripples go out and keep spreading. The students drop a stone into the bowl and tells of one personal act of kindness they have committed. Chloe walks home later and thinks of all of her lost opportunities. What should she do now?
What does Chloe learn about charity? What are the consequences of not reaching out to others? Does it really make any sense to be selfish?
Have you ever not wanted to reach out to someone different from yourself? What is the best way to handle this situation? What hard lesson does Chloe learn? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out “Each Kindness” by Jacqueline Woodson.
This is an important book to teach understanding and acceptance in the primary grades. It is on the Golden Sower List this year for K-3. I would encourage you to read this title with the younger members of your family and discuss the important issues raised by the author. This book could be quite useful in helping younger children understand that their rejection of their classmates hurts everyone.
This is not a fun book to read, but it addresses some very important human situations in the early grades. Because of this, I hope you get a chance to read the book.
