Kindness Matters

Woodson, Jacqueline., and Earl B Lewis. Each Kindness. New York, N.Y.: Nancy Paulsen, 2012.

As the new girl, Maya finds herself in a tough situation when trying to make friends. Compared to the other girls in her school, Maya was different. She wore different clothes and played with old toys. After countless times of trying to play with Chloe and the other girls in her school, Maya realized she was not wanted and begins to play alone. Chloe then notices Maya stopped coming to school altogether without any explanation for leaving. Chloe really regrets her rudeness towards Maya when her teacher explains that the simple act of kindness can go a long way. Chloe is upset with herself and her attitude towards Maya but realizes it is too late to get a second chance.

Illustrator, E.B. Lewis, did a phenomenal job at creating different types of images to represent the story. One of the most important things to note is that the main character of the story is a colored girl. While this might not seem surprising, to people of today’s era back then it was a big deal. As noted before, Maya was considered the different one but at some point in history the colored girls were always the different ones. I think this helps children break the racial stereotypes between who is considered “different”.

The children’s book is a perfect representation of the most simple form of bullying. Excluding, rejecting, and ignoring are the most common forms of bullying seen amongst children. As a children gets to the end of the story, they realize how sad Maya must have felt when she experienced this from the other girls. Most children either relate to Maya or Chloe. Though they might not realize it, they tend to ignore those who are not similar to them. This has a bigger effect The story helps children realize how their actions can greatly impact others. Children reading the book could think to themselves, “how could Chloe have included Maya?”

Not only does the author try to portray the emotional aspect of acts but she also tries to explain to act and act quickly before it’s too late. Not only was Chloe upset for not acting kinder to Maya but she realizes she will never be given that opportunity again. This is an important lesson for children to note, act kind and act fast.

“This is what kindness does, Ms.Albert said. Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world.” — Jacqueline Woodson