Teaching Values: Picture Books to Raise Good Humans
Books are a wonderful tool to help children see the world in new ways. This collection of new picture books will help you in teaching values like kindness, inclusion, and compassion to raise good humans. It’s not easy to raise the next generation of world changers, but together we can!
Teaching Values: Picture Books to Raise Good Humans
Disclosure: I received complimentary copies of the books below for review purposes; however, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you click thorough and make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Enjoy these new picture books that help with teaching values and raising good humans!
A key element to build a kinder, more just world is empowering kids to be world changers, through teaching them to be kind, loving, and confident. That is why I love this new collection by The Be Books, dedicated to raising a generation of self-confident, caring kids that are focused on BEing their best selves. These books, such as Be Who You Were Meant To Be, Love Grows Love, The Light Within Me and Every So Often A Zebra Has Spots, inspire children to help create a better future by seeing the light in themselves and others.
Another must have in your toolkit to raise good humans is the beautiful new children’s book A New Alphabet for Humanity: A Children’s Book of Alphabet Words to Inspire Compassion, Kindness and Positivity. This ABC book focuses on heart-based values like kindness, self-love, empathy, compassion, and respect. We love its lovely illustrations (with diverse characters) and how it explains concepts like bravery, joy, and gratitude in simple ways that kids can understand. And for every book they sell, they plant a tree! Find out why a growing number of teachers, schools, and parents are using A New Alphabet for Humanity to bring out the best in children.
Another wonderful ABC book is The ABCs of Black History. It’s easy to get kids excited about history with a book like this! Learn about icons of Black history like Alvin Ailey and Toni Morrison, as well as holidays like Juneteenth and Kwanzaa. In this ABC book, letters of the alphabet stand for concepts important to Black history, like E for Education and V for Vote. This is a book that doesn’t shy away from difficult topics like enslavement and discrimination, but it also recognizes that Black history is so much more than that. More than anything, The ABCs of Black History is about empowerment: R is for Rise and B is for Beautiful, for example. A must read for every child.
One of the most common experiences among children of immigrants is the struggle between wanting to fit in and wanting to honor their heritage. For so many young children, this conflict comes to a head in the school cafeteria. In The Yuckiest Lunch Box: A Children’s Story about Food, Cultural Differences, and Inclusion, Nari is so excited for her first day of school, but when the other kids see her traditional Korean lunch, they laugh and turn up their noses. Nari is humiliated and asks her mother to pack her a “normal” American lunch instead. In this tender tale, we see as Nari not only grows in confidence but learns to stand up for another new student and his “weird” lunch. There is so much I love about this book, especially that in the end Nari herself becomes a force for change and shows the way to other students.
How to Apologize is a sweet book for young readers to learn that important skill, how to apologize. As the animal characters make plain, everyone makes mistakes, but what’s important is to say you’re sorry. I love that this book gives examples of how to apologize, which is so important when teaching values. What does an apology look like? What makes it a good apology, and not just something you say because you know you should? Kids will love these adorable characters as they learn this valuable lesson.
Making friends is also a skill, one that many of us need to brush up on after the pandemic! Let’s Play! A Book About Making Friends shows children how to do just that through the story of Sukie, who has just started at a new school. Soon she learns to pass on small acts of kindness and form genuine friendships. I love the emphasis on celebrating differences and standing up for one another. A wonderful book for children starting back to school.
FREE is a lovely book about loving and letting go. When a boy and his grandfather care for a sick bird, they make the difficult decision to let him go once he is better. But each time they try to set him free, the bird returns. The boy hopes this means the bird can stay forever, but his grandfather helps him understand that the bird will be happier out in the wild. And so they set off on an adventure to take the bird back into the mountains to its home. This magical journey helps the boy understand that even though it’s hard to let go, when we love someone we want what is best for them.
Thoughts Are Air is a beautiful picture book that teaches children the importance of turning their ideas into action. Thoughts are like air, but if they are put to work, they can power your plans. Young readers follow along as a group of children decides to help save a tree that needs some extra love. They turn their ideas into action and soon get the neighborhood involved. A lovely book to inspire children to transform their big ideas into reality.
Want to help your kids make better choices? Now there’s a fun way to do just that! The cool new book What Should Darla Do? Featuring the Power to Choose has 8 stories in 1! Young readers follow along as Darla, a self-proclaimed astronaut in training, faces everyday dilemmas that kids confront all the time, such as whether to ask before using someone else’s toys and how to handle jealousy among friends. In each situation, kids help Darla choose what she should do. Based on that, they turn to the corresponding page to see how that decision works out for Darla. It’s a great way to help children think through the consequences their own choices and learn to use the Power to Choose!
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