Read these kids’ books about empathy with your young ones and teach them how to live out their faith in tangible ways every day.
What kids’ books about empathy do you enjoy with your young ones? Tell us in the comments below!
Why does empathy matter?
We begin to understand others. When we practice empathy, we place ourselves in someone else’s shoes. This is important for so many reasons.
Empathy teaches us about God’s love. God lived in the person of Jesus. And God lives within and through us and all of creation now. God, by nature of being incarnational, is empathetic. We love like God when we practice empathy.
Empathy enriches our relationships. When we use our energy to understand those around us we become more connected. We know our close ones more deeply. And around us people feel safer to be who they are.
Empathy improves group dynamics. When a group is full of people who practice empathy lots of amazing things are true. Violence is lower. Communication is better. Self-expression increases. Creativity and innovation thrive.
Empathy helps us cultivate self-acceptance. We learn to understand the experience of others. Consequently, we begin to see our past self as an “other” to understand. We can look to less aware, experienced, healthy, kind, brave… selves as ones to be seen and loved.
Bottom line? Empathy is utterly foundational to making compassionate decisions. If we are to live out our faith with compassion, which is kind of the point, we must develop our ability to empathize.
Wonder
Age range: 8-12 years old
August Pullman is a 10-year-old boy who likes Star Wars and Xbox, ordinary except for his jarring facial anomalies. Homeschooled all his life, August heads to public school for fifth grade and he is not the only one changed by the experience–something we learn about first-hand through the narratives of those who orbit his world. August’s internal dialogue and interactions with students and family ring true, and though remarkably courageous he comes across as a sweet, funny boy who wants the same things others want: friendship, understanding, and the freedom to be himself.
Auggie & Me
Age range: 8-12 years old
Auggie & Me gives readers a special look at the world of Wonder through three new points of view. These stories are an extra peek at Auggie before he started at Beecher Prep and during his first year there. Readers get to see him through the eyes of Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie’s oldest friend; and Charlotte, Auggie’s new friend at school. What an opportunity for empathic learning! Together, these three stories are a treasure for readers who don’t want to leave Auggie behind.
Amazing Grace
Age range: 4-8 years old
Grace loves stories, whether she hears them, reads them, or makes them up. Possessed with a marvelous imagination as well as a strong flair for the dramatic, she acts the stories out, always giving herself the most exciting parts. Thus, it is natural when her teacher announces a classroom production of Peter Pan , that Grace wants to play the lead. One classmate says she can’t because she’s a girl and another says she can’t because she’s black. When a saddened Grace relates the days events to her mother and grandmother, they tell her she can be anything she wants to, if she puts her mind to it.
The Invisible Boy
Age range: 6-9 years old
The Invisible Boy follows the journey of Brian, a boy who feels unnoticed by his peers – invisible – in school. Brian is the only kid not chosen for a kickball team and is left out of a fellow student’s birthday party. It isn’t until a new kid, Justin – a boy with a few quirks of his own – joins the class that Brian begins to feel more visible.
The One and Only Ivan
Age range: 8-12 years old
Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan, a captive gorilla, has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.
Have fun reading these kids’ books on empathy with your young ones. And don’t forget to share your ideas, too, in the comments below!
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