Each Kindness

Each Kindness, a picture book length poem by Jacqueline Woodson with illustrations by E.B. Lewis, is a rare treat. A meditation on the importance of kindness, it accumulates power through the eventual realization of its narrator, Chloe, that she has not been kind. Woodson, a deeply empathetic writer, trusts her young audience and never provides easy answers or a saccharine resolution to her tale. A new girl, Maya, moves to town and attempts to make friends with Chloe. Chloe and the other children reject her; eventually Chloe’s family moves away again, and Chloe is left to wrestle with the uneasiness her choices have produced. E.B. Lewis’ illustrations are a graceful companion to Woodson’s text, beautifully evoking both the loneliness of childhood and the splendor of the natural world.

Each Kindness was originally published in 2012 and was awarded both a Coretta Scott King Honor and the Jane Addams Peace Award. Its reminder to young readers about the power of our daily actions is one that feels especially crucial at this moment when, as Woodson writes, “Every little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world.”