Kids Books About Caring

It’s February, a pretty bleak month for much of North America. Christmas is long behind us, Easter is at least a month away, and the weather is still cold and snowy/rainy. I know Valentine’s Day is a corporate holiday created by greeting card companies to sell chocolate and candy and cards – BUT I still love it. It breaks up the monotony of the winter. It’s fun and pink and the month is full of love! Check out my post last week for how I’ve started celebrating February with my family.

This week, continuing on with my Virtues project – reading different children’s books that espouse different virtues through their characters or plot – I am going to talk about a very Valentines-ey virtue: Caring.

If you missed why I am taking on this task of going through a different virtue each week, check out my post Kids Books About Assertiveness.

What is caring?

“Caring is giving love and attention to people and things that matter to you.”

Linda Kavelin Popov, The Family Virtues Guide p. 69

When you care about something, you try your very best. When you care about someone, you help them in ways that make them feel good and safe. You listen to them and pay attention to things that matter to them. You respect them. When you care for a pet, you make sure it gets what it needs – like water, food, exercise, a place to sleep, visits to the veterinarian when it is sick, and love from you. You can also be careful with things – which means treating it gently and making sure it doesn’t get broken. When you are careful with something, you don’t do things that might hurt or break it. When you do careful work, it means you take your time and you do a good job trying your best to not make mistakes. When you care about yourself, it means that you treat yourself with kindness. You aren’t mean to yourself and understand that you deserve respect.

Kids Books about Caring

Here are five stories we read that feature caring characters. These are not top-down “let-me-tell-you-about-caring”, but rather exemplify caring through the plot of the story and the characters. These books are not *just* about caring, as they are complex and rich stories and I don’t think they can be boiled down to only one virtue. But I believe they feature caring characters.

After reading, we identified how characters were caring, how they were careful (or were not careful!). We also talked about how we are caring in our own lives and for each other. May these books inspire you to have similar conversations with your children!

Alfie and the Birthday Surprise by Shirley Hughes

I love the Alfie books by Shirley Hughes! In this story, Alfie takes gentle care of a kitten and also cares for a neighbor and celebrates his birthday.

Alfie and Dad by Shirley Hughes

In Alfie and Dad, Alfie loses his toy on the bus and then goes to look for it at the lost and found. At the lost and found he finds other toys long abandoned by their owners and provides a loving home for them.

Nya’s Long Walk by Linda Sue Park

In Nya’s Long Walk, big sister Nya cares for her little sister who comes down with a fever during their long walk to water. I really like how this story tells of the real problems of children in another part of the world. Through this story we explore not only the virtue of caring but also geography and the country of Sudan.

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

This may seem like an out-of-the-box example of caring, but there is a character at the end of this story who cares a lot about the fate of this little house.

The Brave Little Turtle by Gill McBarnett

In this story, two children care for a sea turtle trapped in plastic ocean debris. It opened up a conversation for us about caring for our earth and the plants and animals in it.

I hope you find these stories inspiring for exploring the virtue of caring with your children! There are so many stories that exemplify this virtue. Do you have any favourites? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below!

-Heather

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