I Am Kind (Rodale Kids Curious Readers/Level 2) - Hardcover

Suzy Capozzi is a children’s book editor and writer. She has worked on titles for the Random House early reader program in addition to numerous other beginner and leveled readers. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Eren Unten is a children’s book illustrator from Los Angeles who loves telling stories through pictures. She has illustrated several Little Golden Books for Nickelodeon Studios. When she’s not drawing or painting, she enjoys going on adventures with her family. See more of her work online at erenunten.com.

PreS-Gr 1—This title's stated intent is to teach "kids and parents alike the power of positive affirmations and how to incorporate them into their daily lives." It features a young girl who sees kindness around her and acts in kind ways herself. The book begins with the child observing her mother, "the kindest person I know." Her mom is shown helping Grandma and then, along with her daughter, serving food at a community center. Other vignettes include the girl helping in the garden of a neighbor who has a broken arm, making friends with a new girl at school, being patient with her baby brother, being kind to friends as well as to the Earth on a scout hike, and creating a garden for the whole community. Throughout, variants on the phrase "I am kind" are repeated, with a prompt on the last page for readers to think of ways to be kind. Big-eyed, slightly cartoon-style, mostly white characters are featured in the colorful illustrations. While there are several examples of ways to be kind in this book, there is not much of a story here, resulting in a somewhat generic tale. VERDICT A purposeful title for sparking discussions in families or in the classroom, but not really a solid choice to draw in new readers.—Jenny Berggren, Longfellow Middle School, Berkeley, CA