{"id":2413,"date":"2012-08-26T00:01:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T06:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2012-08-26T00:01:11","modified_gmt":"2012-08-26T06:01:11","slug":"7-imp%e2%80%99s-7-kicks-294-featuring-e-b-lewis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2413","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #294: Featuring E. B. Lewis"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“One day, while we were near the slide, Maya came over to us. She held open her hand to show us the shiny jacks and tiny red ball she’d gotten for her birthday.
<\/em>It’s a high bouncer, she said. But none of us wanted to play.
So Maya played a game against herself.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n

Just about everywhere you look these days, you see one campaign or another against bullying. Surely, many of these efforts do some good, though what bothers me is the occasional organization with inherently exclusive inclinations (you can belong to this group, as long as you’re not ____ or _____<\/em>) mounting such campaigns. Personally, I think it all starts and ends with parents teaching their children that we should all treat each other the way we ourselves want to be treated, and that’s about all there is to it. At the same time, I know these things can be complicated. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, what I always want to say in response to the fight-against-bully campaigns is that there are some great picture books in the world that tell straight-up good stories<\/em> about kindness and empathy. And storytelling is the way we should go about this, yes? No child wants to be lectured, and who doesn’t want to hear an engaging story? Right? Right!<\/p>\n

Cue Jacqueline Woodson’s<\/a><\/strong> latest picture book, illustrated by E. B. Lewis<\/a><\/strong>. It’s called Each Kindness<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and will be released in October by Nancy Paulsen Books\/Penguin. Booklist’s<\/em> starred review has already described this as a “quiet, intense” book, and they aren’t kidding about the “intense” part. I may or may not have sought the nearest tissue to wipe my goofy ‘ol wet face after having first read it to my own children. <\/p>\n

The story is told from the point of view of a young girl named Chloe. She chronicles the arrival of a new student in her classroom. Maya shows up with hand-me-down clothes: “We all stared at her. Her coat was open and the clothes beneath it looked old and ragged. Her shoes were spring shoes, not meant for the snow. A strap on one of them had broken.”<\/em> The class turns a cold shoulder to Maya. Even Chloe, next to whom Maya is seated, never once returns Maya’s smile.<\/p>\n

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“The days grew warmer and warmer. The pond thawed. Grass began growing where snow had once been. One day, Maya came to school wearing a pretty dress and fancy shoes. But the shoes and the dress looked like they’d belonged
to another girl before Maya.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n

Now, children can be mean. ALL of them. I repeat: Even those parents who think they have little angels may be surprised to know that children are social, clique’y creatures by nature. And they exclude. They cluster. They whisper. Both boys and girls. Some way more than others. And some do this very little, if only once in a blue moon. But still … This is their nature, and it’s the job of grown-ups to discuss this with them. “Every day,” Woodson writes, “we whispered about Maya, laughing at her clothes, her shoes, the strange food she brought for lunch.”<\/p>\n

Yep, the strange food she brought for lunch. These stories that get clumped under the Bullying Theme don’t have to be about the big, trollish kid stealing the nerd’s lunch money. This is a story of the subtle, quiet cruelties of children. <\/p>\n

Whenever Maya asks Chloe and her friends to play, they say no. <\/p>\n

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“The next day, Maya’s seat was empty. In class that morning, we were talking about kindness. Ms. Albert had brought a big bowl into class and filled it with water. We all gathered around her desk and watched her drop a small stone into it. Tiny waves rippled out, away from the stone. <\/em>This is what kindness does, Ms. Albert said.<\/em>
Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world.”
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When Chloe’s teacher discusses kindness one day, using a small stone she drops into a bowl of water—“Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world”—she asks the class to consider kind things they’d done. “Even small things count,” she tells them. Chloe stands motionless, silent. “…I couldn’t think of anything and passed the stone on.” <\/p>\n

Maya doesn’t return to school. And the last spread below tells you how this tale ends. Not happily ever after, by any stretch of the imagination. <\/p>\n

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“I watched the water ripple as the sun set through the maples and the chance of a kindness with Maya becoming more and more forever gone.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n

But that’s exactly<\/em> as it should be. A pat, tidy ending would be a disservice to this story, and Woodson has too much respect for child readers to do that. <\/p>\n

This is powerful stuff — and with the great E. B. Lewis’ luminous watercolors. This is a story that says tons more about kindness, I dare say, than any complicated, expensive anti-bullying campaign ever could. <\/p>\n

If I ran the world, I’d give a copy of this book to every elementary classroom teacher and librarian. For that matter, this is a story for middle schoolers and high schoolers and growns-up, too. <\/p>\n

And, having just read David Ezra Stein’s<\/a><\/strong> brand-new Because Amelia Smiled<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, I think these two books would be so perfect paired together. More on Stein’s book later … <\/p>\n

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EACH KINDNESS. Text copyright \u00a9 2012 by Jacqueline Woodson. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2012 by E. B. Lewis. Published by Nancy Paulsen Books\/Penguin, New York. Spreads reproduced by permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome. <\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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How about that book, y’all? I should probably add that The Other Side<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by the same author-illustrator duo is one of my favorite picture books of all time. <\/p>\n

1)<\/strong><\/font> The Society of Illustrators announced the winners<\/a><\/strong> of the 2012 Original Art Award. I always love seeing this announcement, and I like their choices this year. The Gold Medal winner, for those who would like to see more of the art, was featured here<\/a><\/strong> at 7-Imp last year. That book is specialness forever. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Getting a simple “I love you and you can do it” from a dear friend can make a lousy week a good one. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> It was a good week to be a fan of Rufus Wainwright’s<\/a><\/strong> music, given this profile<\/a><\/strong> at CBS’ Sunday Morning<\/em>, as well as NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert (below) for which they squeezed a big ‘ol piano into their tiny office. <\/p>\n