Children's Books About Kindness That Kids Want to Hear Again

The best children's books about kindness show a child doing one clear, kind thing that your child could do tomorrow: sharing a snack, asking a lonely child to play, helping a neighbor, saying sorry. From our catalog, Six Days Until Christmas is a set of six December stories, each built around one kindness, read one a night from December 19 to Christmas Eve. For any time of year, Learning to Share with Captain Inkbeard is about sharing, The Friendship Spark about including others, The Sneeze of Destiny about empathy, Bub's Big Heart about first impressions, and Your Life Has An Echo, from our Theo collection, about kind words. In all but Bub's Big Heart, your child is the hero, illustrated from one photo.

This is our guide to our own books. Below, each book's kindness and a sample page, ideas for practicing kindness at home, and a week of small kindnesses to try together.

Quick picks: children's books about kindness

Bub's Big Heart is a Magic Story classic and is not personalized. Every other book here is illustrated from your child's photo, with their name in the story. Prices are on each book's page.

Christmas books about kindness and giving: Six Days Until Christmas

Six nights before Christmas, the carved wooden Santa on your child's dresser asks them to be his daytime helper. Each night's book is one small kindness, and each kindness adds a crumb to Santa's carved beard and lights up another house in town. It's sold only as the complete set: one photo personalizes all six books, and they're written for ages 3 to 10. Here are five of the six kindnesses. The pictures are sample pages with our example child.

Sharing with a new friend: The Christmas Cookies

At lunch, your child notices Maya, who has nothing to eat. In their own lunchbox are three snowman cookies they've waited all morning for. Sharing turns a lonely lunch into the start of a friendship.

Including someone left out: The Edge of Things

It's your child's turn to be Red-Nose in Reindeer Tag, the best game at recess. But Santa said to look at the edge of things, and out by the fence, a boy named Dylan is standing alone. Giving away a turn turns out to feel better than taking it.

Listening with a kind heart: Look Outward

Your child stops to help Mrs. Alvarez with a wreath that won't stay on her door, then stays a little longer to listen to her stories about the husband who sang the same three songs off-key every Christmas. The gift your child gives her is time.

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  Helping. The wreath goes back up, and the lights too.

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  Listening. Staying a little longer, with very cold toes, is the real gift.

Finding the courage to forgive: The Gift You Can't Wrap

Your child and Eli, their best friend, are building a snow fort when Eli says something that hurts. Later, Eli turns up at the door with a real apology and a gingerbread man with only one foot. The story shows that hurt feelings are real, and that a true sorry and forgiving both take courage.

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  Still hurt. The story lets your child be upset before anything gets fixed.

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  At the door. A real apology, and the choice to forgive.

Giving from the heart: How More Santas Are Made

On Christmas Eve morning your child opens one present early, the scooter at the top of their list. By lunch they hear that a burst pipe ruined everything at Sam's house, and a quiet idea won't go away. By afternoon, your child is tying a red ribbon around the scooter for Sam.

The sixth book is the clearest answer we have to "Christmas books about giving instead of getting." Book 1, The Spirit Is Everywhere, is about giving your very best, the star cookie your child saved all day. See all six books, or find the set in our Christmas gift guide.

Kindness books for any time of year

Sharing: Learning to Share with Captain Inkbeard

When your child's prized toy boat disappears, Captain Inkbeard invites them aboard for a pirate search full of clues, choices and treasure. Along the way, they find that sharing doesn't mean losing what matters: it can be the start of play, trust and friendship. It never labels the child as selfish, and the ending leaves room to talk about taking turns.

See Learning to Share with Captain Inkbeard, or read our parents' guide to the book.

Including others: The Friendship Spark

One brave hello begins a chain of small choices across the playground. Your child invites someone in, notices who needs comfort, and learns that friendship often starts before you know whether the other person will say yes. It's a good fit for a child starting a new class or finding their place in a group.

See The Friendship Spark.

Empathy: The Sneeze of Destiny

Your child and Buddy the dog tumble through a fairy door into a land where the villagers are frightened. Under a wobbly bridge they meet a grumpy troll, and instead of fighting, your child asks him what's wrong. The troll is surprised: no one has ever asked him that. Once your child understands why he's cross, the problem has a fix.

It turns empathy into something a child can do: look again, listen, and ask why. See The Sneeze of Destiny, or read our guide to teaching empathy with it.

Looking past first looks: Bub's Big Heart

Bub is a very big bear with an even bigger wish to make friends. The smaller forest animals notice his paws and claws first, but a picnic that needs help gives Bub the chance to show the kindness behind his size. It opens an easy conversation about first impressions and being given a real chance.

Bub's Big Heart is a Magic Story classic, so it isn't personalized: every copy tells Bub's story. See Bub's Big Heart.

Kind words and choices: Your Life Has An Echo

Your child stands in a wide valley and hears their voice come back, then discovers that a life makes echoes too. Kind words, patient choices, helping hands, truth, gratitude and forgiveness travel into other hearts. It's a personalized Christian story that gives families one question for everyday choices: "Will this create a beautiful echo?"

Your Life Has An Echo is part of our Theo collection of personalized Christian stories. Read more in our Theo collection guide.

How do you teach kindness to a young child?

Kindness grows from small, everyday practice more than from big lessons. A few things that help at home:

• Show it and say it. "I'm carrying Mrs. Lee's bag because her arms are full." Saying it out loud helps your child notice what you did and why.
• Notice it when they do it. Name the specific thing: "You saw she had no crayons and gave her yours."
• Give them a job. Carry the plate of cookies, choose the card, hold the door. Small, real chances to help.
• Talk about feelings in stories. Pause and ask, "How do you think he feels?" and "What could she do?" A book makes this easier, because it's about someone else.
• Don't force it. A share or a sorry made on command can feel empty to a child. Help them see the other person's side first, then let the kindness be theirs.

These are practical suggestions to try, not a teaching program. If you're worried about how your child gets along with others, their pediatrician or teacher is the right person to ask.

A week of small kindnesses to try together

Each idea comes from one of the books above. Pick one a day, read the book that goes with it if you have it, and let your child tick it off.

1. Share your lunch or a snack with someone new (The Christmas Cookies).
2. Invite someone to play who is on their own (The Friendship Spark).
3. Help a neighbor with a small job, then stay to talk (Look Outward).
4. Say sorry, and forgive, after a squabble with a sibling or friend (The Gift You Can't Wrap).
5. Ask why someone is upset before deciding what they're like (The Sneeze of Destiny).
6. Use kind words on purpose: a thank-you note, a compliment, a kind message to a grandparent (Your Life Has An Echo).

In December, the Six Days Until Christmas books give you a ready-made version: one kindness a night from December 19 to Christmas Eve.

Why a book that stars your child helps

In a personalized book, your child isn't watching someone else be kind. They're the one sharing the cookie, asking the lonely boy to play, and listening on Mrs. Alvarez's porch. That makes it easy to connect the story to their own day: "Remember when you shared your cookies with Maya? Who could you share with tomorrow?"

Many children ask for a favorite book again and again, and each rereading is another chance to talk about the kind thing in it. A book with their face and name in it is also a keepsake that comes back out every year.

How a personalized book works

1. Add one clear photo and your child's name. Your child becomes the illustrated hero, and the text uses their name.
2. See a free personalized preview before you buy. Creating your child's character and preview needs no credit card. The preview shows your child in a scene or on a cover from the book, not every page. Our Help article on the free preview explains what you'll see.
3. Get the hardcover. Each book is printed to order after you buy, then shipped to the address you choose.

Buying for a child who isn't yours? Ask their parent or guardian for permission to use the photo. Our Help article on buying a book for someone else walks through it.

Kindness books by age

Our books are for ages 2 to 10, and the Six Days Until Christmas books are written for ages 3 to 10.

• Ages 2 to 4. Read aloud, and keep the talk short: point to your child in the pictures and name the kind thing they did. Captain Inkbeard's sharing story suits the "mine!" years.
• Kindergarten, ages 5 and 6. School stories land well here. The Friendship Spark and The Christmas Cookies both happen at school, at recess and at lunch.
• Ages 7 to 10. Older children can read on their own and handle harder feelings: forgiving a friend in The Gift You Can't Wrap, or giving up something you love in How More Santas Are Made.

Find a kindness book

• One kindness a night in December: Six Days Until Christmas.
• Sharing: Learning to Share with Captain Inkbeard.
• Including others: The Friendship Spark.
• Empathy: The Sneeze of Destiny.
• First impressions: Bub's Big Heart.
• Christian stories, including Your Life Has An Echo: the Theo collection.