Draft:Each Kindness
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| Author | Jacqueline Woodson |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | E.B Lewis |
| Publisher | Nancy Paulsen Books, The Penguin Group |
Publication date | 2012 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover), Audiobook |
| Awards | Bank Street Best Book
Best Book of 2012 – School Library Journal Charlotte Zolotow Award Coretta Scott King Honor Book 2013 Jane Addams Peace Award 2013 Charlotte Zolotow Award Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (from the Jane Addams Peace Association) Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2013 |
| ISBN | 978-0-399-24652-4 |
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson is a children’s book illustrated by E.B. Lewis[1]. It was published in 2012 by Nancy Paulson Books under The Penguin Group. The book describes the impact of kindness by following Chloe's changing perspective on Maya, a new girl in her class. Chloe and her friends exclude Maya, and when she moves away Chloe learns a lesson about how kindness affects others and regrets not being more kind to Maya[2].
Each Kindness has been recognized for its realistic look at how children’s actions have a larger impact[3]. Woodson wrote this book with the idea that everyone has been treated unkindly at some point in their life, noting that the option to be kind to someone isn’t always given twice[2].
Each Kindness has been recognized by several awards including Bank Street Best Book, Best Book of 2012 – School Library Journal, Charlotte Zolotow Award, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, 2013 Jane Addams Peace Award, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2013.[2][4]
Plot Summary
[edit]A new student named Maya is introduced to a class of children. She wears ragged clothes and is shunned by the other children in her class, including the girl she sits next to, Chloe[2]. Every day Maya tries to play with the girls during recess. First using jacks and a red ball and then, a deck of cards, pick-up sticks, and a doll to try and get them to play with her. But the children continue to whisper about Maya, make fun of her, and refuse to play with her[5]. Maya stops trying to make friends. When she gets a skipping rope, she skips all around the school by herself[2]. Then, one day Maya moves away and stops coming to school. After a few days, the teacher has a lesson on kindness that leaves a lasting impact on the narrator, Chloe[2][3]. Chloe learns that each kindness you do has an impact that ripples out like a stone creating ever-expanding ripples in water[2][5]. Chloe regrets not being kind to Maya and wishes she could go back in time to undo her unkindness[3]. Chloe learns to take advantage of the moments you can be kind[2].
Themes
[edit]Kindness
[edit]The major overarching theme seen in Each Kindness is kindness[3]. We first see this theme in Maya’s first interactions with Chloe[3]. She walks in, sits down, and smiles at Chloe. Chloe responds by turning away and staring out her window, she continues to do this every time Maya sits beside her. This first scene and action of kindness sets up the book, helping us understand Maya’s character as friendly and outgoing[3]. Chloe's downcast head and immediate dismissal demonstrate being unkind[3]. Through the story we see Maya extend friendship and receive rejection and unkindness from the other girls[2]. The repetition of this pattern finally ends when Maya decides to play happily by herself in the last scene before she leaves the school for good, not allowing the bullying to ruin her day[5]. Reading through Chloe’s perspective we can perceive the unkindness and bullying towards Maya firsthand, which later plays into the theme of kindness when Mrs. Albert teaches a lesson on the impact of kindness[2][5][3]. “When Chloe cannot come up with one example of her own kind behavior, she vows to smile back at Maya and ‘make the world a little better”[6]. E.B. Lewis captures the scene of Chloe’s regret for her actions towards Maya with a familiar picture of her head downcast staring at her stone, unable to think of a moment she was kind to Maya. Chloe’s actions, like our own, are permanent[1][3]. “She cannot undo her meanness to Maya, making the message all the more powerful”[6].
Impact of Everyday Actions
[edit]Jacqueline Woodson has a consistent theme of impact throughout her children’s book. She shows how kindness impacts everyone around us through a quiet, realistic story with relatable characters[3]. Chloe’s character is seen as cold, standoffish, and angry throughout the book. Illustrated with her head downcast, eyes narrowed, and arms crossed, Chloe looks closed off[1]. Maya, who is seen with her head high, facing the other girls, and in one scene shyly swinging her foot while talking, is pictured as friendly and outgoing[1]. As the book progresses, we follow Chloe’s actions towards Maya, leaving her out, talking behind her back, and avoiding her. Her actions have an impact on Maya, who becomes more distant towards the other girls, eventually not asking to play with them but choosing to entertain herself with a jump rope “seemingly oblivious and impervious to all of the hurt and unkindness aimed her way”[3]. Chloe’s repeated behavior impacts Maya by isolating her. When Maya moves away and Mrs. Albert teaches her a lesson on kindness, Chloe feels remorseful for her actions[3][5]. Jacqueline Woodson’s unique choices in making Chloe’s actions towards Maya permanent show the impact of her rudeness towards Maya.[3] "The story closes with Chloe never having the chance to make things right with Maya. She reflects, 'I watched the water ripple as the sun set through the maples and the chance of a kindness with Maya became more and more forever gone’” [3]. The illustration of a stone’s ripples in water supports the theme of impact, showing the impact of everyday actions can have a ripple effect[1][5]. The book closes with a picture of Chloe holding a stone and staring at a body of water as it ripples with impact, showing her reflection and the slight movement of water. It shows the impact of a small action on a larger picture and how one person’s actions can have a large impact[2][3]. Woodson herself states, “I think too often we believe we’ll have a second chance at kindness – and sometimes we don’t. I do believe, as Chloe’s teacher, Ms. Albert, says, that everything we do goes out, like a ripple into the world”[2].
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Each Kindness". E.B. Lewis. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Picture Books | Each Kindness | Jacqueline Woodson". jacquelinewoodson.com. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o King, Christina; Zapata, Angie (2017-05-31). "First Opinion: Experiencing Empathy through Jacqueline Woodson's Each Kindness". First Opinions, Second Reactions. 10 (1). ISSN 2152-9043.
- ^ "Coretta Scott King Book Awards - All Recipients, 1970-Present | Coretta Scott King Roundtable". www.ala.org. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ a b c d e f "Each Kindness". The Children's Writer's Guild. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ a b Newschwander, Jane (2014). "Woodson, Jacqueline. Each Kindness". School Library Journal. 60 (8).