These children’s books about community will teach your kids about community building in their neighborhoods and the importance of kindness.
“Is everyone okay? Does anyone need anything?” said a message a parent wrote to my son’s classroom group. A fire had erupted nearby, just one of many that struck southern California in a series of unrelenting winds and dry conditions.
That simple question, those acts of kindness, can be all it takes to build a community, even among once strangers. We’re compelled to help when we see others in need, creating a sense of belonging, and that we’ll get through this… together.
Community doesn’t have to start with tragedy, either. It can be as simple as the very family you share your home with, or the community garden filled with neighborhood conversations. It’s celebrating your ethnic culture, from attending the annual Native American pow wow to cooking grandma’s baklava.
Community also grows with generosity and sharing*, like volunteering to clean up trash from your city’s local river to gathering for an end-of-summer barbecue with your neighbors.
We all band together in a community, in one way or another.
Children’s books about community
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Reading children’s books about community building is one of the best ways to instill the importance of belonging in children. They need to know that they are a part of something bigger than themselves and belong to a collective group of people.
Below, I list books I’ve personally read with my kids and truly enjoyed.
These books show how even one person can make an impact, from planting gardens to extending neighborly kindness. They celebrate diversity and learning from each other’s traditions. They remind kids that they have a place, from neighborhoods to a group of people coming together for the same cause.
And they teach us that a community starts with learning how to act with thoughtfulness, civility, and kindness. That these simple gestures—no matter how big or small—can make a difference, even in the face of uncertainty.
Take a look at these inspiring children’s books about community for your next library trip or online purchase:
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
A Hat for Mrs. Goldman by Michelle Edwards
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Come with Me by Holly M. McGhee
The Extraordinary Gardener by Sam Boughton
Read more:
- 11 Multicultural Children’s Books to Read with Your Child
- Children’s Books about Family
- How to Teach Gratitude to Children
- Random Acts of Kindness: 35 Little Things to Brighten Anyone’s Mood
- 12 Children’s Books with People of Color (and Where Race Isn’t the Main Point)
*Source: Conscious Magazine
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