You can be kind too

I Am Enough by debut collaborators Grace Byers and Keturah A. Bobo is a story of self-confidence and kindness for girls everywhere. They show girls of all backgrounds and colors. I would have liked to have seen both girls and boys laughing, singing, running races together.  But with that said it is a lovely book with even more lovely illustrations. Meant for a younger audience to have it read to them, the slightly older reader could read it to a younger sibling.

In Digger and the Flower by Joseph Kuefler you see a lonely construction digger and the flower friend that they make. It is a story about environmentalism and kindness. The illustrations are very bare. The only real color is the blue flower. And even then, that is slightly muted. But against the background of a city being built (the grays of the buildings) it does stand out. The other construction vehicles also have color, but even they are slightly pale compared to the flower.

I choose to group these two books together because of the theme of kindness. I Am Enough is obviously about kindness and about self-esteem. Yet, Digger and the Flower is a little less obvious for kindness. If Digger had not been kind to the flower it would have died. And the city would have taken over all the natural elements. (Spoiler) The flower does die, but Digger does not give up. And, to me that is a form of self-confidence. Digger could have given up and let the flower die. But Digger finds a way to help the flower in another way.

I choose the two pictures from the books that I did because even though they are sad they also show the kindness others can show to someone or something else.