Stories for Growing
Cover of Each KindnessAge guidance pending
KindnessEmpathyMaking things rightRespect

Each Kindness

Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Age guidance pending

We haven’t confirmed a numerical age range for this book yet.

The story makes the cost of missed small acts of kindness explicit, valuable for the taxonomy but requiring a clear content note.

Maya arrives at school and is repeatedly excluded by Chloe and the other girls. A teacher uses a water-ripple demonstration to show how one act can spread. Chloe later understands the cost of the missed opportunity, but the story does not provide a simple repair ending.

Good forBeing unkindFeeling left out

Recommended by TeachingBooks

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What children see in the story

Seeking friendship. Excluding a peer. Reflecting on consequences. Recognizing a missed chance without easy resolution.

Why it’s on these shelves

Kindness
Chloe and her friends keep turning the new girl, Maya, away. A teacher’s lesson about how one kind act spreads makes Chloe see what she missed, but by then Maya has moved away.
Empathy
Maya keeps trying to make friends while the other girls ignore her. The story asks children to notice what Chloe didn’t, which is how Maya felt each time.
Making things right
Chloe wants to make things right with Maya and never gets the chance, because Maya is gone. It shows children what is lost when an apology waits too long.
Respect
Chloe and her friends ignore Maya and leave her out day after day. The ending asks children what treating Maya with care would have looked like.

Why pick it up?

TeachingBooks and the discussion guide support the ripple-effect lesson and a deliberately unresolved or late-repair ending.

A note for parents

Chloe and her friends keep leaving Maya out, and Maya moves away before Chloe can make it right. The ending is left open on purpose. It works best with 5- to 7-year-olds and a talk afterward about what Chloe could have done.

Where this recommendation comes from

TeachingBooks

Includes author resources and a Coretta Scott King discussion guide.

Read TeachingBooks and partner library educators’s recommendation
Sources and review status

We have checked source descriptions and drafted the value mapping. We have not personally reviewed the full book. The value labels, situation assignments, and parent notes remain provisional.

Publisher or literacy resource · Original recommendation

Our explanation of the value fit is separate from the original reviewer’s judgment. Their inclusion here does not imply an endorsement of Stories for Growing.

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