Friday, November 16, 2018

Henry is Kind: A Story of Mindfulness by Linda Ryden, Shearry Malone (Illustrations)


copies of all 3 sent right out. We can offer giveaways of Henry and Acadia 2: Autumn - US/Can 


My thoughts:  Basically, the "mindfulness" is simply a restating of the old adage of being kind one toward another and to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. These precepts are readily taught in the Bible (Christian) and also in society as a whole. We need more kindness in the world and it is helpful that schools are focusing on leading children into demonstrations and acts of kindness. Letting them see how it can benefit themselves and others individually and as a whole is positive reinforcement of the concept.

In Henry is Kind the school setting is used to show how the class is taught the exercise of mindful kindness. Henry feels replete of feelings of kindness and acting out kindness, but others show him that he is and has been, indeed, quite kind.

This is totally a secular story and in a somewhat stealthy manner presents the practice of yoga. The story is nice and Henry does feel better about things in the end. The whole group learns how to be kind and how to purposefully move toward acting out kindness toward others. That is good.

I don't care much for the illustrations. Just not a style I like. A pretty good book to use in an educational setting - classroom or school library.

About the book: Henry’s discovery of the many ways he can be kind will inspire young readers to use the simple mindfulness practices taught in this book to develop their own capacities for kindness.

Ms. Snowden and her class practice sending kind thoughts to the people they love, and they launch a class Kindness Project. There is only one problem: Henry can’t think of one kind thing he has done. Declaring that kindness is stupid, he stomps to the classroom door on the verge of tears, but his classmates save the day by reminding him of the kind things he has done for each of them.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book to facilitate this review. Opinions are mine alone and I was not compensated.

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