Books like Boxes for Katje
By Candace Fleming
For the kid who loves the idea that a small kindness sent far away can change a whole town, this one lands soft and true. Tender, hopeful, quietly historical, with a warm sense of connection across distance.
A boy named Dat starts school in a new country where every word sounds like gibberish, until a classmate finds another way to reach him besides talking.
A boy named Dennis expresses everything through mime — silent, expressive, entirely his own way — until loneliness gives way to friendship when he meets a girl named Joy.
A costumed superhero girl and her Bug Squad friends volunteer at a dog-adoption fair, doing small jobs like brushing and feeding dogs until Lulu dreams up a plan to help every one of them find a home.
A friendly zookeeper who's always on time oversleeps and misses his bus, putting a surprise he planned for his animal friends in jeopardy — so they set out to help him.
A lion wanders into the library one day, and since there aren't any rules against lions, he stays — quiet-footed, story-hour pillow, rule-follower — until an emergency forces him to break the one rule that matters.
Imprisoned with her family at a WWII incarceration camp, a young woman finds a small library and, in it, a quiet friendship with a man who checks out an armful of books every single day.
In a busy city where everyone rushes past, a boy named Will notices an injured bird on the ground and, with his mother's help, gently carries it home to care for it.
A cheerful look at children being kind to one another in everyday moments — a friendly hello, a boost onto a bike, a cheer of encouragement — all across a busy neighborhood.
A steam shovel operator and his faithful digger, Mary Anne, face the scrap heap as newer machines take over, and get one last chance to prove their worth digging the cellar for a town hall in Popperville.
A tiny snail longing to see the world hitches a ride on a humpback whale's tail, and together they sail to icebergs and volcanoes — until the whale gets stranded and needs the smallest friend to save her.
A veterinarian heading off to serve in World War I rescues a baby bear at a train station, names her Winnie after his hometown, and brings her along to war — a true story that leads all the way to a boy named Christopher Robin.
A celebration of moms in all their forms shows the everyday moments that make them amazing — reading stories, making us laugh, and snuggling us close when we're sad.
