Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received copies of these books in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Curls

Written by Ruth Forman and illustrated by Geneva Bowers

This beautiful, brightly colored board book highlights a group of young girls who love their hair. The simple poetic text explores the different hairstyles, and encourages young black girls to love their hair. The soft and gentle illustrations gives a touch of magic to each scene, and highlight the beaming smiles on the faces of the young girls. This is a great book for starting young readers on a path of self love and confidence early on!

Flying High

Written by Michelle Meadows and illustrated by Ebony Glenn

This poetic book introduces readers to the childhood and career of Simone Biles, the Olympic champion and superstar gymnast. The beginning of the book shows the young acrobatic Biles as she flips, tumbles, and climbs over everything. She and her siblings are placed in foster care, and are moved around until the right fit is found. As the story continues, she finds her passion in gymnastics, and she works harder and harder to become a champion. The simple rhyming text is paired with colorful illustrations that highlight the constant motion of the young gymnast, and features the iconic moves and looks that she is known for. This is a great introduction to a strong black athlete whose strength and determination is something to be admired.

Watch Me: A Story of Immigration and Inspiration

Written by Doyin Richards and illustrated by Joe Cepeda

This story of immigration follows a young boy named Joe who immigrates to America from Sierra Leone. His friends and family tried to warn him against it, claiming that he would be teased and he would never fit in. But Joe was determined. He dealt with the strange new foods, and ignored the hurtful things that some people said to him. He pursued his dreams, and at the end we see that he achieved them. The middle of the book encourages the reader to look around them and see others like Joe, who came from elsewhere and are working  hard to achieve their dreams. This is a great introduction to immigration for little ones, with bold and striking illustrations, and a bold and defiant refrain of “Watch Me”.

Related Post: Children’s Books for Black History Month

My Friend

Written by Taye Diggs and illustrated by Shane W. Evans

This rhythmic book written by the actor and illustrated by his real life best friend, tells a story of friendship and kindness. The two characters in the book are best friends and they do everything together. But when one friend sees the other being mean to a classmate, he steps in and teaches his friend that kindness is the way to be. The illustrations are bold and vibrant, with all kinds of patterns, textures, and bright colors drawing the reader’s attention. The rhyming text has an undeniable beat to it, making this a fun one to read aloud.

Stompin’ at the Savoy: How Chick Webb Became the King of Drums

Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. We received copies of these books in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It Will Be OK

Written by Lisa Katzenberger and illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett

When Giraffe is scared by a spider on the way to the watering hole, he runs up a tree. His friend Zebra tries his best to talk him down, but Giraffe is just too scared. Zebra decides to wait with him until he is ready. In the end, Giraffe is able to face his fear with the help of his friend, and pass the empathy on to another. The sweet story offers an important lesson on facing fears, kindness, and empathy, with tips in the back of the book for helping friends who are scared. Kids will love the vivid illustrations featuring the intense emotions of the animals in the story.

The Song for Everyone

Written by Lucy Morris

This sweet story takes readers to a little town where a beautiful song comes from a window high above the street. The song reaches everyone in the town, filling them with joy. But when the song mysteriously stops, a young boy ventures up to the window to find out what happened. When he finds a little wren, exhausted from singing, he calls down to the townspeople and they all pitch in to help the little bird. The story celebrates the joy that music can bring, and the ability of a community to pull together and complete kind acts.

Related Post: Children’s Books on Kindness

Ways to Welcome

Written by Linda Ashman and illustrated by Joey Chou

This rhyming book introduces all kinds of ways that we can make people feel welcome. The text is bursting with small acts of kindness that kids can do, and the accompanying illustrations are full of bright colors. The diverse cast of characters features different ages, races, and families showing love and kindness to one another, and to animals as well. This is a great way to share welcoming acts of kindness that kids can do on their own, and to teach them how they can make a difference in a small way.

Finding Kindness

Written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Irene Chan

This heartwarming book shares all of the many ways that kindness can be shared. The rhyming text starts with a young girl sitting by a window and releasing a bug from a cup. Each turn of the page shares more people in the community doing simple acts of kindness. Some of these acts are illustrated through a single word and a colorful illustration. In the end, the story cycles back around to the same girl sitting by the window sharing another kindness. This book is full of ideas for kids to share kindness in their own lives. The adorable illustrations are sure to put smiles on their faces as well.

I Dig Being Kind

Written by Michele Robbins and illustrated by Ekaterina Ladatko

In this sweet board book, a group of cute truck characters help those around them with simple acts of kindness. The rhyming text on each page is accompanied by colorful illustrations featuring adorable truck characters with big expressive eyes and smiles. As the trucks help kids, pets, and other trucks, they share that they DIG being kind. Kids will love the sweet story and characters, and may be inspired to go out and be kind as well.

Our Little Kitchen

Written by Jillian Tamaki

This colorful book shares what happens when people in a community come together in a small kitchen to create a meal for others. Lots of the story is told through speech bubbles. The illustrations feature a diverse group of characters working together to peel, chop, and create warm dishes for others in the community. The different fonts and speech bubbles show the frenetic energy in the kitchen, and may inspire the reader to put their own kitchen skills to good use helping others.

No Ordinary Jacket

Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received copies of these books in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mootilda’s Bad Mood

Written by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Kirsti Call and illustrated by Claudia Ranucci

Mootilda is a young cow who woke up in a bad mood. As she goes about her day, grumbling and huffing, her bad mood gets worse as accidents and and frustrating things keep happening to her. What she doesn’t realize is that everything that she does is affecting the nearby chickens too. When they commiserate about their bad days together, they find a way to get past their bad mood. The rhyming text is full of hilarious cow puns, which will definitely have kids laughing out loud. They will also enjoy searching the detailed illustrations for proof of the bad day that the chickens are having as well.

This is a great book for teaching kids that our own bad moods can affect others, and that it’s important to remember that others around us may be having a bad day as well.

Related Post: Children’s Books for a Bad Day

The Worrysaurus

Written by Rachel Bright and illustrated by Chris Chatterton

Little Worrysaurus is a dino that likes to have a plan. He likes to know what is coming, and he plans accordingly. One day when he is out preparing for a picnic, a little lizard crosses his path and tells him that a storm is coming. Now instead of enjoying the sunny day, Worrysaurus is consumed with worry. Luckily, his mother taught him how to guard against worries, and enjoy the present without worrying about the future. The rhyming text is paired with adorable illustrations of the cute little dinosaur, and the colors and fonts help show the growing worries that he faces.

The simple strategies that Worrysaurus uses are easy for kids to lift right out of the book and use in their own lives, making this a great book for teaching kids how to handle their anxieties.

Ravi’s Roar

Written by Tom Percival

This entry in the Big Bright Feelings series is one of Little Bookworm’s favorites. The story introduces the reader to Ravi, a young boy who heads out on a picnic with his family. But throughout their trip, Ravi faces lots of frustrating hurdles. He is too short for the monkey bars, too small for the slide, and he is the last one to the ice cream cart, which is now empty. Ravi starts to lose his temper and he soon grows into an angry tiger. As he storms around the playground letting out his frustrations on everyone with great big roars, he learns the important lesson that people don’t want to be around roaring tigers. The illustrations often use muted colors or black and white backgrounds to put the focus of the image on the brightly colored characters. Especially when Ravi turns into a bright orange tiger.

This book has been a helpful reminder to Little Bookworm that throwing a tantrum and letting your bad mood out in loud roars is not going to make people want to play with you. But the end of the book also reminds all of us that sometimes a little growl may still come out.

Related Post: Teaching Kids to Deal with Multiple Emotions