I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book explains to kids how they can be kind and how it will make them feel. The text is simple and easy for kids to understand. The pictures are very colorful and fit well. The characters are Native American, but I think any kid of any race, color, or creed will get something out of it.

When We Are Kind tells a story of acts of kindness in a young child's life. What I loved about the story, besides the illustrations and the Indigenous connection, was that kindness took different forms. Kindness took the form of the child being kind to others and how that makes them feel, and how the child feels when others are kind or when the earth is kind. I thought self-reflection and this showcase of how and where kindness can be found was a great lesson for kids! This book would be easy to incorporate into an education world and I would highly recommend it for parents/guardians to read as well. The words were relatable and easy to understand. Kids would easily grasp this concept! Loved it!

When We Are Kind by Monique Gray Smith is a simple straightforward book which specifically shows examples of kindness. There are pages which provide ways that individuals can be kind and pages which show how kindness can make one feel. Nicole Niedhardt's illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. The pictures are bright and colorful without being busy or distracting. This would be a perfect book for an early childhood teacher to use during a read aloud and to use anytime of year to talk about and encourage kindness. As a special educator of students with autism, this would be an excellent tool to use during social skills instruction to help teach introduce the concept of kindness. I would be happy to add this to my classroom library.