This lovely book for small children is unusual in the sense that it does not tell a story… but is about an abstract quality so difficult to put across to the young—kindness.
The book explores core themes of inner kindness and mindfulness: ‘Kindness is the friend in my heart, your heart and everyone’s heart’, says the author, and outlines how kindness, curiosity and imagination are essential for learning and growing. One would think it would be difficult to describe these qualities for a young child, but Dipna Daryanani manages to do so beautifully by the examples she gives of how kindness expresses itself in different feelings–when a child feeds a stray puppy, generosity when she shares a favourite snack with a friend, and so on. It can also express itself as love or affection when a child says ‘I love you’ to her father or tells her mother that she is ‘the prettiest’! A child would truly believe and be fascinated to learn that this special friend expresses itself in many ways and pops up from heart to heart!
This, then, is the special something this book has managed to achieve in the simplest of ways. We would all like to encourage kindness and compassion in children but the author has managed to do so in a charming manner without preaching or moralizing so as to get the message across. Of course, she has been greatly assisted by the bright and colourful illustrations by Sonal Gupta Vaswani–and together, they make this an absolutely ideal book to be read to young children—4 years and above—even before they can read it themselves.
Dipna Daryanani has over 17 years’ experience in early childhood education and has worked for more than a decade in dance and dance theatre. With this wealth of experience working with young children and literally getting into their minds, her effort through this little gem of a book is truly exemplary as foundational life training for children from their early years onwards.
May her tribe increase if the world is to become a better, kinder place!